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Professional Communities
Accounting and Finance

Regulatory Knowledge

Definition of Regulatory Knowledge

Regulations are the operating rules that govern operations. BYU operates in a highly regulated environment. Regulations can be promulgated directly by federal legislation, through the actions of executive federal agencies, by state government actions, through contractual actions, or by the policies of the Church or its affiliates. Regulatory requirements can include reporting, taxation, transaction security, banking, international operations, and many more. These regulatory requirements are often, but not always, reflected in BYU policies and procedures. Regulations are different than “best practices” which may or may not arise from regulatory issues. It is not expected that every member of the accounting and finance community will understand and apply every regulation. Members should, however, be knowledgeable of the regulations applicable to their assigned responsibilities. (See Addendum A: Applicable Regulations at the bottom of the page)

Financial Associate: Familiarity with and a basic understanding of University policies and procedures applicable to the employee’s duties, including those emanating from regulatory requirements.

Sr. Financial Associate: Detailed understanding of the University policies and procedures applicable to the employee’s duties, including those emanating from regulatory requirements. The member should be able to direct others to the appropriate policy or procedure for a given situation and have a clear understanding of the appropriate application of the policy for a given situation.

Financial Professional: Familiarity and a basic understanding of the regulations (as defined above) underlying the policies and procedures applicable to the employee’s duties. The member should be able to identify the regulation underlying a specific policy, including whether it is emanates from a federal regulation, state regulation, Church or affiliate regulation, a contractual agreement or best practice.

Sr. Financial Professional: Detailed understanding of the regulations (above) underlying the policies and procedures applicable to the employee’s duties. The member should understand the most significant portions of the regulation underlying a specific policy, and which requirements have not been fully implemented.

Financial Principal: Ability to design, prepare, and execute documents, decisions, processes, and instructions regarding applicable policies and procedures, including exercising judgement on which regulatory issues to emphasize or to deemphasize. The member should have a general understanding of the politics of the regulations applicable to BYU, including which are of high interest and receiving public attention.

Sr. Financial Principal: Presentation-level understanding of applicable regulations, including the ability to synthesize and simplify concepts for different audiences. This contemplates filtering information that may not be applicable to our situation at BYU and detailed understanding of the politics of the regulations that are applicable to BYU, including which are of high interest and receiving public attention.

How to develop Regulatory Knowledge

University Academic Courses:

BYU Training/Other Courses:

  • Compliance Hotline Training (Online)
  • Effort Reporting (Online)
  • Endowment Training (Online)
  • Foreign Wire Transfers (Online)
  • PCI Employee Enterprise training (Program)
  • Red Flags – FACTA (Online)

Professional Associations/Courses and Conferences:

  • Association of College Administrative Professionals (ACAP)
  • Council of Higher Education Management Associations (CHEMA)
  • National Association of Campus Card Users (NACCU)
  • National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO)
  • Western Association of College and University Business Officers (WACUBO)
  • National Council of University Research Administrators (NCURA)

Books/Publications:

  • Many books dealing with accounting and finance regulations in higher education have sections dealing with this topic area. Few, if any, are entirely on point. Association conferences and publications are generally more relevant.

Experiences:

  • Present on a regulatory topic or topics at an professional meeting
  • Review in detail the regulations relevant to your area of specialty and explain the requirements to the CDC
  • Identity the areas of BYU policies and procedures that a silent on a specific regulatory requirement and draft the missing portions
  • Prepare a Y-Train module to educate others on a specific regulatory requirement

How to Demonstrate Regulatory Knowledge

DO: Describe what you did in completing / achieving your development plan

  • Report on a regulatory topic you undertook to master directly to the CDC;
  • Complete a specific regulatory compliance course or curriculum and report to the CDC;
  • Videotape a segment of a regulatory compliance presentation you made and share it with the CDC;

ASSESS: Share, if applicable, any assessments that were taken / provided related to your activities

  • Present to the CDC the questions and assessment results from an on-line training program;
  • Provide documentation for the completion of a program that includes assessment (e.g., CPA);

LEARN: Explain what you felt that you were able to learn during your journey / experiences

  • Teach the CDC a subset of the of the material that you mastered;
  • Provide a copy of an article that you authored regarding a specific regulatory topic;
  • Describe the personal time and effort required to complete the learning process and a description of the materials mastered;

APPLY: Give specifics examples where you have / plan to make direct application to your work

  • Explain how and why you modified a business process based on your regulatory development;
  • Explain how you dealt with a work situation based on your regulatory development;
  • Explain how the expectation of the units on campus have changed based on your regulatory development;

REFLECT: Review / consider things you would have done differently had you had this experience earlier

  • Explain how your experience did / did not improve your professional development;
  • Explain what you would have done differently on your journey and why;
  • Describe what you feel you still have to learn about the topic you focused on.

Addendum A: Applicable Regulations

(Source: www.higheredcompliance.org:)