Welcome to Academic Accounting and Business Services (AABS). AABS strives to be adaptable, motivated, and responsive to our customers. We pride ourselves on being customer‐focused and open to new ideas.
In 2011, the Provost proposed the idea of consolidating business services from 26 academic non-college departments into a single office, under the purview of the Office of the Provost & Executive Vice President. Centralization aimed to capitalize on shared expertise and provide departments with more consistent delivery of services, data, and reporting.
In 2023, as the university was restructuring, Academic Affairs and Business Services moved into the Division of Finance and Business Services and became Academic Accounting and Business Services.
AABS continues to consistently deliver high-quality accounting and business services to departments across Texas A&M University.
Purchases, travel, and disbursement of funds must be made in accordance with the State of Texas laws, applicable statutes and regulations, the State Comptroller's guidelines, Texas A&M System Policies and Regulations, and Texas A&M Rules and Standard Administrative Procedures. This website, the AABS Customer Reference Manual, is derived from these sources.
This manual is intended to provide basic information and, more specifically, procedures for departments serviced by Academic Accounting Business Services (AABS).
AABS will maintain a form for each department - updating it as requested by the department head and forwarding back to the department head for signature. The department head will sign the updated form and return it to AABS. Each subsequent form approved and submitted will replace the previous form. Contact ats@tamu.edu to make any changes to the approver list.
The role of the Department Liaison (DL) includes:
- Serve as the primary contact if the documentation submitted to AABS on the Laserfiche forms (DCS, etc.) is insufficient or requires additional clarification. If other individuals in the department submit these items (invoices, payment card receipts, packing slips, etc.), the department liaison will receive a courtesy notification from Laserfiche that an item has been submitted.
- Receive copies of invoices and IDTs requiring review and submission to AABS for final processing.
- May maintain a department payment card or assist others in the department who are payment cardholders. While the ultimate responsibility for the timely submission of itemized receipts lies with the cardholder, the DL may provide assistance or an advisory role as needed.
- Serve as a backup point of contact for all AABS teams if they cannot reach individuals in the department.
- Point new departmental employees towards the AABS services and orient them on interacting with us as needed.