This issue of the Financial Management Office Newsletter includes information about the following:
- Message from Associate VP B&F / Controller Amy Kunz
- Fiscal Administrators Town Hall Meeting Invitation
- DOJ Bulk Data Rule
- Action Required – Clean Up Old KFS Pending Documents
- New Look FMO Website is now LIVE
- Refresher on Object Codes When Paying Stipends
- Quarterly Interest Rate for Late Vendor Payments
The Financial Management Office Newsletter is distributed monthly. Should you have any questions about this newsletter, contact Amy Kunz via email: amykunz@hawaii.edu.
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Message from Associate VP B&F / Controller Amy Kunz
Target Audience: All
Welcome Stephanie Kashiwaeda who has joined the FMO Management team as Fiscal Services Office (FSO) Director. Stephanie comes to us from the Office of Procurement Management PCard division and has extensive experience at UH, with KFS, and with cloud system support and conversions. I am excited to have her join the team!
Please extend your appreciation to Tammy-Lu Vandevender for her many years of dedicated service to FMO/FSO and the University. She will be acting in the capacity of Project Manager for the balance of the calendar year - helping to ensure a smooth transition of her responsibilities to Stephanie as well as continuing to support the activities around the conversion of KFS to the cloud next year.
If there are any questions, please email amykunz@hawaii.edu.
Fiscal Administrators Town Hall Meeting Invitation
Target Audience: All
The Financial Management Office will be hosting a Fiscal Administrators’ Town Hall Meeting via Zoom on Wednesday, November 19, 2025 from 10-11:30am.
Please mark your calendar and join us by using the Zoom Webinar info below:
https://hawaii.zoom.us/j/86131174325?pwd=MeFS4iQp2aH0eF7KwRHGotteuEV7Lu.1\
Webinar ID: 861 3117 4325
Password: 460319
The PowerPoint presentation and webinar recording will be available soon after completion of the meeting on | Fiscal Administrators.
If you want to include agenda topics or have any questions or concerns, please let Amy know at amykunz@hawaii.edu.
DOJ Bulk Data Rule
Target Audience: All
In April 2025, the Department of Justice (DOJ) implemented its final rule, “” under the directive of .
The rule restricts or prohibits the sharing of large quantities of sensitive personal and U.S. government-related data with certain entities/individuals that are located in and/or controlled by a country of concern. The goal is to stop certain foreign adversaries from accessing large amounts of sensitive U.S. data.
Examples of the types of data include: government employee data, genomic data, biometric identifiers, geolocation data, health and financial data, and covered personal identifiers. The thresholds vary by data type and apply to de-identified, anonymized, pseudonymized, and encrypted data, which is a significant departure from other privacy laws.
The countries of concern are: China (including Hong Kong and Macau), Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Venezuela. Note this rule may extend to other non-U.S. entities/individuals as well, in the form of contractual flow down language.
Noncompliance with this rule can result in potential civil and criminal penalties. A is available to help determine if the rule applies to your program’s data sharing transactions. Information on the Bulk Data Rule will also be presented at the FMO Town Hall on November 19, 2025.
For questions, contact datagov@hawaii.edu.
Action Required – Clean Up Old KFS Pending Documents
Target Audience: KFS Users
As we continue preparations for the migration of KFS to the Kuali Cloud next year, we want to take the opportunity to clean up all old pending (SAVED, ENROUTE) documents to ensure a smooth transition.
A number of KFS document types must be in a final status (fully approved, disapproved, or canceled) before we perform the cutover. More information on the specific document types impacted will be shared in early 2026.
Required Departmental Action
To assist with this essential effort, please take action prior to October 31:
Review your KFS Action List and cancel or disapprove any old documents (SAVED or ENROUTE) that are no longer required.
FSO Deadline and Clean-Up
In mid-November, the Fiscal Services Office (FSO) will begin automatically canceling all pending documents that were initiated before January 1, 2024.
Please share this directive immediately with all departmental staff who have KFS access. Your timely action is critical to the success of this system migration.
If you have any questions, please contact the Fiscal Services Office at fissrv@hawaii.edu.
New Look FMO Website is now LIVE
Target Audience: All
The Financial Management Office (FMO) is pleased to announce that a NEW version of the FMO website went live as of October 1, 2025. This is a new look and the URL did not update.
FMO website URL: /fmo/
The move to this new version freshens and modernizes the overall look and preserves the informational content from the legacy version. Aside from some minor formatting differences (such as sidebars appearing on the left instead of the right, and updates to some link icons), website navigation, page content, and links essentially remain the same.
Please note that the Helpful Links section that was located at the lower portion of the FMO Home page has been moved to the footer section of the new website.
Refresher on Object Codes When Paying Stipends
Target Audience: Fiscal Administrators and staff
There is a common misinterpretation that all stipends qualify as non-taxable scholarships. From an accounting and tax perspective, a stipend is simply a general term for payment, and its proper classification depends entirely on the purpose of the payment and the recipient’s obligations.
To qualify as non-service financial assistance (ie, a qualified or non-qualified scholarship) the recipient:
- Must not be an employee for the purpose of the payment.
- Cannot be required to perform services in exchange for the payment (regardless of the duration of the services).
If services are required, the payment must be classified as compensation for work.
The following guidance, defines the appropriate use of KFS Object codes 6500 and 6503.
Object code 6500 requires students self-report since no Form 1099 Misc is generated.
Object code 6503 is used for US Nonresident Alien students and is reported using Form 1042-S for federal tax withholding.
Use object code 6500 or 6503 when payments are made for:
- Student tuition and the student is not obligated to provide services or do anything in return.
- Student research for his or her course assignments and there are no obligations to provide services or do anything in return.
- Student on non-qualified scholarship (i.e. travel expenses for his or her classes, dormitory fees, or anything that are not tuition, books and fees) and student is not obligated to provide services (work) to receive such financial assistance.
Whenever work (service) is required in order to receive financial assistance for students’ educational costs, such financial assistance would not be qualified scholarship/ fellowship or nonqualified scholarship/fellowship and should be reported as other income on Form 1099-Misc or Form 1042-S (for foreign students) using KFS object code 7245.
Should you have any questions, please call me at (808) 956-7162 or email me at kenlum@hawaii.edu.
Quarterly Interest Rate for Late Vendor Payments
Target Audience: Fiscal Administrators and Fiscal Support Staff
Pursuant to Section 103-10 of the Hawai`i Revised Statutes, the interest rate for obligations related to goods delivered or services performed remaining unpaid after 30 days is equal to the prime rate for each calendar quarter plus two percent. The interest rate is adjusted quarterly using the prime rate as posted in the Wall Street Journal on the first business day of the month preceding the calendar quarter. Please refer to the for the 4th quarter interest rate and calculation.
Should there be any questions, please call the Disbursing Office at (808) 956-5535.