Finance Certification Training Program
ACT 101
Introduction to Accounting
Last Updated: 2/2020
Page | 1 Contents
FUND ACCOUNTING ...... 3
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS ...... 4
THE BALANCE SHEET ...... 4 THE OPERATING STATEMENT ...... 5
OUR FINANCIAL SYSTEM ...... 5
REPORTING SYSTEMS ...... 5
ACCOUNTING PERIODS ...... 4
THE CHART OF ACCOUNTS ...... 6
OBTAINING ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR FUNDS ...... 8 FTIFATA ...... 8 FTMFUND ...... 9
SEARCHING FOR ACCOUNT INFORMATION ...... 10
THE DATA DICTIONARY...... 10 FTMACCT ...... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.
SSRS WEB ...... 11
USEFUL SSRS REPORTS ...... 11
FORMS ...... 13
FINANCIAL DATA INTEGRITY...... 14
Last Updated: 2/2020
Page | 2 Fund Accounting
The University’s Controller’s Office performs most accounting functions for campus, though a certain level of accountability is extended to each department in regards to their financial data. It is important for each department to understand the management of their funds, and the basic policies and procedures they will come into contact with relating to their funds and financial activities. Rules and regulations governing financial activity play a very important role in the development of our own Accounting procedures. It is important to follow them closely, as many mandates and regulations are set by State and Federal bodies.
What is Fund Accounting? Fund Accounting is an accounting system often used by nonprofit organizations and by the public/governmental sector. Separate Funds are maintained to ensure observance of limitations and restrictions placed on resources. The nature of our business makes for a special kind of reporting – reporting that shows more detail of how our money is spent versus how much profit was made.
What is a Fund? A fund is an accounting entity with a self-balancing set of accounts consisting of both a balance sheet and an operating statement.
If you think about the University as one big city, and there are many smaller “business units” that make it up, then it makes a little more sense. Each fund could generate its own set of complete financial statements independent of all other funds.
What is all this financial data used for? Financial data is used for many things and by many agencies. Some of the uses are:
o Management Reporting o Budget Reporting o Annual Financial Reports o State Reporting . North Carolina Accounting System (NCAS) . General Administration (UNC System Governing Body) . Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM) . Office of State Controller (OSC) . Department of State Treasurer (DST) . NC Department of Revenue (NCDOR) o Federal Reporting . Internal Revenue Service (IRS) . Department of Labor (DOL) . Department of Education (DOE) . National Science Foundation (NSF)
Last Updated: 2/2020
Page | 3 Accounting Periods
The UNCW Fiscal Year -The State of North Carolina operates on a fiscal year beginning July 1 and ending each following June 30.
Accounting Period – an accounting period is a standard period of time by which financial results are measured. Accounting periods are usually measured by calendar month. Because UNCW is on the July-June Fiscal Year, our accounting periods are as follows:
Period Month Period Month 01 July 07 January 02 August 08 February 03 September 09 March 04 October 10 April 05 November 11 May 06 December 12 June 14 Accruals
You will notice a period 14 (fourteen) listed in the chart above. The reason for this extra period is that during the regular fiscal year, UNCW operates on the Cash basis of accounting. In period 14, we convert the year’s activity and detail to an Accrual basis of accounting for financial reporting purposes. It is the responsibility of the UNCW Controller’s Office along with individuals in certain other business departments to perform and reconcile this conversion each year after yearly Cash close.
Financial Statements
The Balance Sheet
o The balance sheet is a group of accounts including Assets, Liabilities, and Fund Balances. o Assets include cash, receivables, buildings, equipment, etc. o Liabilities include notes payable, accounts payable to vendors, accrued payroll, etc. o Balance Sheet Accounts are continuous and do not roll up into fund balance at the end of each Fiscal Year. o Referred to as the “General Ledger” o The balance sheet and its data are not as widely used for fund management purposes unlike the Operating Statement covered below.
Last Updated: 2/2020
Page | 4 The Operating Statement
o The operating statement is a group of accounts including Expenditures and Revenues. o This statement is the one you’re most likely to use in your day to day business activities because it contains your budgets! o Expenditures include monies paid for supplies, equipment, salaries, research, etc. o Revenues include monies brought in through tuition payment, fees, fines, and services . The University is a not-for-profit entity, therefore only a small number of funds actually record any revenues in their ledgers. . General Funds do not receive or record revenues o Operating Statement accounts are rolled up into Fund Balance at the end of each Fiscal Year, which is June 30. Each operating statement (revenue and expenditure) begins with a ZERO balance on July 1. o Referred to as the “Operating Ledger.”
Our Financial System
The financial system used by UNCW is the Banner Finance System.
o All Accounting Data is entered into Banner Finance either directly or from one of our subsystems (Travel, uShop, AIM, etc) o Runs accounting Processes o Posts transactions to ledgers o Allows access to Accounting data for departments and managers o Must have specific access to view and process o Using Banner as it relates to viewing chart of accounts detail is discussed in a later section
Reporting Systems
Banner Production Banner Finance provides us real-time activity and balances within the system. Journal entries and processes are examples of real-time activity. Reports run from Banner Production will have up to the minute data. T o Internet Native Banner (INB) . This is version of Banner often referred to as “Teal” or “Banner Hawkeye”. Currently, INB is used for both query and maintenance throughout campus.
SSRS SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Service) is a Microsoft reporting tool which allows us to design and execute more detailed financial reports. SSRS runs from a database environment and for most reporting purposes will not contain real-time activity and balances. As of right now, our database warehouse is updated nightly so reports run in SSRS reflect the previous business day’s activity.
Last Updated: 2/2020
Page | 5 • SSRS is the web based reporting repository currently used at UNCW. Some reports may still be run in Banner itself and saved to an older repository system called Eprint. Most Business Affairs Finance areas are in the process of converting remaining Eprint reports to the SSRS system.
The Chart of Accounts
A Chart of Accounts is a list of all funds, accounts and attributes tracked by an accounting system. It is designed to capture financial information which can ultimately be used for reporting, analysis, and decision making.
The Chart of Accounts consists of assets, liabilities, fund balances, revenues, and expenditures. In other words, all account groups making up the General and Operating Ledgers.
The Chart of Accounts is made up of several different “Chart Fields”, not just account numbers.
A Chart Field is a data element that defines a portion of a transaction. Chart fields are needed to segregate data for various types of financial reporting.
UNCW Operates with TWO active charts:
W – Default chart for all fiscal activity (Periods 01-12)
Z – Chart used for by Financial Accounting for Accrual reporting purposes only (Period 14)
UNCW Chart Fields (FOAP)
o Fund o Organization o Account o Program
FUND (Fund) – REQUIRED - A numeric designation for a fiscal and accounting entity. A fund represents the type of money being spent. A Banner Fund is six (6) digits long and has its own set of accounts. Activity is recorded separately in these specific funds in order to carry on specific activities or attain certain objectives in accordance with prevailing regulations, restrictions, or limitations. The chart below shows the breakdown of the different fund ranges. Fund Data Entry Money Source Range General funds - Departmental 1xxxxx - 18xxxx Trust - Departmental 2xxxxx - 27xxxx Trust - Overhead 28xxxx Trust - Clearing Accounts 299xxx Auxiliary 3xxxxx Capital Improvement 4xxxxx Contract & Grant 5xxxxx Financial Aid 6xxxxx Endowment 7xxxxx Agency Funds 9xxxxx UNCW Sponsored Conferences 98xxxx Last Updated: 2/2020
Page | 6 Organization (Org) - The Organization represents the Division, School, and Department. In short, it’s whose money you’re spending. Organizations are five (5) digits long and are required for data entry. The Org code will default in Banner based on your FUND for most data entry purposes.
Account (Acct) – REQUIRED – A six (6) digit numeric designation for an individual asset, liability, equity, revenue, and expenditure classification. Accounts are one of the most important parts in classifying and reporting on specific activities. It is important to code your expenditures correctly so that activity is reported accurately and can be correctly interpreted in reports. The chart below shows the breakdown of account number ranges.
Account Data Entry What kind of activity? Range Revenues 1xxxxx Expenditures 9xxxxx Fund Balance 3xxxxx Assets 4xxxxx Liabilities 5xxxxx
When considering Expenditures, there are two types of Accounts to remember: Budget Pools and Expenditure Detail Accounts. Budget pool accounts also begin with 9xxxxx and usually end in 000. These accounts are available for budget transactions ONLY. Expenditure detail accounts are available for actual expenditures being made, not budget entries. The words “Budget Pool” generally appear in the title of a Budget Pool line.
Program – The Program is a three (3) digit numeric designation for group activities, operations or other units directed to attaining specific purposes or objectives. These are defined by the National Association of Colleges and University Business Officers (NACUBO) standards. The Program code will default based on Banner FUND for most data entry and query purposes. The chart below provides an example of a few Program codes from our Chart.
Prog Data Entry Reason for receipt/expenditure Values Instruction 101 Summer-Term Instruction 102 Non-Credit Receipts Supported Instruction 103 Organized Research 110 Community Services 142 Libraries 151 General Academic Support 152 Student Services 160
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Page | 7 Obtaining additional information about your Funds
You can find more detail about your fund using BANNER query screens.
FTIFATA is a query screen in Banner Finance that contains information such as:
o Responsible persons and email ID’s (aka Budget Authority) o NCAS (North Carolina Accounting System) Attribute Information Budget Codes o
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Page | 8 FTMFUND is a Banner Finance Query Form that contains information such as: o Fund Title o Effective date/Last activity date o Fund Type o NCAS Predecessor o Bank o Default Org o Default Program
Last Updated: 2/2020
Page | 9 Effective Dating – This method of dating is used in Banner to record changes made to funds such as Org and Prog changes. The most current effective date is always displayed. If you are looking for an Org or Prog code that does not appear on the fund, it is possible it was changed. You should be able to scroll through the different dates using the next record function on the Banner form.
Org codes on past fiscal data will not automatically appear in Banner as only the most current Org default is displayed. If you are searching for past balances or transactions and are returning no results, make sure you manually enter the correct Org code for that time.
Searching for Account information
The Data Dictionary
Available to campus in May 2016, the Data Dictionary contains a list of all revenue and expense accounts available in Banner. It also includes definitions for every account.
ACT 105 in the Finance Training Program provides detailed information about the Data Dictionary and how to use it, and other important information about account codes.
The Data Dictionary can be found here in the “Banner Accounts” section: http://uncw.edu/genaccoun/fundandaccount.html
Last Updated: 2/2020
Page | 10 SSRS Web
You can find additional information and detail about chart fields and other financial data through the use of SSRS Web Reports. Contact your department’s SSRS developer for questions regarding your areas reporting needs.
SSRS (SQL Reporting Services) Web is a web based reporting system. Access to SSRS Web is granted as part of the Banner Finance Access Package. Information on how to access SSRS Web Reports, opening reports and report navigation can be found here http://uncw.edu/itsd/documents/SSRSWebReports.pdf
Reports in SSRS Web can be exported into several different formats including Excel, which was previously unavailable in e-Print reports. Examples shown with the following are in PDF format.
To access campus-wide financial reports:
At UNCW Faculty Staff page http://www.uncw.edu/facultystaff/ , click on SSRS Web 2008 (enter credentials), Click “Financial Reports”, Click “Campus Reports”. Several folders are available for campus users, the ones discussed in this class are in “FOAPAL Reports” or “Miscellaneous Reports”
Useful SSRS Reports
Funds by Default Org This reports lists funds by their current default organization code. Departments may find this report useful when information is needed at the department or division level about available funding sources, and fund/org structure. This report also includes the Division in which the Org falls under, and fund effective dates/establishment dates.
Last Updated: 2/2020
Page | 11 Active Rule Codes This report lists all active rule codes. It runs from the data warehouse so is current as of the close of the previous business day. This report can be especially useful in analyzing individual transactions that occur in your fund and accounts. The report contains rule codes and rule code descriptions.
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Page | 12 FORMS
Banner Fund Establishment
Effective April 2014, all fund establishment forms are submitted electronically in an ImageNow workflow. When completing the form, it is important to be detailed in the title purpose, revenue and expenditure fields and also include at least two Budget Authorities. The form and instructions are available on the Controller’s Website http://www.uncw.edu/controller/LinksforForms.htm . Once the form is completed, it is submitted electronically for approval to the Senior Offer Designee in the ImageNow workflow process. Once approved , the Senior Officer Designee will route it forward in the workflow for processing. The form is also reviewed by the Associate Controller, Tax and the Budget Office before the fund is created in Banner. The person listed first as Budget Authority on the form will be notified by a system generated email that the fund has been set up and what the fund number is.
Contact Joanne Ferguson at [email protected] for more information regarding fund establishment.
Access to ImageNow and the Fund Establishment workflow, as well as training for the new process, can be obtained by contacting Julia Dudley at ext. 2-7890.
Banner Fund Change Form
To change any attributes on a fund requires an approved form also found on the Controller’s Office website: http://www.uncw.edu/controller/LinksforForms.htm. This includes items such as changing a Budget Authority or a title. This form is NOT used for Org changes. Contact Kim Blankenburg at [email protected] for more information regarding fund changes.
Important Notice about Org Changes: Changes to Organizations must be submitted to the Org Committee. Guidelines for Organization changes are available on our website at http://www.uncw.edu/Controller/OrgCommitteeInfo.html Current procedures for Org Changes are located here: http://www.uncw.edu/controller/documents/OrgProcedure3114.pdf
Contact Joanne Ferguson at [email protected] for more information regarding Org Changes.
Establishment of a Banner Account There is currently no form for establishing a Banner Account. Should you have a request for a revenue or expenditure account, please submit an email to Julia Dudley at [email protected] containing a detailed description for the purpose of account. Before requesting a new account, please refer to the Data Dictionary here http://uncw.edu/genaccoun/fundandaccount.html to be certain there is not already an account code available for your needs.
Where do I find forms? You can access the list of available Accounting forms through the Controller’s website at http://www.uncw.edu/controller/LinksforForms.htm
Last Updated: 2/2020
Page | 13 Financial Data Integrity
It may often seem as though our finance offices have an excessive amount of rules and regulations governing every transaction, process, request, etc. Our often strict policies and procedures are that way for a reason. Regulations and restrictions on funds, money, processes, etc, are set forth by UNCW officials, State guidelines, and Federal regulations. It is important that we follow the regulations and requirements set forth from our governing bodies and government agencies. State agencies governing our accounting and business practices include:
o OSC - Office of the State Controller o OSBM – Office of State Budget and Management o DST - Department of the State Treasurer o GA – NC General Administration
The accuracy of our financial data is of utmost importance. Employees, departmental managers, Senior Management, and state agencies rely on our detailed and combined financial data for many analyses and decision making purposes. Budgets are often determined based on spending trends as well as decisions about future employment opportunities and future projects.
The “backup” data our business offices often require may seem a little excessive at times and may not seem quite relevant to everyone. However, the audit trail this documentation generates is very important to the accuracy of our transactions, decisions and research. We should always be able to trace a single transaction all the way to its source document. It is always critical that you include all requested documentation with any transaction or request you make. If you submit incomplete data, there is a chance your transaction or request may be delayed.
Additional Information
Forms, policies and procedures, contact lists and more can all be accessed through the Controller’s website at
http://www.uncw.edu/controller/index.html
Last Updated: 2/2020
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