Account Code Overview
|
Account Code Overview |
|
Financial Accountability System Resource Guide The primary resource on accounting and business operations for Texas public schools is the TEA Financial Accounting System Resource Guide (FASRG). It is available on the Links tab at the top of the Finance web pages and on the Internet at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/school.finance/audit/resguide12/index.html. Please refer throughout the Business Office Procedure Manual for further guidance concerning Pasadena Independent School District budget codes. What's New with Lawson With the implementation of the new Lawson Financial Software, there will be some new enhancements in the accounting code structure. The basic components remain the same, but the sequence of the fields have been reorganized. Old Account Codes The 20-digit code to be used by Texas public schools in all financial transactions consists of seven groups of numbers, each of which delineates certain characteristics of the transaction. The code structure is written as follows: XXX - XX - XXXX - XX - XXX - XXX - XXX Fund Function Object Sub-Object Organization Program Responsibility
New Lawson Account Codes XXX . XX . XXX . XXX . XXX . XXXX . XXXX . XXXX
Fund
Function Organization Program Responsibility
Object
Sub-Object Dept
The following are brief descriptions of the purpose of each field: Fund: Also know as Company in Lawson. The legal source of the funds. A public body creates a fund through an official act. 199=Local Maintenance Funds (created through the adoption of a budget), 411=Technology Fund (created by an act of the state legislature appropriating these funds for this purpose), 6XX=Construction Fund (created when voters pass a bond issue). The Lawson Accounting Unit consists of the Function, Organization, Program, and Responsibility Code. Function: The functional component describes an expenditure as being for the benefit of the classroom instructional program (Function 11), the campus administration (Function 23), Library and Media Services (Function 12), Staff Development (Function 13), Guidance and Counseling Services (Function 31), General Administration (Function 41), etc. This code describes the purpose to be served through the expenditure. The question is “How will the thing be used?” Organization: The 3-digit numeric code of your campus or department. This code usually indicates the ultimate beneficiary of the expenditure. (e.g. If the Title 1 coordinator authorizes funds to be spent for the benefit of the students on campus 126, the expenditure will indicate an organization code of 126, not the Title 1 coordinator’s organization code.) Program: The student population or special program served. 011 = Regular Instructional Program 021 = Gifted/Talented 022 = Career and Technology 023 = Services to Student w/disabilities (Special Education) 024 = Accelerated Education 025 = Bilingual Education and Special language Programs 026 = Non disciplinary Alternative Education Programs – AEP Basic Services 027 = Non disciplinary Alternative Education Programs–AEP Supplemental State Compensatory Education Costs 028 = Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs – DAEP Basic Services 029 = Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs – DAEP State Compensatory Education Supplement Cost 030 = Title 1, Part A, School wide Activities Related to State Compensatory Education (SCE) Costs on Campuses with 50% or More Educationally Disadvantaged Students
099 =
Undistributed. All charges that are not readily distributed to program
intent codes are classified here. Responsibility: Locally assigned code to indicate who is responsible for the management of the accounts. In PISD, this code will generally be the same as the organization code. Exceptions include payroll accounts controlled by the central office (000); and some Music (832), Athletics (833), and Vocational (919) budgets managed by those respective Directors.
The Lawson Account and Sub-Account consist of the Object and the Sub-Object. Object: Also know as the account in Lawson. The object code describes the thing being bought. All expenditures are in the 6000 series. The 2nd digit of the code indicates certain properties of the thing. All 6100 accounts are for payroll, 6200 accounts are used for purchased and contracted services (such as consultant services and maintenance contracts on machinery), 6300 accounts are used for purchases of supplies and materials, 6400 accounts are used for “Other Expenditures” such as travel expenses, awards, fees and dues, and insurance premiums. 6500 accounts are used for debt service, and managed at the central administration, so these accounts should not be found in campus budgets. The 6600 accounts are the last in the series, and indicate capital outlay. Expenditures in these accounts should be for items with a UNIT COST of more than $5,000. Except for certain required codes, managers are encouraged to use as few Object accounts as they can and still maintain proper control over the funds in their budget. Some object codes are restricted to specific function codes. Sub-Object: Also know as the sub-account in Lawson. Assigned by the Director of Accounting to give management greater control over the funds at their disposal. Managers are encouraged to use as few Sub-Object accounts as they can and still maintain proper control and accountability over the funds in their budget. Department Accounting in Lawson Dept: The Dept code will be used in Lawson so that campuses and departments can do their local accounting of clubs and departments. In using this field, the Excel accounting sheets will not be necessary. All information will be input only once and will be available on the Lawson System.
Your attention is brought to three code groups that tend to be problematic for budget managers because of a lack of understanding as to how these codes are used. The first is the Function Code. The public compares districts to each other on the basis of efficiency. If a district has an unusually high Function 41 (General Administration) relative to Function 11 (Instruction), the district is seen as being INEFFICIENT. Therefore, attention is given to the proper coding of the function of an expenditure to ensure that the district’s “Administrative Cost Ratio” is properly stated. The second code group is the Program Code. The Legislature has made allocations to districts based on the density of special populations in each district. Therefore, all other factors being equal, a district with a high special ed. or vocational ed. population will receive more state money than a district with a lower population of the same group. However, along with the increased funding comes a mandate that we also must show that we are SPENDING that extra money on that group. If we code expenditures made for vocational programs (Program 022) to the regular program accounts (Program 011), then we have understated our spending on the special population group. This sometimes creates problems between the district and TEA. The third code group is the Responsibility Code. If a principal allocates 20% of their BFU budget to the Music program, the responsibility code is changed to 832, and the Music Department Director becomes the budget manager over those funds. In essence, this code determines whose authority the Budget, Accounting and Purchasing Departments recognize in processing transactions.
|
Send mail to
mailto:financewebmaster@pasadenaisd.org with questions or comments about
this web site.
|
