What the heck is
C-W-I-P
and
Why should I care?
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
CFO
So what is CWIP, anyway?
CWIP=
Construction Work in Progress
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
CFO
More About CWIP
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Accounting process
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Holding account for property costs not yet ready to be placed in
service
Completion
Asset placed in service
Transferred from CWIP account to an Asset account
Inventory procedures are applied
Tagging, depreciation, annual inventory, loans, borrows,
transfers, etc.
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Larger context

Proper use of fund types for activities of creating or enhancing
assets
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
CFO
And Why Should I Care?

Timely closeout matters!
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Compliance with DOE accounting procedures
Visible to regulatory and auditing agencies
Can impact life cycle/funding of projects
Appropriate use of funds (“color of money”)
Responsibility
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Belongs to research program/Principal Investigator
Financial management community supports research program
Policy and processes are Lab checks & balances for accountability
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
CFO
CWIP Policy

Formalized and published August 2005
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CFO website URL:
http://www.lbl.gov/Workplace/CFO/co/ga/pa/cwip.html
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Describes roles and responsibilities
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Divisions
Property Accounting
Budget Office
Property Management
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
CFO
CWIP Policy (cont.)

Flow chart of project accounting procedures

Table - Plant and Capital Equipment (PACE)
criteria, guidelines and procedures
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PACE Project Life Cycle Form
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
CFO
What’s New?

PACE Life Cycle Form (electronic)
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Role of Property Accounting
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Improve work flow
Track progress
One clear process “owner”
Uses PACE form for processing
Reviews proper use of funds (aka “color of money”)
Dedicated staff to process CWIP
Property Management
Additional Processes
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CWIP Project Log on website
Follow up on status of closed project IDs
Follow up on project IDs with no recent activity
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
CFO
PACE Project Life Cycle Form
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
CFO
Plant and Capital Equipment (PACE)
Project Life Cycle Form
Date _____________
Submitted by ___________________________Extension ____________
Partial Project Closure
New Project
Closed Project
Division
Project ID
Parent project ID:
Project title
Estimated completion date
For fabrications Estimated useful life: ____ years
Prototype?
Yes
No
Number of units:
Asset description
Specific asset location*
Property disposed of? Yes
No
n/a
Date of disposal:
Project or prototype
Yes
abandoned?
No
n/a
Date abandoned:
Contact (PI or Custodian) Name:
Extension:
Alternate contact Name:
Extension:
Property tag number
(if available)
Project completion date
Comments
* Need exact location for tagging
For Fabrications,
complete table below:
Fiscal
Year
Year
Click here for Facilities
Construction Projects
Annual Cost
Labor
Annual Cost
Other
Total
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
Total Project Cost
$0.00
Total Project Cost must be > $25K (includes > $5K of labor)
Accounting approval (initials): _______
For assistance, contact Helena Cheng, Property Accounting ([email protected]), or extension 4044
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
Email completed form to Helena Cheng (see email address above)
CFO
PACE Project
Life Cycle Form (cont.)
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Submission through project life cycle
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New project opening
Partial completion or capitalization
Completion or closeout
Critical information
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Description of asset (including location)
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Sufficiently detailed for assessing proper use of funds
Estimated useful life
Estimated completion date
Who to contact for additional information
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
CFO
What is the
“Color of Money”?

The proper use of funds
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Impacts
Project opening
 Requisitions
Final processing by Property Accounting
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Approval processes addressing “color of money” for
requisitions are currently being implemented
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
CFO
“Color of Money”
Flow Chart
Funding Options
Construction
(Real Property)
Repair
Maintenance
Alteration
Experimental & Demo
Operating
Divisional
Institutional
Exp & Pilot
Non-Cap
Alterations
Equipment
(Personal Property)
New
Construction
GPP
<$50K
< 2 year service life
Line Item
Addition
Betterment
Conversion
Operating
>$50K
>2 year service life
Divisional
Institutional
Capital
Equipment
(CE)
GPE
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
CFO
Resource Analysts’ Tasks
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Confirm availability of funds, including “color of money” issues
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Obtain and document descriptive information from PI
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Complete and submit Pace Life Cycle form at appropriate times
in project life cycle
 Open
 Partial capitalization
 Abandonment
 Updated cost or completion date estimates
 Completion
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Document “color of money” considerations
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
CFO
Resource Analysts’
Tasks (cont.)
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Work with property accounting to review
exception or issues reports
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Closed project IDs
VWIP
Inactive project IDs
Requisition exceptions
Review and approve purchase requisitions over
$50,000
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
CFO
VWIP
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Phrase coined by CWIP working group
VALID work in progress
Identify when work is still in progress (probably
at higher project ID hierarchy level) examples:
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Work orders
Complex Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
Provide comment for CWIP log, identify parent
project, estimated completion date
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
CFO
Your Input Matters

We need your help to make this work in support
of the scientific programs

How can we effectively propagate this policy to
the Principal Investigators?

Suggestions (venues, exercises, examples)
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
CFO
Questions/Discussion
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
CFO
Contact Us…

Lesta Nadel
x 4670

Tim Young
x 4832
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Michele Mock
x 2415

Anil More
x 5254
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
CFO