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Financial Management FAQ

 

AccountingQuestions

  1. How can I get my document back to make a change or add text?
  2. Did my journal voucher (or invoice, deposit, etc.) clear? I can't find my journal voucher, invoice, etc.
  3. What is this charge (or credit) to my index?
  4. What is my cash balance? (Sometimes the question is: "What is my fund balance or account balance?")
  5. What is my budget balance?
  6. How do I choose the correct account code?
  7. When crediting my index, how do I determine whether to use a Revenue (0xxxx), Service Department 
    (09xxx), or Internal Sales Reimbursement (79xxx) account code?
  8. How do I get a list of my Department Indexes?
  9. What is the significance of the dates shown on Banner FIS forms, particularly those in FGITRND 
    (Detail Transaction Activity) and FGIDOCR (Document Retrieval)?

Encumbrance Questions

  1. I've spent less than I encumbered for a certain planned expense. How do I liquidate the remaining 
    balance of my encumbrance?
  2. How do travel encumbrances work?
  3. What do I have to do to have a service department liquidate my encumbrance when they charge me?

1. How can I get my document back to make a change or add text?

If a journal voucher has been completed and doesn't need to go through an approval queue, it can't be retrieved 
to make changes or additions. If an approval queue is involved (as with amounts > $5,000, grants and general 
ledger account codes), you can call the person in charge of the approval queue and have that person disapprove 
the journal voucher. Then you will be able to go into the journal voucher and make any desired changes.

If an invoice has been completed, as with journal vouchers, you will only be able to go into it if it goes to an approval 
queue and the person in charge of the approval queue (Carolyn Wooley at 6-3158) disapproves it. However, with 
invoices there is another option. If the invoice has already been approved, you can call Accounts Payable (6-3143) 
and have the invoice cancelled if that is the best option. Then you can start again with a fresh invoice.

New lines of text may now be added to a completed document using Banner form FOATEXT. Go to this screen, 
enter the type of document and the document number, and then use the down arrow key to access a new line. 
Add your name, telephone number, and the date, and then add the desired new text. Adding text in this way will 
not affect the original document.


2. Did my journal voucher (or invoice, deposit, etc.) clear? I can't find my journal voucher, invoice, etc.

There are several steps to take in tracking down a "lost" transaction. The order in which the steps are taken is not 
important. If you are fairly sure that you completed the transaction and you have the document number, go to FIS 
form FGIDOCR and query on the document number. If the transaction has posted it will be retrieved on FGIDOCR. 
If the transaction needs to go through one or more approval queues, it may take several days to be approved and post.

If the transaction hasn't been completed or you aren't sure whether or not it has been completed, go to the 
transaction input screen, enter the document number, and attempt to go into the document. If the document 
has been completed, you will not be able to go into the document, and you will see a message saying that the 
document has been completed. If the document has not been completed you will be able to go into it, correct 
any errors, and complete it.

If the transaction is being done by someone else and you don't know the document number, look for the 
transaction under your index or FOAPAL in FGITRND. Transactions from major campus departments, such 
as Telecom, Facilities Services (Physical Plant), and Cashiers, can be identified by the document number 
prefix and rule type (see FIS Document Prefixes and Reference Phone Numbers for further information).

3. What is this charge (or credit) to my index?

Ideally, the name and extension number of the person creating the transaction, as well as the person's department, 
would be given in the description or text of the document. However, if not, follow the steps below.

Go to FIS form FGITRND, if you are not there already. Find the transaction and its document number. The one or two 
letters that form the document number prefix may tell you the department that created the trans- action. For example, 
a document number beginning with JC is a Telecom charge and one beginning with ZA would be a Facilities Services 
(Physical Plant) charge (see FIS Document Prefixes and Reference Phone Numbers for a complete listing of document 
prefixes and corresponding departments). Deposits through Cashiers would have a document prefix of F and a rule 
type of 8MSC (see Rule Classes for help in interpreting rule types).

If the document is a journal voucher with the ordinary J prefix or an invoice with the usual I prefix, you can find the 
name of the person who input the transaction by going to FOIAPPH and querying on the document number. This 
should allow you to identify the source of the transaction.

4. What is my cash balance? (Sometimes the question is: "What is my fund balance or account balance?")

Finding a cash balance or fund balance is appropriate for self-support funds. This would include 055xxx 
(operating funds), 09xxxx (service departments), 1xxxxx (auxiliaries, vending funds), and 4xxxxx (gifts, 
scholarships). For General Fund indexes, other budgeted funds and grants, see FAQ 2., below.

Assuming you want to know your overall cash or fund balance (cash plus receivables, etc.), go to FIS form 
FGITBAL and query on your fund. Your fund balance is given in the Current Fund Balance field at the lower right. 

5. What is my budget balance?

This question is appropriate for General Fund indexes (fund = 001100) and other budgeted funds, such as Indirect 
Cost Credit indexes (fund = 001700) and income/expense indexes (funds = 0012xx to 0014xx). Grants will have 
an expense budget, which will also be discussed below.

To find your budget balance go to FIS form FGIBDST and query on your index (for grants see below). Usually, 
budgeted amounts will only be in certain general account codes, not distributed to all the account codes in 
which you have had transactions. Therefore, it is more helpful to go to FGIBSUM, which can be done by clicking 
on Budget Summary Information. (This is easier than going directly to FGIBSUM). FGIBSUM gives budget 
balances for the major budget categories. Also given is the net available balance for all budget categories combined.


For grants, go to FWIGITD and query on your grant. Press Block Menu and select "Show Expense Summary and 
Totals." You will be shown your budget balances for the major expense categories and for total direct expense and 
for total expense.

6. How do I choose the correct account code?

You can access the Account Code Table Validation Form (FTVACCT) by clicking on from the JV, invoice, or 
other FIS forms.   Better than scrolling through the lengthy table, it's more efficient to do a List Query. By 
querying on a key word in the account code description (see list below) and/or the first two or three digits 
of the account code, you will a get a more manageable list of codes.  Once you locate the desired code, 
you can double-click it for transfer to your form. 

(Note: OUS Fiscal Policy Manual also has a useful listing of account code categories, account codes, and their descriptions.)

Common General Expense Account Code Categories:

Account Description

20001 Supplies/Minor Equipment (201XX - 203XX)

21000 Agricultural Related

22000 Communications

22500 Postage & Shipping

23000 Utilities

23300 Waste Disposal

23500 Maintenance & Repairs

24000 Rentals & Leases

24500 Fees & Services (245XX - 249XX)

25000 Med/Scientific Svc & Supply (250XX - 251XX)

28000 Assessments (280XX - 284XX)

28501 Employee Related & 1099

28600 Conferences/Entertainment/Etc

28700 Fiscal Management Expense

28800 Debt/Investment Expense

28900 Misc Services & Supplies

29000 Training

38000 Transfers to OR State Agencies

39000 Travel (390XX - 393XX)

40000 Capital Outlay (Includes Equipment)

 

USING AN APPROPRIATE ACCOUNT CODE

Please use an appropriate account code. For expenses, account codes should be in the 2XXXX series (includes 
general services or supplies), 3XXXX series (includes travel), or 4XXXX series (includes inventoried equipment).

Account codes in the 5XXXX, 6XXXX, 7XXXX, 8XXXX, and 9XXXX series have certain restrictions and are not to be 
used with certain funds. Account codes in the 0XXXX series are for revenue and are only used for non-OUS revenue.

Please call Martha Schumacher at 6-3524 if you have questions about selecting an account code.

7. When crediting my index, how do I determine whether to use a Revenue (0xxxx), Service Department 
(09xxx), or Internal Sales Reimbursement (79xxx) account code?

First, note what type of fund is being credited. Separate guidelines apply to the General Fund (001100), Service 
Department funds (09xxxx), Auxiliary funds (1xxxxx), and others.

Second, note whether the source of the credit is from within the Oregon University System (OUS) or from outside 
sources, including students. If the credit is from within OUS, you should generally use account code 79xxx; only 
service department and auxiliary funds do not use 79xxx account codes (see the table below). Credit from outside 
OUS is usually considered "true revenue," for which you would use a 0xxxx account code. The one exception 
would be a reimbursement from a vendor for overpayment etc, in which case you should use the original account 
code to receive the payment.

Please note that the General Fund, the ICC Fund (001700), and the ASA Fund (001150) do not receive individual 
payments from outside OUS: therefore, credits to them should not use revenue (0xxxxx) account codes. If a 
credit is truly revenue, you should probably use a revenue/expense, gift, or other appropriate fund.  Additionally, 
many grant funds are not allowed to receive payments from any source other than the granting agency.

To decide what account code to use for crediting your fund, locate your fund and the source of the credit in the 
table below.  If you have further questions, please call Martha Schumacher at (6-3524) from the Business Affairs Office.

FUND DESCRIPTION OUS INCOME? NON-OUS INCOME?
001100 General Fund 79xxx N/A
001150 ASA Fund 79xxx N/A
0012xx-0014xx Inc/Exp 79xxx 0xxxx
0017xx ICC Credits 79xxx N/A
05xxxx Designated/Opns 79xxx 0xxxx
09xxxx Service Departments 09xxx 06xxx
1xxxxx Auxiliary Enterprises 09xxx 06xxx

4xxxxx

Gift Funds N/A 03xxx

Note that Grant funds may have special restrictions.

For reductions/transfers of expense for specific, posted expenses, use the original expense account code to 
credit the original fund.


8. How do I get a list of my Department Indexes?

You can use form FTMACCI to query account index information.

For a simple organization query like the one in your question you would navigate to FTMACCI, click on the 
(ENTER QUERY) icon, cursor to the Organization field and enter your organization code,  and then click on 
the (EXECUTE QUERY) icon. Use the (NEXT RECORD)/(PREVIOUS RECORD) functions to view the results 
of your query.

More complex queries are possible, i.e. combining fund, organization code and program code. You can also 
use the wildcard indicator '%' in your queries.


9. What is the significance of the dates shown on Banner FIS forms, particularly those in FGITRND 
(Detail Transaction Activity) and FGIDOCR (Document Retrieval)?

The date shown on FGIDOCR is the transaction date. The system defaults the current date into this field on 
data entry forms. This is the day you entered the transaction.

You can override the default and enter a date other than today. This happens all the time with our interface 
transactions, like payroll. They are entered into the system on about the 11th of one month but the transaction 
date is set to the last day of the previous month, the month the expense really happened.

The date shown on FGITRND is the posting date, the date the transaction was 'posted' (entered) into the FIS 
ledgers. In the payroll example, the posting date is the 11th of one month while the transaction date is the last 
day of the previous month.

When you use the period indicator (Pd) on FGITRND to isolate data for a particular fiscal period you get data 
selected by transaction date, with posting date displayed.


1. I've spent less than I encumbered for a certain planned expense. How do I liquidate the remaining 
balance of my encumbrance?

There are two possibilities here. First, if you are paying a UO service department that can liquidate encumbrances, 
tell the service department that you want a Total encumbrance liquidation when you submit the final service 
request or travel document. Only request total liquidation if you are certain all other payments against that 
encumbrance have already cleared.

The other possibility is to liquidate the remaining balance yourself. This is easy to do, using a one-sided JV and 
Rule Type 2ELQ. The procedure is explained in the FIS General Accounting Encumbrance class and also in the 
FIS User's Guidebook under the instructions for form FGAJVCD.

2. How do travel encumbrances work?

You provide your encumbrance information when submitting the OSTA to the Travel Clerk. Write the encumbrance 
number, sequence number, and whether it's a Partial or Total liquidation, in a visible place on the OSTA, such as 
in the top margin. You also have the opportunity of giving a requisition number for the trip when providing the above 
information.

If you use the same encumbrance number for all payments on a particular trip, you can track the trip charges 
on form FGIENCD. FGIENCD lists each posted transaction for a given encumbrance, as well as the remaining 
balance on the encumbrance. You can also call up the individual posted documents on FGIDOCR.

For airfare journal vouchers, once in FGIDOCR query on your index, then check the description for the traveler's 
name and the requisition number of each item (arrow to the right to see the whole description). For invoices call 
up the particular invoice, then check the P.O. field and the text to identify the trip.

3. What do I have to do to have a service department liquidate my encumbrance when they charge me?

In general, you would give the service department your encumbrance information when placing your order or 
returning your service request forms. Tell the service department representative or write on the service request 
form the following information.

  1. Your encumbrance document number
  2. Your accounting sequence number
  3. Whether you want a Partial or Total liquidation

Service department contact people are listed below.

Department Person Extension:

Travel Clerk Carolyn Wooley 6-3158

Printing Services Maureen Wimberly 6-2426

EMU Sandi Godsil 6-6067

Univ Housing Jim Allen 6-4303

Facilities Services Chris Silva 6-2284

 

Updated May 12, 2008