F.A.B. Frequently Used Terms

Transcription

1 F.A.B. Frequently Used Terms Following is a listing of frequently used terms that a user may encounter in working with the FAB system. While this list does not purport to be all inclusive, it is an excellent starting point that the Service Center Team believes will assist the campus user in better utilizing the FAB system. The Service Center Team hopes to make this a living document that is updated based upon requests for additional clarifications of terms as requested by the campus users. Any additional requests for explanations or clarifications of terms should be sent directly to the FAB Service Center at or us at fabhelp@syr.edu. Brought to you by the FAB Service Center Version 1

2 -A- Account...5 Accounting Period...5 Account Type...5 Activity Fiscal Year to Date (YTD)...5 Activity (Activity Identification Number (Activity ID))...5 Actuals (Actuals Amount)...5 Actual Ledger...5 Available Budget Balance...5 -B- Balance...6 Base Budget Adjustment (Adj)...6 Budget (Budget Amount)...6 Budget Class...6 Budget Header Status...6 Budget Period...6 Budget Reference (Bud Ref)...7 Budget Transfer...7 Business Unit...7 Budget Year...7 -C- Carryover...7 Chart of Accounts (COA)...7 ChartFields...7 Chartstring...7 Commitment Amount (Commit Amt)...8 Commitment Control Ledger...8 Crosswalk...8 Current Fiscal Year Selection...8 -D- Department Identification (Dept ID)...8 -E- -F- FAB.. 8 FAQ s...8 Financials...9 Fiscal Year (FY)...9 Functional Team...9 Fund Code (Fund)...9 -G- General Ledger (GL)...9 General Ledger (GL) Account...9 Brought to you by the FAB Service Center 2 of 15

3 -H- Header...9 -I- -J- Journal...10 Journal Budget Update...10 Journal Class...10 Journal Date...10 Journal Header Description...10 Journal Identification Number (Journal ID)...10 Journal Line...10 Journal Line Reference...10 July 1 Budget K- -L- Last Update Date...11 Ledger...11 Ledger Group M- Monetary Amount...11 MyCode N- Non Base Adjustments O- Online Journal Entry...12 Open Commitments...12 Operator Identification Number (Operator ID) P- PeopleSoft...12 PO Nbr...12 Posted Date...12 Posting...12 Prior Fiscal Year Selection...12 Program (Program Code)...13 Project Business Unit...13 Project Identification Number (Project ID)...13 Purchase Order Number (PO Nbr)...13 Brought to you by the FAB Service Center 3 of 15

4 Purchase Order Reference Q- Query R- Requisition...13 Requisition Number...13 Restrictions S- Session Time-Out T- Transaction Date U- User Identification Number (User ID) V- Vendor...14 Vendor Address...14 Vendor Location...15 Voucher W- Wildcards X- -Y- Year to Date (YTD).15 -Z- Brought to you by the FAB Service Center 4 of 15

5 A Account Account is a required ChartField. This is the ChartField that records detailed financial transactions such as assets, liabilities, and net assets, and explains revenue or expenses. This ChartField captures the nature of the financial transaction that is entered into the F.A.B. system. The Account ChartField is six numeric characters. The first digit helps identify the type of account: Accounting Period Account Type 1 = asset 6 = expense financial aid 2 = liability 7 = transfers (74XXXX-revenue transfers, 75XXXX-expense transfers) 3 = net asset 8 = internal revenues 4 = revenue 9 = revenue offset (contra revenue) 5 = expense Accounting Period represents a particular month in the University s fiscal year, which runs July 1 through June 30. Period 1 = July Period 7 = January Period 2 = August Period 8 = February Period 3 = September Period 9 = March Period 4 = October Period 10 = April Period 5 = November Period 11 = May Period 6 = December Period 12 = June Account Type identifies A=asset, L=liability, R=revenue, E=expense, Q = net asset. Activity Fiscal Year to Date (YTD) Activity Fiscal Year to Date (YTD) is Year to Date posted transactions. Activity Identification Number (Activity ID) Activity ID is a ChartField used for sponsored awards. Every Project ID must have at least one Activity ID, but may include several Activity IDs, allowing for a more detailed level of reporting. Actuals (or Actuals Amount) Actual Ledger The Actual(s) column in reports displays actual financial transactions as opposed to commitment or budget transactions. The Actual Ledger is one of many FAB ledgers. It is the ledger that contains all actual revenues, expenditures, assets, liabilities, and fund balances as well as encumbrances and pre-encumbrances. This ledger is the current source for financial reports. Available Budget Balance Available Budget Balance is the computed result of the University Net Budget less Activity Fiscal Year to Date less Open Commitments. Brought to you by the FAB Service Center 5 of 15

6 B Balance The Balance is sometimes also referred to as Available Budget Balance when discussing revenues and expense related chartstrings. See Available Budget Balance. Base Budget Adjustment (Adj) A Base Budget Adjustment (Adj) is a permanent adjustment to the base budget. It is the number which is then used for any budget incrementing in future years. Budget (or Budget Amount) Budget Class The Budget column in reports displays total budget for year including base, non-base, and carryover transactions. The Budget Class identifies the specific kind of budget transaction. Budget Classes are: BAR = Base Additional Release BFA = Base Fall Revision Additional Release BFT = Base Fall Revision Transfer BOR = Base Original BTR = Base Transfer COV = Non-Base Carryover NAR = Non Base Additional Release NTR = Non-Base Transfer These are defined as: BAR - BFA - BFT- BOR - BTR - COV - NAR - NTR - Permanent budget adjustment between a revenue and expense chartstring. (Done by Budget Office only.) - Permanent budget adjustment between a revenue and expense chartstring; done during the Fall Revision process. (Done by Budget Office only.) - Permanent budget adjustment between either revenue and revenue or expense and expense chartstrings; during the Fall Revision process. Original July 1 base budget fed from the Online Budget Worksheet System. Permanent budget adjustment between either revenue and revenue or expense and expense chartstrings. One-time funds that are carried forward from a prior fiscal year chartstring balance. The carryover calculation is Budget Actuals = Carryover Balance. The commitments are not included in the carryover entries. One-time budget adjustment between a revenue and expense chartstring. One-time budget adjustment between either revenue and revenue or expense and expense chartstring. Budget Header Status Budget Period The Budget Header Status describes the status of the budget transaction. The Budget Period is the period being for which the budget pertains. For the University a budget period is the University s fiscal year. This is the period that the system checks and updates during transaction processing. The University's first budget period after going live on FAB Financials is Brought to you by the FAB Service Center 6 of 15

7 Budget Reference (Bud Ref) Budget Reference is a required ChartField for sponsored awards. It identifies the contract/grant year to which the budget or expense entry relates. Its purpose is to group costs for analysis and reporting. This ChartField is two numeric characters. Budget Transfer Business Unit Budget Year Budget Transfer is a transaction that results in the transfer of budget money from one Chartstring to another Chartstring. A Business Unit is the highest-level key structure that must be on every transaction. This ChartField is a separate reporting and/or legal entity. A Business Unit is a self-balancing set of books, separate processing unit, and has separate business rules. Currently the University has only one business unit - SYRUN. Budget Year is the ChartField used to define valid budget years when establishing budgets. C Carryover Carryover is the prior year remaining balance (positive or negative) that is brought forward to the current fiscal year. Chart of Accounts (COA) ChartFields Chartstring The Chart of Accounts (COA) is the foundation of the FAB accounting system. The Chart of Accounts provides each Business Unit, Fund, Department, Program, Account, Budget Class, MyCode, Project Business Unit, Project ID, Activity ID, and Budget Reference ChartFields with a unique identification number and a common language for identifying financial transactions. The ChartFields are a part of the FAB delivered chart of accounts. The individual components, or ChartFields, when combined, make up the chartstring, which defines the accounting structure. ChartFields are used to classify accounting information in FAB. There are eleven ChartFields that will be used in the FAB system to allow for reporting transaction details in a variety of ways. The advantage of multiple ChartFields is that they allow a finer level of detail for reporting purposes. The University uses Business Unit, Fund, Department, Program, Account, Budget Class, MyCode, Project Business Unit, Project ID, Activity ID, and Budget Reference ChartFields. The Chartstring is a group of ChartFields that define the University s accounting structure. A basic chartstring contains at a minimum a Business Unit, a Fund, a Department, a Program, and an Account. Syracuse University utilizes two chartstring; one for Sponsored awards and one for general transactions. Brought to you by the FAB Service Center 7 of 15

8 General Transactions: Fund, Department, Program, Account, MyCode (optional) Sponsored Awards: Fund, Department, Program, Account, MyCode, Project Business Unit, Project ID, Activity ID, and Budget Reference Commitment Amount (Commit Amt) The Commitment Amount is a placeholder for future actual financial transactions that are committed and will reduce the available budget. For example, future payroll, and outstanding purchase orders for goods. This is displayed in reports in the commitment column. Commitment Control Ledger Crosswalk Commitment Control Ledgers within the FAB system are where budgets and commitments (encumbrances) are stored. The Commitment Control ledger is sometimes referred to as ledger KK. Its purpose is budget management, budget reporting and is used by grants to compare budget with expenditures and commitments. Crosswalk is a tool that can be used (with caution) to translate a former account or object code number from the mainframe General Ledger System to a FAB chartstring or ChartField value. Current Fiscal Year Selection Current fiscal year selection is activity from July 1 to close of business on the day prior to day of inquiry. D Department Identification (Department ID) Department Identification is a required ChartField. The Department ChartField generally is an on-going activity, permanent in nature, with a person responsible for managing the fiscal operations and budget. It is the breakdown of the University s organizational structure into managerial cost centers. The Department contains all budgets managed within the organizational entity and includes appropriated funds, grants, contracts, and reserves. The Department field is five numeric characters. E F FAB Financials, Accounting, and Budget System. FAQ s Brought to you by the FAB Service Center 8 of 15

9 FAQ s are frequently asked questions; a document that lists the most frequently asked questions and answers about specific topics. Financials Financials is the application name that refers to the FAB modules of Accounts Payables, Budget, General Ledger, Grants, Purchasing installed at the University. Fiscal Year (FY) The Fiscal Year at the University is a period that runs from July 1 to June 30. Fiscal year 2006 would therefore run from July 1, 2005 to June 30, Functional Team A Functional Team works on redesigning processes and applying new technology in a business area (function). The five functional areas that FAB focuses on are Accounts Payables, Budget, General Ledger, Grants, and Purchasing. Fund Code (Fund) Fund Code is a required ChartField. It is the ChartField value that is the lowest level at which the FAB system can generate a trial balance. This represents a self-balancing set of chartstrings established for carrying on specified activities in accordance with regulations or limitations. Funds are used to classify resources according to uses and/or regulations, restrictions or limitations on the uses in compliance with the financial reporting requirements of Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) or an external governing entity. There will be separate funds for unrestricted general operations, restricted and temporarily restricted operations, endowments, loans, etc. The Fund Code ChartField is two numeric characters. G General Ledger (GL) The General Ledger (GL) is the official record of the University s budgeting and actual transactions. The General Ledger system includes budget transactions, revenue and expense transactions, commitment transactions assets, liabilities and net assets. The FAB general ledger replaced the prior mainframe General Ledger System. General Ledger (GL) Account General Ledger (GL) Account is how the account is sometimes referred to by users of the system. See Account. H Header Brought to you by the FAB Service Center 9 of 15

10 The Header is a tab on the Journal Entry page where the Journal Description and other journal entry identification information is input. I J Journal A Journal is a batch of accounting entries entered online or input from a peripheral system (Bookstore, FAMIS, Payroll, etc) to the General Ledger. It consists of multiple (journal) lines and one (journal) header, identified by the Journal ID. Information about the Journal as a whole is stored in the Journal Header table. Journal is also referred to as a Journal Entry. Journal Budget Date Journal Class Journal Date Journal Entry The Journal Budget Date is the date the budget journal was updated and posted. Journal Class is used by General Accounting, Contract Accounting and Treasurer s staff to categorize certain accounting entries. The Journal Date is the actual as of date the journal was posted to the General Ledger. This is particularly important at fiscal year end when entries are posted in July for June business. These entries will have a journal date of June 30 and a posting date of July (see also Posting Date). See Journal. Journal Header Description The Journal Header Description is from the Header previously discussed and is used to describe the entire actual or budget entry. Journal Identification Number (Journal ID) Journal Line Journal ID is a reference number used to identify a particular journal entry. A Journal Line is a record storing one line of a balanced entry for a given journal. The sum of the monetary amounts for the journal lines in one journal must equal, i.e. the sum of the debits must equal the sum of the credits. Journal Line Reference Brought to you by the FAB Service Center 10 of 15

11 July 1 Budget Journal Line Reference is a description of the individual line of a journal or budget entry. The information displayed on this line varies depending on who input the transaction. July 1 Budget is another way to refer to the original budget for the current fiscal year. K L Last Update Date Ledger Ledger Group Last Update Date is the date the transaction chartstring was last changed. A Ledger is a set of posted balances that represent a set of books for a business unit. A Ledger Group in the FAB General Ledger module is a group of ledgers consisting of one primary ledger and any number of secondary ledgers. M Monetary Amount MyCode Monetary Amount is the dollar amount of the transaction. MyCode is an optional ChartField within the chartstring(s) that belongs to campus departments that is used to classify area(s)/department(s) transactions according to their own accounting and reporting needs. It is for any special cost reporting needs a campus department or other organizational units may have that are not provided by the other ChartFields. The ChartField has six numeric characters. It is not used for central University reporting and is not monitored, reviewed or maintained by General Accounting. N Non Base Adjustments Brought to you by the FAB Service Center 11 of 15 Contact us at or fabhelp@syr.edu 12/13/05

12 A Non Base Adjustment is a one time adjustment to the total budget for the current fiscal year. This does not affect the base budget. O Online Journal Entry An Online Journal Entry is an entry input on the computer to FAB rather than originating in a feeder system such as the payroll system1. Files are updated as soon as journal entries are entered at terminals or received over communications lines. Open Commitments Open Commitments are future actual financial transactions that are committed to budget. For example, outstanding Purchase Orders. See Commitment Amount. Operator Identification Number (Operator ID) Operator ID identifies the user ID for the person who has input a transaction. Also known as Oprid. P PeopleSoft PO Nbr Posting Date Posting PeopleSoft was the name of the integrated software system the University purchased to provide a wide variety of applications to assist in the day-to-day execution and operation of business processes. Budget, General Ledger, Purchasing, Accounts Payable, Grants, Billing, and Accounts Receivable interact with each other to offer an effective and efficient means of maintaining and reporting oncampus information. See Purchase Order Number. Posting Date is the actual date the transaction was updated to FAB. Generally, posting date and journal date will be close. This date takes on a real importance at fiscal year end when entries are being made in July that affects June business. A user will then see in their June activity, entries with July posting dates that indicate the date they were posted to the system, but with June journal dates that indicate the reporting period to which they are applied. Posting is the process by which accounting entries are actually created or updated. An entry does not become official until it is posted. Vouchers and journal entries are examples of items that are posted. Prior Fiscal Year Selection Prior Fiscal Year Selection is selecting activity from July 1-June 30 of the prior fiscal year. Brought to you by the FAB Service Center 12 of 15

13 Program (Program Code) Program is a required ChartField. It is a group of common ongoing activities for which financial activity needs to be tracked. These activities may occur within a single organizational unit or across multiple organizations. Unique activities for which financial information needs to be tracked will also be accommodated by this code. The Program Code field is five numeric characters. Project Business Unit Project Business Unit is a required ChartField for sponsored awards. It is used to separate project areas for security, reporting, definition of business rules (i.e. revenue recognition), and configuration values. Within the project modules the University has set up only one project business unit at this time and it is SYRUN. Project Identification Number (Project ID) The Project ID ChartField is required for transactions to a sponsored award. Each Project ID is a uniquely assigned value. One or more Project ID numbers are assigned to a sponsored award. It is used to track financial, budgetary, and administrative information for the award. The Project ID field is five numeric characters. Purchase Order Reference Purchase Order Reference is a freeform field on the purchase order header limited to 30 characters. If a requisition was used as a basis of the purchase order, the system would populate this field with the requisition number. Q Query A Query is an ad-hoc reporting tool capability used to research, tabulate, and quickly view data based on specific parameters entered by the user. Queries can be downloaded to the desktop, via an Excel file. R Requisition A Requisition is an online request used by a department when ordering products and services from external vendors, as well as travel reimbursement requests, certain payment authorizations, reimbursements other than travel, subscriptions, registrations and others. A requisition may be incorporated into a purchase order. Requisition Number The Requisition Number is a ten-digit number identifying a Requisition. See Requisition. Brought to you by the FAB Service Center 13 of 15

14 Restrictions Restrictions are descriptions of the specified usage for the program code set by a donor or a sponsor. For example, a program code associated with a gift account for scholarships may only be used for scholarships; it could not be used to purchase office supplies. S Session Time Out A Session Time Out is a security precaution set up to warn users if there is a lack of activity in a given system. After a period of no activity, a warning message box displays and the user will automatically be signed off if there is no response to the warning message. Session time outs are 60 minutes for the MySlice Portal and 60 minutes for Hyperion. Once this time has elapsed users will receive the session time out prompt. T Transaction Date Transaction Date is the date a transaction actually occurred as opposed to the date the transaction is recognized in FAB. For example at fiscal year end, an entry can have a transaction date of July 6, but be posted to June. U User Identification Number (User ID) The User ID is a unique identifier used by the system to recognize an individual and their work. This ID and its associated password are to be treated like a signature. Specific rights and authority are granted to the individual via the User ID and that authority should not be delegated or shared. V Vendor A Vendor is a company or individual supplying goods or services. Vendor Address Brought to you by the FAB Service Center 14 of 15

15 The Vendor Address is any address belonging to a vendor, regardless of whether it is an order from, remit to, etc. They are tied together via vendor location. Vendor Location Voucher The Vendor Location is a way to link default pricing, order, remit and return addresses together with a description. A Voucher is the instrument used to pay vendors for goods or services due them by the University. W Wildcards Wildcards are used to search for items for which there is only have partial information. The percent sign (%) is the wildcard symbol in FAB (other systems may have used the asterisk as a wildcard). For example, when looking for a vendor, enter BOB% to return all vendors whose names start with Bob. X Y Year to Date (YTD) See Accounting Fiscal Year to Date. Z Brought to you by the FAB Service Center 15 of 15