The history of the establishment of UPSI’s Bursar Department began as early as the establishment of UPSI in July 1997. Mr. Yusof bin Semahil, the Deputy Bursar of Universiti Putra Malaysia, Terengganu Branch was seconded to UPSI to help establish the Bursar Department in UPSI. He later became the first bursar of UPSI’s Bursar Department. As the pioneer in the establishment of the Bursar’s Department, he implemented many important things to ensure the smooth operation of UPSI in the early stages of its establishment. Mr. Yusof took an initiative to draft UPSI Financial and Accounting Regulations which formed the basis and reference for UPSI’s accounting and financial management activities. The Regulations continue to be used in the financial management of UPSI up to the present. Apart from drafting the UPSI Financial and Accounting Regulations, among the initial decisions made by Mr. Yusof was acquiring a suitable computerised accounting system to record and process the accounting operations of the Bursar Department. The first accounting system used in the Bursar Department in 1997 was Integrated Accounting Systems (INTACs) which was supplied by NK Systems Sdn. Bhd. This system greatly helped the operation of the Bursar Department and it was constantly streamlined and upgraded from time to time. On 16 December 1997, Mrs. Hajah Khadijah binti Hamdan reported for duty as the Deputy Bursar of UPSI and her arrival further strengthened the operations of the Bursar Department. She was responsible for assisting Mr. Yusof in administering the Bursar Department. Prior to her appointment in UPSI, she was Assistant Bursar in the Bursar Department of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). The experience and knowledge gained by her at UPM was widely used to organise the administration and overall operation of the Bursar Department to make it run more smoothly. Mr. Yusof and Mrs. Hajah Khadijah applied many procedures, forms and work systems that were practiced in UPM to UPSI’s Bursar Department as the work systems were proven to be effective in UPM. Beginning July 1997, UPSI’s Bursar Department began making payments for salaries, supplies and maintenance works. Following that, the specialisation of work and the division of tasks were made from time to time to enable the administration and management of the Bursar Department to run more smoothly in accordance with the development of UPSI itself which was growing at a rapid rate. Starting in 2005, the Bursar Department used an integrated financial information system called UPSI Integrated Management System – Financial Information System (UIMS-FIS) or Sistem Pengurusan Bersepadu UPSI which integrated all existing management systems including financial systems, student information systems, payroll systems and so on in one parent system. The Integrated Management System has seven (7) main applications, namely:-

• Academic Information System and Student Records
• Financial Information System
• Administrative Information System and Human Resources
• Property Development and Management Information System
• Graduate Students Information System
• Community Portal Information System
• Electronic Learning Information System (MyGuru)

The Financial Information System (UIMS-FIS), or better known as MyFIS, was one of the applications in the Integrated Information System and was the earliest application which was implemented comprehensively on 2 January 2005. It consisted of 11 modules, namely:-

1. Budgeting
2. Procurement
3. Account Payable
4. Account Receivable
5. Asset/Inventory Management
6. Store Management
7. General Ledger
8. Cash Management
9. Loan Management
10. Payroll
11. Management of Information System (MIS)

It met the standards set out in the Standard Accounting System for Government Agencies (SAGA) and obtained the SAGA Certificate of Compliance from the Accountant General’s Department of Malaysia on 31 May 2012. This Financial Information System was able to fulfill the following four objectives:-

1. To provide the facility to maintain a complete and up-to-date set of accounts
2. To allow accounts to be closed on a daily basis
3. To provide better financial management accounting facilities
4. To prepare pre-audit financial reports on time

Beginning 16 January 2020, the Bursar Department has adopted a new financial system developed using an open-source platform, namely PHP. Many new improvements and innovations are introduced in this UPSI’s new financial system called MyFIS Neo. The system is more advanced in technology, with lower cost and is more user friendly. Mrs. Hajah Khadijah binti Hamdan was appointed as the Bursar of UPSI on 7 August 2003, replacing Mr. Yusof bin Semahil who retired in 2003. She served as Bursar of UPSI for 16 years before retiring on 5 August 2019. Now, the Bursar Department is helmed by Mr. Hj. Mohamad Najib bin Hj. Mohamed and assisted by 1 Senior Deputy Bursar, 3 Deputy Bursars, 6 Assistant Bursars and 52 support staff. There are 9 units according to the specified areas, namely:-

1. Administration, Finance & Quality Unit
2. Payment Unit
3. Asset, Store and Development Unit
4. Payroll, Study Leave and Ticketing Unit
5. Governance, Funds & Loans Unit
6. Procurement and Contract Management Unit
7. Accounts and Budget Unit
8. Students Finance Unit
9. Generation, Risk & System Unit

The updating of the administrative structure and the addition of staff have further strengthened the management and operations of the Bursar Department to move more steadily to deal with new challenges ahead. In efforts to improve automation and electronic work environment, the Bursar Department has introduced many online applications to staff such as those found in the MyUPSI Portal application and the MyFIS Neo System. The Bursar Department will continue to strive to further improve the quality of delivery service to all customers by introducing new innovations, savings opportunities and revenue generation for UPSI. The Bursar Department will continue with the commitment to enhance service excellence with exceptional and innovative financial management for the University.