Nevada Department of Education: Chart of Accounts
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THE STATE OF NEVADA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION NEVADA COMMON ELEMENTS FOR ACCOUNTING AND REPORTING K-12 EDUCATIONAL FINANCES INCLUDING STANDARD CHART OF ACCOUNTS IN FULFILLMENT OF THE STIPULATIONS OF NEVADA REVISED STATUTES 385.310, subsection 2 and NEVADA REVISED STATUTES 385.315, subsection 2. October 14, 2008 Keith W. Rheault, Superintendent of Public Instruction James R. Wells, Deputy Superintendent Administrative and Fiscal Services Updated 3/30/2011 FOREWORD The Nevada Revised Statutes (NRS) chapter 385 section 310 subsection 2 prescribes one of the duties of the Deputy Superintendent for Administrative and Fiscal Services to be the development of a uniform system of budgeting and accounting for all public schools in the State. Additionally, the Department of Taxation is responsible for determining school district compliance with the requirements of the Local Government Budget Act (NRS 354.596). This dual authority requires a close working relationship between the Departments of Education and Taxation. As the necessity to provide for financial comparability between organizations both within and outside the State of Nevada has increased, the existing reporting structure has been expanded or modified to meet particular reporting needs with minimal coordination of the reporting elements. There are three major financial reports, one required by State law and two by Federal mandate, that compare the finances of elementary and secondary education. These are in addition to the annual budget and audited financial statement requirements in the NRS. While these reports have many commonalities, they are not identical and the collection and consolidation of the information for each has been primarily done manually with a great deal of effort on both the part of the school districts and charter schools and the Department of Education staff. To simplify these tasks, the Department of Education embarked on a project to standardize reporting elements and electronically collect and consolidate the data required for the various reports. To this end, the State Board of Education adopted a standard chart of accounts in October 2008 effective for the Fiscal Year beginning July 1, 2009. This effort was the culmination of months of work by Department of Education, school district and charter school staff. The chart of accounts was based primarily on the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) handbook entitled Financial Accounting for Local and State School Systems (2003 edition) and modified as necessary to meet the needs of Nevada school districts and charter schools. The second phase of this project is to disseminate this information to the school districts for implementation and the third and final phase is to create the platform for collecting and consolidating the data via electronic interfaces and reports. This manual replaces the Nevada Financial Accounting Handbook (1979) and provides the basis for complete accounting for all district and charter school receipts and disbursements; for developing program budgets and for accumulating and disseminating program costs. It is presented to the school districts and charter schools of Nevada with the intent to promote better efficiency and resource utilization in the financial reporting process. Keith Rheault James Wells Superintendent of Public Instruction Deputy Superintendent for Administrative and Fiscal Services Page 1 of 1 FUNDS FUND CODES A fund is a separate fiscal entity and is established to conduct specific activities and objectives in accordance with statutes, laws, regulations, and restrictions or for specific purposes. As defined by GASB, a fund is a fiscal and accounting entity with a self-balancing set of accounts recording cash and other financial resources, together with all related liabilities and residual equities or balances, and changes therein, which are segregated for the purpose of carrying on specific activities or attaining certain objectives in accordance with special regulations, restrictions, or limitations. NCES Brief code descriptions (see bottom section for subcategories and detail descriptions): 100 General Fund (Can only have one general fund) 200 Special Revenue Funds 300 Capital Projects Funds 400 Debt Service Funds 500 Permanent Funds 600 Enterprise Funds 700 Internal Service Funds 800 Trust Funds, Pension Trust Funds, Investment Trust Funds, Private-Purpose Trust Funds 900 Agency Funds Note: NCES uses one digit for fund codes. Code Description XXX Items marked with a yellow box are required for federal reporting purposes. Governmental Fund Types 100 General Fund. This fund is the chief operating fund of the school district. It is used to account for all financial resources of the school district except for those required to be accounted for in another fund. A district may have only one general fund. 200 Special Revenue Funds. This fund is used to account for the proceeds of specific revenue sources (other than trusts or major capital projects) that are legally restricted to expenditure for specified purposes. Some examples of special revenue funds are: Restricted state or federal grants-in-aid and Restricted tax levies. restricted state or federal grants-in-aid and restricted tax levies. A separate fund may be used for each identified restricted source, or one fund may be used, both options are supplemented by the classification Project/Grant Reporting code. 210 Class Size Reduction 230 Adult Education 240 State Grants 250 Special Education 260 Gifts and Donations 270 Other Special funds / Miscellaneous funds 271 Net Proceed Mitigation Fund (NRS 362.171) Taxes on patented mines and proceeds of minerals/geothermal resources - establishment and use of school district fund for mitigation. Page 1 of 3 Funds FUNDS 272 Revenue Stabilization Fund (NRS 354.6115) Fund to stabilize operation of local government and mitigate effects of natural disaster. 273 Insurance Loss Fund (NRS 393.020) Fund to manage insurance loss proceeds. Appropriate use of proceeds is detailed in NRS 393.020. 280 Federal Funds 285 Medicaid Funds 290 Food Service Funds - This fund is for food services such as breakfast, lunch, after- school and milk programs for staff and students. Policy decision of the governing board or management is to NOT recover the full cost of providing services through fees or charges. If food services are enterprise, use code 600. 300 Capital Projects Funds / Bond Issues. This fund is used to account for financial resources to be used to acquire or construct major capital facilities (other than those of Proprietary funds and trust funds). The most common source of capital projects funding is the sale of bonds or other capital financing instruments. A separate fund may be used for each capital project or one fund may be used, supplemented by the classification Project/Grant Reporting code. 310 Residential Construction Tax 330 Building and Sites (includes teacherages) 340 Governmental Services Tax (GSC) 350 "Pay As You Go" Tax Fund (property tax levied in accordance with NRS 387.3285) 360 Bond Issues 370 Capital Replacement 400 Debt Service Funds. This fund is used to account for the accumulation of resources for, and the payment of, general long-term debt principal and interest. 500 Permanent Funds. This fund is used to account for resources that are legally restricted to the extent that only earnings, and not principal, may be used for purposes that support the school district's programs. Proprietary Fund Types 600 Food Service / Enterprise Funds. This fund may be used to account for any activity for which a fee is charged to external users for goods or services. Enterprise funds are required to be used to account for any activity whose principal revenue sources meet any of the following criteria: Debt backed solely by revenues from fees and charges (thus, not debt that is backed by the full faith and credit of the school district) Legal requirement to recover costs through fees and charges. Policy decision of the governing board or management is to recover the costs of providing services through fees or charges Some examples of enterprise funds are activities such as the food service catering programs, concessions for sporting events, the bookstore operation, the athletic stadium, or the community swimming pool. Page 2 of 3 Funds FUNDS 700 Insurance & Risk Management / Internal Service Funds. This fund may be used to account for any activity within the school district that provides goods or services to other funds, departments, component units, or other governments on a cost- reimbursement basis. The use of an internal service fund is appropriate only for activities in which the school district is the predominant participant in the activity. Otherwise, the activity should be reported as an enterprise fund. Examples of internal service funds are such activities as central warehousing and purchasing, central data processing, and central printing and duplicating. 701 Insurance Property Casualty 702 Health Insurance 703 Workers Compensation 704 Unemployment Compensation 705 Other Insurance / Risk 710 Graphic Arts Fiduciary Fund Types 800 Trust Funds. These funds are used to account for assets held by a school district in a trustee capacity for others (e.g., members and beneficiaries of pension plans, external investment pools, or private purpose trust arrangements) and therefore cannot be used to support the school district's own programs. Trust funds are generally accounted for on the economic resources measurement focus and the accrual basis of accounting