Financial Records System Manual


GLOSSARY
ACCOUNT     -     A specific entity that serves a particular accounting purpose. One person usually has primary responsibility for the entity. Accounts include balance sheets and revenue/expenditure accounts. Balance sheets are in the GL; revenue and expense accounts are in the SL. Also, see 6-DIGIT ACCOUNT and 10-DIGIT ACCOUNT.
ACCOUNT CONTROL IN GL   -   The last four digits in the account number for a General Ledger account, designating a specific asset, liability, fund balance, fund addition, fund deduction, or summary control. Examples are student receivables and accounts payable.
ATTRIBUTES   -   These are nondollar descriptive characteristics about an account. They are stored with dollar data on the data base. Examples are school, department, account title, name and responsible person. Attributes support a variety of sophisticated reporting techniques and remove the need for descriptive data embedded in the account number.
AUTOMATIC BUDGET REALLOCATION (ABR)   -   The method by which the system automatically transfers budget dollars from predefined budget pools to subcodes. This occurs when a transaction or commitment occurs at the detail subcode level and ABR is active.
BATCH   -   A control mechanism to track real time posting of a group of financial transaction.
BUDGET   -   A plan of financial operations for some future period, expressed in monetary terms.
BUDGET POOL   -   Budget summarized at significant levels of revenue or expense.
COMPOUND JOURNAL ENTRY   -   A transaction that posts more than one debit or credit.
DATA COLLECT SCREENS   -   These allow the user to enter numerous transactions and update the data base at a later time. Transactions are held in a temporary file prior to the specified posting time.
DELETE FLAG  -   Logically removes account from the data base while maintaining it for audit purposes. An account with the delete flag on is not removed from the database until year-end processing.
DIAGNOSTICS   -   Messages that describe the results of processing.
DOLLAR DATA   -   A record of the dollar amount and the type of financial transactions posted to an account.
ENCUMBRANCES   -   An obligation incurred in the form of a purchase order or contact for goods or services ordered but not yet received. Also called an Open Commitment.
ENTRY CODE   -   Mandatory for all FRS transactions, these codes are the first three digits on a transaction. They are predefined by the system. They uniquely identify the transaction type: for example, TC=030-039 is a cash receipt; TC=020 is an original budget, etc., also called Transaction Code.
FREEZE FLAG   -   Specifies that transactions cannot be posted to an account.
FUND   -   An accounting entity (6-digit GL account) with a self-balancing set of 10-digit accounts for recording assets, liabilities, a fund balance and changes in the balance.
FUND GROUP   -   A related collection of funds (6-digit GL accounts). Examples include Current Unrestricted, Current Restricted, Loan, Endowment, Plant & Agency. Fund groups are often subdivided further.
GENERAL LEDGER (GL)   -   Balance sheet accounts for the institution. All GL account numbers begin with the ledger number zero (0).
GLOBAL SUBCODE EDIT (GSE)   -   A system edit which checks each new 10-digit account created, against a table which specifies valid combinations of 6-digit accounts and subcodes.
INDIRECT UPDATING   -   One direct transaction automatically causes FRS to update other accounts, such as claim-on-cash, bank balance, fund balance, revenue and expenditure summaries or outstanding encumbrances.
LEDGER   -   The system contains two ledgers: the GL (balance sheet) and the SL (revenue and expense). The leading digit of the account number indicates the ledger. Zero (0) designates the GL; 1-9 designates the SL. Nine Subsidiary Ledger assignments group accounts in the SL. Special system edits are often built around ledger assignments.
MAPPING   -   Users assign mapping codes to SL accounts. Codes track to GL accounts. Many SL accounts may map to one GL account, and one-to-one relationships may exist.
OPEN COMMITMENT   -   Synonymous with Encumbrance.
PRORATION  -   A month-end automatic journal entry whereby the system analyzes dollars in a predefined combination of accounts, and then it debits a predefined 10-digit account and credits a predefined 10-digit account with a predefined percentage or fixed dollar amount of the dollars analyzed. Indirect cost expense is an example of a proration.
SESSION   -   A control mechanism to track real-time posting of a group of financial transactions in order to provide an audit trail. Also called a batch.
6-DIGIT ACCOUNT   -   A GL 6-digit account is a fund which consists of a self-balancing set of 10-digit accounts. When a user creates a 6-digit account, FRS automatically creates 10-digit accounts. An SL 6-digit account is an entity of revenues and/or expenses.
SPLIT ENCUMBRANCE   -   An encumbrance which applies to several accounts.
SUB CODE IN SL   -   The last four digits in the SL account number, designating revenue and/or expenditure budget line within the 6-digit account.
SUBSIDIARY LEDGER (SL)   -   Revenue and expenditure accounts for the institution. All SL account numbers begin with a ledger number 1-9.
SUSPENSE ACCOUNT   -   Repository for dollar transactions (cash receipts, cash disbursements & journal entries) entered with invalid account numbers. The account specified may not exist, or it may be deleted/frozen. If one of these conditions exist, the system directs the transaction to a suspense account.
10-DIGIT ACCOUNT   -   A 10-digit GL account records a line item (assets, liabilities, fund balance, fund addition, fund deduction) associated with a fund (GL 6-digit account). A 10-digit SL account is a detailed revenue or detailed expense of the SL 6-digit account.
TRANSACTION CODE   -   Synonymous with Entry Code.