Education & General Funds
1.0 PURPOSE
To provide guidance for classifying and recording transactions affecting the accounts that are funded by the Education and General Fund.
2.0 SCOPE
This chapter explains the accounting for the following types of transactions:
- Receipt of revenue
- Reimbursement of Expenses
- Reconciliation of Appropriations balances in USAS with UT Dallas financial records
3.0 DEFINITIONS
- FRS - Financial Records System - The University of Texas at Dallas accounting system.
- USAS - Uniform Statewide Accounting System - The State of Texas Accounting System.
4.0 PROCEDURES
Revenue from Appropriated Fund
One of the University's primary sources of funding is the General Revenue Appropriation from the State of Texas as stipulated in the General Appropriations Act. The funding is received and recorded in September, the beginning of the fiscal year. In addition to the General Revenue appropriation, the University receives Supplemental Appropriations for reimbursement of certain types of expenditures. In some cases these funds are received at the beginning of the appropriation year. In other cases the funds are received as the expenditures are incurred. In order to track the General and Supplemental appropriations and the allocation of each, separate 6-digit accounts numbers are established in the Financial Records System (FRS). The account numbers can then be individually reconciled to the corresponding accounts in the USAS accounting system to ensure that all appropriation transactions are properly recorded.
General Appropriation Revenue
The receipt of the General Appropriation revenue is recorded and an account receivable and a revenue in the University's Education and General Fund. The following entry is made to record Appropriation #10738 Fund 0001 revenue:
- Dr. Appropriation Receivable (011811 1271)
- Cr. Appropriation Revenue (111811 0401)
Timing: September, the first month of UTD's fiscal year.
Source: House Bill #1, General Appropriation Act
Cash In Treasury
UTD is required to deposit the Tuition portion of student revenue in its account in the Texas State Treasury. The Tuition revenue is initially deposited in UTD's local bank account and recorded in a series of detail accounts in Education and General Fund. The cash is sent to the Texas State Treasury and deposited into UTD's state cash account. This transaction is processed as a cash disbursement on UTD's records, crediting cash in the local bank account and debiting "Cash in State Treasury" in the accounts receivable general ledger series.
Interest on Cash in State Treasury
UTD's cash in the State Treasury earns interest income. The interest income is recorded in UTD's USAS accounts by the Texas State Controller's Office. Once a month, UT Dallas records the interest income in a separate account in the Education and General Fund crediting interest revenue and debiting the Cash in State in Treasury receivable account.
Employee Benefits Revenue
The State of Texas provides appropriated revenue to cover the cost of benefits for employees whose salaries are paid by the General Appropriation revenue. The following employees' benefits are covered by these appropriations: Premium Sharing, Optional Retirement, Texas Retirement System (TRS) and Social Security and Medicare.
Recording Benefit Revenue Transactions
At the beginning of each fiscal year, the revenue for Optional retirement and Social Security and Medical is entered in the UTD's USAS accounts. The revenue for Premium Sharing is given to UT System Administration and is transferred to UTD's USAS account monthly on a prorated basis. These accounts are represented by a separate appropriation for each benefit in the 9XXXX USAS account series. The USAS revenue transactions are recorded in UTD's FRS accounts as follows:
- Dr. Benefits Receivable (0118XX 1271)
- Cr. Deferred Revenue (0118XX 2455)
Reimbursing Benefit Costs
Once a month, after UTD's payroll is processed, the above mentioned employee benefits costs are reimbursed from the State Treasury. The reimbursement entries are processed in the USAS system by debiting the expenses in the individual benefit appropriation. The following entries are processed on UTD's books:
- Dr. Cash in Local Bank Account
- Cr. Benefit Revenue (1118XX 0403)
- Dr. Deferred Revenue (0118XX 2455)
- Cr. Benefits Receivable (0118XX 1271)
Recording Revenue and Expenditures of TRS
Unlike the other benefits, TRS benefits revenue and expenses are not process in USAS in a UTD's separate appropriation. Instead, on a monthly basis, after payroll is processed, a report is provided to the State Controller's Office by the Payroll Department indicating the TRS liability for the particular payroll. The TRS expenses are calculated by the payroll system and posted to FRS general ledger in a separate benefit account with an offsetting entry in the TRS liability. The liability then is liquidated by debiting the liability and crediting the TRS revenue. This entry is prepared by the Payroll Office.
Benefits Proportionality Adjustment
UTD's Educational and General Benefits expenses are funded by General Appropriation revenue, Student Tuition revenue and local revenue. UT Dallas has two major sources of local revenue, the Facilities and Administrative costs revenue recovered on sponsored programs and the revenue generated by the Callier Center. As payroll is processed throughout the year, the benefits are provisionally charged to the three main fund groups in proportion to the salaries. At the end of the fiscal year, the benefits costs are adjusted in proportion the actual revenue received in the main three fund groups. The adjusting entries are processed in accordance with the State of Texas policy and procedure and the adjusting entries are recorded by UT Dallas staff in USAS and in FRS. Please refer to Attachment II for sample Proportionality Adjustment Documents.
Payroll Reimbursements
In addition to reimbursements for benefits, UT Dallas gets reimbursed for salaries and wages paid to employees on state accounts. After each payroll is processed, a program is run to convert the payroll expenses in the UTD's Educational and General Fund accounts to the corresponding USAS chart of accounts format. The file then is sent to the State of Texas Controller's Office for processing. An employee in the UTD's Accounting and Treasury Department releases the payroll in the USAS system and processes any corrections that are required to record the expenses against UTD's appropriations in USAS and recording the cash revenue in the UTD's local bank account. The payroll reimbursement entry is as follows:
- Dr. Local Cash in bank account
- Cr. State Appropriation Receivable Account or
- Cr. UTD's Cash in State Treasury or
- Cr. State Receivable Account
Accounts Payable
Non-payroll expenditures on state accounts are originally processed by UTD's Accounts Payable organization using the local bank account. The expenditure transactions are then entered into USAS by Accounts Payable staff and a reimbursement is generated to the local bank account. The reimbursement entries are recorded on UTD's records as follows:
- Dr. Cash in Local Bank account
- Cr. State Appropriation Receivable Account or
- Cr. UTD's Cash in State Treasury or
- Cr. State Receivable Account
Scholarship Reimbursements
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) administers various scholarship programs and provides funding for UT Dallas to be awarded to qualifying students. The Office of Financial Aid administers these programs. The following procedure describes the process: The Office of Financial Aid qualifies the students for the various programs and requests funds from the THECB. As scholarships are awarded, they are processed through UTD's student system (SIS) and posted in FRS. THECB provides funding for these scholarships in the appropriate USAS accounts. The funding is recorded by the Accounting and Treasury staff member in the corresponding FRS revenue account. As soon as the funding is provided, the Accounting and Treasury staff member reimburses UTD's local bank account by obtaining detail expenditures records from the Student System, processing reimbursement entries in USAS and recording the reimbursement revenue in FRS by crediting the Due from THECB Receivable account and debiting the Local Cash Account.
Scholarship Set-Asides
The legislature requires that certain tuition funds are set aside and sent to THECB for the administration of various scholarships. The programs are implemented in the Student System by assigning a special code for the collection and segregation of these funds. As the amounts are assessed, they are posted to FRS specially designated accounts. The Accounting and Treasury staff member reviews the assessment accounts on a monthly basis and processes a deposit of these funds to the THECB USAS accounts. The entries are recorded in the UTD's accounting system as transfers to Other State Entities.
Student System Report (SIS)
Using the student system reports, the Accounting and Treasury staff books daily student system receipts into FRS bank accounts. The "SIS Clearing Account" is debited by Financial Service when automatically feeding revenues entries and credited by Accounting and Treasury staff when recording cash receipts. The cash receipt batch for each day's student system processing is summarized by deposit as to cash/checks vs. credit card based upon SRSB1110 report. The Bursar's Office provides information for any unusual balance in SIS clearing account. The following journal entry is automatically generated and posted in the accounting system:
- Dr. 013500-1150 SIS Clearing
- Cr. 1XXXXX-01XX Tuition Revenue
Accounting and Treasury staff member records the journal entry to clear the SIS clearing account as follows:
- Dr. Local Cash Bank Account
- Cr. 013500-1150 SIS Clearing
Facilities and Administrative Costs (F&A) Revenue
Reimbursements for facilities and administrative expenses are recorded in the Educational and General fund on a monthly basis. The revenue is a function of the IDC rate applied to applicable expenses in the sponsored program accounts. F&A revenue and expenses represent the local portion of appropriated funds and do not required sending or reimbursing any funds to or from the State Controller's Office. The monthly entry to record the F&A revenue is as follows:
- Dr. F&A Expense (the individual sponsored program accounts)
- Cr. F&A Revenue
Callier Center Revenue
Callier Center is a department of the UTD's School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences. The activities of the Center are part of UTD's appropriated funds and as such are recorded in the Education and General Fund group. The center's revenues and expenses are segregated in a separate range of accounts in the Education and General Fund group and represent the local portion of appropriated funds. The transactions are not processed through the State of Texas System; however the revenues and expenses are reported on various appropriated funds reports.
Reconciliations
On a monthly basis, the Accounting and Treasury staff member performs reconciliations of general ledger account balances in FRS to its corresponding accounts in USAS. Please see sample reconciliation document in Attachment III.
5.0 RESPONSIBILITIES
Accounting and Treasury Department
- Process Employee Benefits revenue and reimbursement entries
- Process all Revenue Transactions
- Process Payroll Reimbursement Records
- Reconcile USAS records to FRS records
- Calculate and process Benefits Proportionality
- Process Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board funded scholarship reimbursement
- Perform all required USAS account maintenance
- Maintain USAS Chart of Accounts Mapping in FRS
- Perform USAS budget and year end closing and opening tasks
- Enter the Annual Financial Report into USAS
- Perform USAS/ABEST quarterly and annual reconciliations
- Assist Budget Office with LBB reporting
Procurement Department
- Process Accounts Payable reimbursements in accordance with State of Texas Regulations
- Ensure that only authorized transactions are reimbursed
- Maintaining USAS Vendor File
Budget Division
- Communicating the Educational and General funding structure for each fiscal year to Accounting and Treasury Department to ensure that the appropriate USAS/ABEST structure is established and that the FRS accounts are correctly mapped to the USAS accounts.
Payroll Department
- Process Employee Salary and Benefits Expenses
6.0 ATTACHMENTS
- Attachment I Chart of Accounts FRS/USAS Mapping
- Attachment II Proportionality Adjustment Sample
- Attachment III FRS/USAS Reconciliation Sample
Last Updated: July 8, 2011
