In accordance with the 2024-25 winter closure schedule, Stanford University will be officially closed for regular business from Monday, Dec. 23, 2024 through Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. Normal business hours will resume Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. All hours listed are in Pacific Time (PT) unless noted. This page summarizes important deadlines, guidance, and emergency information related to financial activities during Stanford’s winter closure.
Time Reporting and Payroll Administration
Payroll will be open through the close of business Friday, Dec. 20 and then will be closed during winter closure. Payroll will reopen on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. For more guidance, including details on timecards and paychecks, see the Time Reporting and Payroll Administration section below.
Payment Deadlines
Important cutoff schedules and specific payment deadlines (including invoice payments, advances, non-PO payments, petty cash, and reimbursements) are available in the Payment Deadlines section below.
Purchasing and Delivery Instructions
For specific ordering and delivery instructions, review the Purchasing and Delivery Instructions section below.
Deposits and Cash Management
- Department cash and check deposits to be posted in the 2024 calendar year must be deposited by 5 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024 on the JPM mobile app, at a Wells Fargo branch, or via the Wells Fargo desktop. Note that cash can only be deposited at a Wells Fargo branch.
- During winter closure, donor gift checks can be placed in the drop boxes at Arrillaga Alumni Center or the Edwards Building. The Alumni Center box is located at the delivery entrance off Memorial Drive. The Edwards Building box is located on the corner near Pasteur Drive. Development Services will conduct pickups from these two locations on Dec. 20 and Dec. 27-31.
- If depositors have a check that does not belong to them, deposit each check individually at a Wells Fargo branch so it will go to the Unidentified Receipts website within Deposits and Receipts Manager to be available for claiming. Do not send it to the Office of the Treasurer.
- Observed banking holidays are Dec. 25 and Jan. 1. Mobile app deposits made on these dates will be posted the following business day. Deposits made after Dec. 31, 2024 will be posted on Jan. 2, 2025.
- PTA correction assistance will resume Jan. 6, 2025 with no effect on the post date of the transaction if deposited in the previous calendar year.
- New user requests during winter close will be processed on Jan. 6, 2025.
See the Deposit Cash and Checks page for more information on the current deposit process.
PCard and TCard Guidance
If you are a cardholder or custodian of a Purchasing Card (PCard) or Travel Card (TCard), please review the three quick steps to protect your card from fraud over winter closure.
OBI Financial Reporting
The Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) daily builds will not occur during winter closure, as in past years. The last OBI Financial Reporting, CMS, and FFIT data refresh before winter close will be Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024 (reflecting data as of Dec. 20). The builds will resume as normal on Sunday evening, Jan. 5, 2025, and data will be up to date on Monday, Jan. 6 (reflecting data as of Jan. 5).
Services and Support During Winter Closure
Financial Systems Support, including the Financial Support Center, will be officially closed during Stanford’s winter closure (Monday, Dec. 23, 2024 through Friday, Jan. 3, 2025). All production and infrastructure applications will continue to be available during this time, and limited staff will be available to monitor systems and ensure that critical applications and services remain running. To report a system outage or other emergency, call 650-725-HELP (5-4357) or submit a support request. A small number of staff will be on hand to support emergency requests and will respond as soon as possible. Non-emergency messages will be addressed beginning Monday, Jan. 6, 2025.
Emergency Contacts
Although officially closed, some departments will be available to respond to emergency needs during winter closure, with the exception of weekends and official university holidays.
If you have an emergency need, please leave a concise message and your call will be returned within 24 hours, except as noted above.
| Submit an emergency support request to the Financial Support Center. |
| Card Services |
|
| Office of the Treasurer | The Office of the Treasurer (OOT) will maintain core banking activities in a limited capacity during winter closure (see dates above). Please submit a support request if you have an urgent issue or questions during this time. OOT will not be available Dec. 25-26, 2024 or Jan. 1, 2025. |
| Payroll | Payroll will be available to address critical pay issues during winter closure (see dates above). Payroll will not be available on Dec. 24-25, 2024 or Jan. 1, 2025. Please submit a Payroll support request if you have an urgent issue during this time. |
| University Bill Payments | Contact Student Services Center, 650-723-7772. |
| Emergency Help & Service Outages | Contact Stanford Services & Support, 650-725-HELP (4357). |
Timecard Deadlines (in Axess Timecard)
| First pay period in December (Dec. 1-15) | Second pay period in December (Dec. 16-31) | Requests for missing pay |
|---|---|---|
|
| Payroll will accept requests for missing pay (via off-cycle payment request with appropriate approvals) through the close of business on Friday, Dec. 20. |
Reminders:
- Supervisors/timecard administrators should be especially careful when approving Axess Timecard entries for the Dec. 1-15 pay period to minimize any pay corrections that may need to be facilitated by their department, as payday falls within the winter closure.
- Please submit a Payroll support request for questions about pay corrections.
Reporting Time in Axess Timecard
Designated Stanford holidays this year are Tuesday, Dec. 24, Wednesday, Dec. 25, and Wednesday, Jan. 1. The university will provide three (3) additional days off with pay. Specified departments that do not fully close during winter closure will be eligible to apply “Additional Day Off” hours in January 2025.
Reporting Additional Days Off With Pay
To allow for usage tracking of the additional days with pay related to winter closure, each employee will have three (3) additional days off granted to them on Friday, Dec. 6, and part-time employees will receive prorated amounts based on their Standard Hours (FTE).
On Axess Timecard, employees should enter leave hours as follows:
| Exempt staff | Non-exempt staff and bargaining unit | |
|---|---|---|
| Designated university holidays | Leave the holiday dates blank. | Manually enter the appropriate number of holiday hours, otherwise Payroll will populate these on Dec. 6. |
| Additional days off | Enter up to eight (8) hours for each additional day with pay (code ADO). | Enter up to eight (8) hours, equivalent to the normal schedule for the day, for each additional day with pay (code AOH). |
The Additional Day Off time reporting codes will remain available until Friday, Jan. 31, 2025 for use by employees who were required by their business unit to work during the winter closure and thus authorized to take alternate days off by the end of January. Managers and timecard administrators will need to ensure that only those employees who are eligible to use Additional Day Off hours past winter closure do so.
Employees may use the following options for covering the remaining closure dates:
- Floating holiday for 2024 (expires Dec. 31 each year)
- Personal time off (PTO) for 2024 (expires Dec. 31 each year)
- Accrued vacation time
- Time off borrowed from:
- December 2024 vacation accrual, which is normally not available for use until Jan. 1 (up to one month's accrual is permitted)
- 2025 PTO accrual (up to 24 hours for a full-time employee)
- 2025 floating holiday accrual (up to 16 hours for a full-time employee)
- Leave without pay
Use of sick time is not permitted during this period except for those on approved short-term disability leave filed with AbsenceOne.
Time Off Borrowed from 2025 PTO and Floating Holiday Accrual and December 2024 Vacation Accrual
Enter as normal:
- Axess Timecard has been programmed to allow overdrafts for December only.
- Employees who have a negative leave balance because of borrowed time will have the difference subtracted, either from:
- Vacation from their December 2024 grant
- Floating holiday and PTO from January 2025 grants
Terminal vacation: Employees on terminal vacation are not eligible for holiday pay, additional days off with pay, or leave borrowing. Available leave hours should be used to continue pay for all winter closure days. Note: Terminal vacation is sunsetting as of Jan. 1, 2025, and will no longer be offered. While eligible employees may start terminal vacation leave up until Dec. 31, 2024, the deadline for HR to submit the web forms for processing is Dec. 20, 2024.
Reminders related to borrowing time:
- Borrowing will be enabled beginning on Friday, Dec. 6 to allow employees to enter their leave for the winter closure in advance. Borrowed hours must not be used to cover time that would otherwise be unpaid prior to the start of winter closure.
- As much as possible, borrowed hours should be entered before the close of the Dec. 16-31 pay period. If borrowed hours are entered after the fact, please submit a support request to Payroll as accruals must be manually adjusted.
- Vacation must be used before borrowing 2025 leave accruals. Employees who have available vacation balances must use vacation to cover days off during winter closure before borrowing their 2025 PTO or floating holiday.
- Borrowing 2025 PTO and floating holiday:
- Full-time employees are allowed to borrow up to 24 hours of PTO and 16 hours of floating holiday.
- Part-time employees should not borrow PTO or floating holiday in excess of the amount that they will be granted on Jan. 1.
- Employees who borrow more time than they are granted will have their vacation balance reduced until the overdraft is recovered.
Pay Statements
The Dec. 1-15 pay period is the last pay period of tax year 2024.
- Employees will receive their pay for the Dec. 1-15 pay period one day early; payday is Thursday, Dec. 19.
- Direct deposits will post into bank accounts on Thursday, Dec. 19 by 5 p.m.
- Online pay statements will be available in Axess for all employees to review (including those who receive live paychecks) on Tuesday, Dec. 17.
Employees who receive a live paycheck: All live checks will be mailed to the employee’s mailing address on file. Payroll will not be able to reissue any live check not received for the Dec. 1-15 pay period until after winter closure. As always, employees are encouraged to enroll for direct deposit instead of receiving a live check to guarantee that their pay will post to their bank account on payday. Stop payment requests received after the close of business on Friday, Dec. 20 will be processed after winter closure.
Payroll Administration During Winter Closure
Payroll will be on call to address critical pay issues during winter closure. An example of a critical pay issue would be an involuntary termination of an employee scheduled to work during winter closure. These issues should be directed to Payroll by submitting a support request.
Voluntary terminations must be effective on a regular day of work, so therefore must be on a day that the employee is reporting to work either before or after winter closure, unless the employee is required to work during the winter closure due to a critical business function that has been approved by the dean, vice president, or vice provost of the business unit. Please note the deadlines to submit termination web forms to allow Payroll to handle pay appropriately for terminating employees during winter closure:
| Termination effective date range | Deadline to submit termination web form |
|---|---|
| Friday, Dec. 13 through Friday, Dec. 20 | Thursday, Dec. 12 |
| Monday, Dec. 23 through Tuesday, Jan. 7 | Tuesday, Dec. 17 |
Questions? Need Help?
For questions or help with timecards, please contact a local HR Manager or HR Administrator.
Requests for the following transactions must be submitted by the dates indicated below to be processed before winter close. Payment Handling Methods and Processing Times are available to help approximate the turnaround time for transactions.
Expense Requests System (ERS) Transactions: Expense Reports, Visitor Reimbursements, Advances, Digital Payments, Non-PO Payments, and Petty Cash Replenishment Requests
| Standard deadline | Rush priority/will call deadline |
|---|---|
| Submit and approve in ERS by Friday, Dec. 6, 5 p.m. | Submit and approve in ERS by Friday, Dec. 13, 5 p.m. Rush ERS payment processing is one to two business days (plus U.S. mail delivery or bank processing time). Rush ERS payments can be requested for a $35 fee; see detailed instructions. |
| Important: To prevent expenses from being treated as taxable income, an expense reimbursement request must be submitted into ERS with all appropriate receipts or backup documentation within 60 days after the end of travel (for travel expenses), the expense posted date (for non-travel expenses), or expected clearing date (for advances). The 60-day limit includes the two weeks during winter closure and does not provide exception days for the holiday period. |
Invoice Payments
| Standard deadline | Rush priority/will call deadline |
|---|---|
Submit by Friday, Dec. 6, 5 p.m. Every effort will be made to process items received after Dec. 6, but there are no guarantees. | Submit by Friday, Dec. 13, 5 p.m. Rush invoice processing times are one to two business days (plus U.S. mail delivery or bank processing time). Rush invoice payments can be requested for a $35 fee. These requests must be labeled as "rush" on the invoice and uploaded to an approved purchase order; see detailed instructions. |
Will Call Checks
Accounts Payable will call checks may be picked up at the Stanford Redwood City campus by scheduling an appointment. Important: The building entry to University Hall in Redwood City is limited; Payment Services staff will greet you at the front lobby of University Hall to disburse the check. For more information, see How To: Request Rush and Will Call Payments.
Deadlines:
- Invoices must be approved and validated in Oracle Accounts Payable and “Ready for Payment” by Thursday, Dec. 19, 5 p.m. for payment on Friday, Dec. 20.
- Last will call payment will be available Friday, Dec. 20, 2024.
- When the will call check is ready for pickup, a “Redwood City Will Call Check(s)” email will be sent to the requester listed on the transaction by 1:30 p.m. to arrange a pickup date and time (by appointment only).
- Any will call checks not picked up by Friday, Dec. 20 will be held by Payment Services. Payment Services will coordinate with the requester if the check needs to be mailed out upon return from winter closure on Monday, Jan. 6.
Wire Transfers (AP Invoices and Expense Reports)
Please approve and validate invoices (ensure they display as “Ready for Payment”) in Oracle Accounts Payable by the dates below.
| Standard deadline | Rush priority deadline |
|---|---|
| Thursday, Dec. 19. 5 p.m. for payment on Friday, Dec. 20. | Friday, Dec. 20, 11 a.m. for same-day processing/payment. |
Questions? Need Help?
For questions or help prior to winter closure, please contact the Financial Support Center.
Purchasing Activities
Requests for the following purchasing transactions must be submitted by the date indicated below for processing before winter close:
- New supplier, independent contractor (IC), or visitor requests: Submit by Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024 so that the Vendor Services team can make every effort to send out the secure portal or registry to the supplier, IC, or visitor to begin the onboarding process before winter close.
- Contract requests: The purchase requisition associated with the contract request must be fully approved by Monday, Nov. 11, 2024 so that the Contracts team can make every effort to send out the contract for review and signature to the supplier before winter close.
- Purchase requisitions with a cost of $50,000 or greater (not associated with a contract): Submit by Monday, Dec. 16, 2024 as these purchases require approval from a central procurement buyer, which may increase review and processing time.
- Purchases made through the university’s purchasing systems (e.g., SmartMart Catalog Suppliers and Contracts, Amazon Business, and Non-Catalog): All purchasing systems will be available for ordering during winter close.
The Purchasing and Contracts teams will make every effort to finalize all purchase orders and contracts by Friday, Dec. 20, 2024.
Financial approvers should ensure they select delegatees to act on their behalf if there is an emergency transaction that requires approval during winter close.
Deliveries
Guidance for departments
Departments should ensure that the need-by date is a realistic delivery date and that the delivery can be signed for and accepted. Suppliers will not ship during winter closure (Monday, Dec. 23, 2024 through Friday, Jan. 3, 2025), so some orders may be delayed. If someone from the department plans to be available during winter closure to accept deliveries, they must work directly with the department’s building administrator and the supplier to make this arrangement as all purchase orders will instruct suppliers otherwise.
Guidance for suppliers
Stanford University will be closed for winter break from Monday, Dec. 23, 2024 through Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. The university will reopen on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025.
University staff will not be on campus to receive deliveries during winter closure unless specific arrangements have been made with the ordering department to receive the shipment. If there is a specific December delivery commitment that cannot be delivered by Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, please schedule the shipment to arrive as soon as possible on or after Monday, Jan. 6, 2025.
Questions? Need Help?
For unexpected requests that do not fit within these guidelines and require immediate response, please submit an emergency support request for the Financial Support Center.
