Account
Classifies the nature or a transaction; accounts are either budgetary pool accounts or detail transaction accounts.
Accounting Adjustment
A form used to move payroll costs for one account/cfc to another.
AUMA
Augusta University Medical Associates
AUMC
Augusta University Medical Center
Award
Funds that have been obligated by a funding agency or sponsor for a particular project. An award can be either a grant or a contract.
Board of Regents (BOR)
The Board of Regents oversees the University System of Georgia as part of the state government of Georgia in the United States. The University System of Georgia is composed of all state public institutions of higher education in the state.
Budget
A budget is an estimation of the revenue and expenses over a specified future period of time and is compiled and re-evaluated on a periodic basis.
Your Budget Allocation Sheet
Emailed to departments in March from the Office of Budget Services. Allocation sheets contain a department’s state and tuition budget allocation for the next fiscal year. Units must balance to these fund allocations during the budget prep process.
Budget Amendment (BA)
Act of amending the budget by moving funds from one category or line item to another. Also referred to as a Budget Amendment Request (BAR), Budget Transfer Request (BTR).
Budget Check
In Commitment Control, the processing of source transactions against control budget ledgers, to see if they pass, fail, or pass with a warning.
Budget Period
Budget Period (PeopleSoft Reference Budget Reference) is the budget year in which revenues, expenses, and encumbrances originate. Budget period/reference coincides with the State of Georgia fiscal year for budget basis accounting. Note that this is not the same as GAAP basis fiscal year.
Budget Prep
Once the institution’s budget authority makes funding decisions for the upcoming fiscal year, the financial officers at the institution will complete the development of the proposed budget for the coming fiscal year. This process includes the budgeting of personal services, fringe benefits, and non-personal services for the institution. The process should conclude with the reconciliation of the budget to the final allocation by the Regents and the preparation of summary schedules identified by the Regents. This reconciliation process should utilize queries and reports in the financial system.
Budget Overview
A budget inquiry that allows you to view ledger totals across all of selected budgets, as well as detail ledger amounts for each budget, summarized by budget period or by the ChartFields you select on the Budget Display Options page.
Budget Status Report
The Budget Status Report returns budget and actuals expense information for a fund or range of funds. The report can be run for a range of funds, departments and account codes. The report period will be an entire fiscal year or the portion of the current fiscal year that has occurred.
Business Unit
A corporation or subset of a corporation that is independent with regard to one or more operational or accounting functions (i.e., institution).
Chart Field Combination (CFC)
Also known as the “account string”, the CFC is a set of numerical characters that indicate important financial data. The PeopleSoft system uses the five Chart Fields to categorize and track all financial transactions. A CFC is assigned when a project is initiated.
Class
Defines the type of funding.
Combination Codes
An 18 digit numeric code (sometimes referred to as the “account code”) used in PeopleSoft HCM to assign positions to a funding source. Combination Codes are created in PeopleSoft Financials and synced over into PeopleSoft HCM for use. This sync process runs nightly and can be done on command as needed.
Commitment Accounting
Business processes enable institutions to budget for payroll expenses and track actual payroll costs. This information is used to keep systems in sync and to keep budgeting information accurate.
Company Codes
Each USG institution has a specific code assigned to it. Augusta University Company Code = 120
Continuing Education (CE)
This is essentially the same as Departmental Sales. However, it is specifically earned by providing non-credit instructional courses and programs. Fund=14000, Class=40000
Cost Transfer (CT)
After-the-fact transfer of costs from one account/CFC to another on non-personal services.
Database
A collection of data that is organized into a group, because the data is related to a particular topic or purpose.
Department
Defines the owner of the transaction.
Departmental Sales and Services (DSS)
Revenue earned by Departments that earn at least 50% of their revenue from external sources is considered Departmental Sales. Fund=14100, Class=41100
DJJ
Department of Juvenile Justice
Effective Date
A method of dating information in PeopleSoft applications. You can predate information to add historical data to your system, or postdate information in order to enter it before it actually goes into effect. By using effective dates, you don’t delete values; you enter a new value with a current effective date.
Encumbrance
Funds that have been set aside or "claimed" for projected expenses pending actual expenditure of the funds.
Equipment
Asset property (including information technology systems) having a useful life of more than one year and a per-unit acquisition cost which equals or exceeds $5,000.
Express Direct Retros (EDR)
Peoplesoft HCM Workflow Process to move salary expenses from one or more fund sources to another fund source(s).
Facilities & Administration (F&A)
'"Facilities & Administration": Most of our grants and contracts include reimbursement for indirect, or overhead, expenses. This is also sometimes referred to as indirect cost recovery. Fund=15000
Faculty Position Description (FPD)
An HR Form that is used if requesting a new position, activating an inactive position, or if there are any changes to the academic rank or department reporting structure (please include an updated organizational chart). Information on the FPD include the proposed funding plan, approval signatures related to the funding plan identified, and the maximum salary related to the funding identified. FPDs are used for faculty positions.
Field
The intersection of a row and column.
Field Value
The data itself that is stored in a field.
Fiscal Year (FY)
Any twelve-month period for which annual accounts are kept (at Augusta University, July 1 through June 30).
Fringe Benefits
Employee benefits paid by the employer. (e.g., FICA, Worker's Compensation, Withholding Tax, Insurance, etc.)
Full Time Equivalent (FTE)
Hours worked by one employee on a full-time basis. The concept is used to convert the hours worked by several part-time employees into the hours worked by full-time employees. On an annual basis, an FTE is considered to be 2,080 hours, which is calculated as 8 hours per day.
General Ledger (GL)
Main accounting record of a company or organization.
GL Business Unit
Abbreviation for General Ledger Business Unit. A unit in an organization that is an independent entity for accounting purposes. It maintains its own set of accounting books.
Grant
Type of financial assistance awarded to an organization for the conduct of research or other program as specified in an approved proposal. A grant, as opposed to a cooperative agreement, is used whenever the awarding office anticipates no substantial programmatic involvement with the recipient during the performance of the activities.
GSFIC
GSFIC is budgeted whenever BOR informs us bonds have been issued. This may happen several times throughout the fiscal year. Fund=50200
GWVNH
Georgia War Veterans Nursing Home
Information Technology Services (ITS)
Information Technology Services (ITS), Board of Regents, University System of Georgia (USG), provides central support to USG institutions and GALILEO (Georgia’s virtual library) customers for ITS products and services through a three-tier help desk strategy to register, perform first contact or level resolution, escalate, and follow through on requests for support. Each case is logged and tracked to resolution and builds a base of solutions and information.
Invalid Funding Report
This report is run in PeopleSoft Financials for every pay period and shows positions that do not have valid funding distributions. Usually, the causes are the position has no distribution set up at all for the pay period or it is funded by a project with an end date that ends before or during the pay period.
Journal
In accounting, a (book) register of daily transactions that are posted to the general ledger (e.g.:payroll, sales)
Lapsable Funds
Appropriated or collected funds that must be spent in the current fiscal year; any funding remaining at year end will be returned to the state. These funds include State Appropriations (fund 10000), Tuition (10500), Other General (10600), Special Funding Initiatives (fund 10000, class 13%), MCG Hospitals and Clinics B-Budget (11700) and Cyber B-Budget (11710).
Lapse
Budgeted personnel and operating funds that are not expended are considered lapsed funds. These funds are centralized and strategically reinvested to support broader university priorities and benefit the institution as a whole.
MRR
These funds are allocated to us from the Board of Regents. We are given a specific allocation typically around August. Fund=50300.
Multiple Components of Pay (MCOP)
&The multiple components of pay feature in PeopleSoft affect how an employee's compensation is organized and how they are paid. If this feature is used, the earning distribution page in the Job Data component displays a rate code field beside the compensation and currency fields that is then used in department budget table.
Non-Lapsable
All other appropriated or collected funds not subject to be returned to the state; any remaining balances can carry forward to the next fiscal year.
Non-Personal Services (NPS)
Budget and/ or Expenditures on Travel (account 600000), Supplies (account 700000), or Equipment (account 800000)
Office of Planning and Budget (OPB)
The Governor's Office of Planning and Budget (OPB) supports the state by producing short- and long-term financial analyses, develops the Governor’s annual budget report, and overseeing fiscal controls.
OneUSG
OneUSG is a system-wide initiative to develop and implement a consistent approach to policies, procedures and technology solutions that benefit the University System of Georgia (USG), in an effort to reduce costs, streamline processes, and have uniform guidelines with centralized support.
Original Budget
Expresses the financial intentions for the university for the upcoming fiscal year.
Pay Group
Pay groups are utilized by the OneUSG Connect system to group employees for payroll processing. The pay group is generally utilized to determine the account code in which payroll expenditures are recorded. OneUSG Connect utilizes standardized pay groups that are composed of three digits. The first two digits indicate the company code and the third digit represents a unique group that share characteristics including:
Payrun ID
Unique 4 digit ID to represent a payroll cycle. For example, the first biweekly payrun id for July 2019 is 97B1 and the first monthly payrun id for July 2019 is 97M1.
PeopleSoft
PeopleSoft is an integrated software package that provides a wide array of business applications to assist in the day-to-day execution and operation of business processes. PeopleSoft is a database application whose purpose is to provide enterprise-wide business solutions.
PeopleSoft Financials
PeopleSoft Financial Management applications eliminate information silos, creating a consolidated view of financial data.
Peoplesoft HCM
PeopleSoft HCM is a single integrated system for managing a wide range of functions relating to HR, Payroll, Benefits and Self Services.
Personal Services (PS)
Personal Services includes all expenditures for salaries and wages to all employees and persons in the employ of the various departments, boards, commissions, institutions, and other governmental units. Also includes the employer’s share of payments for FICA, retirement, group insurance, or other employer payments for employee benefits. Personal Services are on account 500000 or 5%.
Position Classification Form (PCF)
An HR Form that is used to specify a position’s duties, responsibilities, minimum and preferred qualifications (education, experience and other credentials), supervision received and exercised, key relationships, as well as the decision-making responsibilities, customers served, and the working conditions for the job. PCFs are used for Staff and administrative positions.
Program
Defines the expenditure function, or type of activity.
Project Indicator
A code used to identify separate activity such as grants and gifts within a specific program identifier. Project Indicator (PeopleSoft reference Project ID) is used for the identification of projects, which may be either general or sponsored.
Query
An end user reporting tool. A query is a tool that allows you to retrieve specific data from the PeopleSoft system. This is done by specifying the records, fields and criteria to be applied to the search through either ad hoc or predefined queries. These queries are run against the data in the PeopleSoft database, allowing you to pull the specific information that you need. With queries, you can extract the precise information that you are looking for by using visual representations of your PeopleSoft database, without writing SQL statements.
Run Control
A run control is a type of online page that is used to begin a process, such as the batch processing of a payroll run. Run control pages generally start a program that manipulates data.
Run Control ID
A unique ID to associate each user with his or her own run control table entries.
Special Funding Initiative (SFI)
These funds are allocated to us similarly to State Appropriations. However, these funds are designated for special purposes and may only be used for those purposes. Fund=10000, Class=13%
Sponsored Program Administration (SPA or DSPA)
Serves as the principal interface between Augusta University and external agencies providing sponsored program support, including the Augusta University Research Institute (AURI).
Strategic Planning and Recruitment Committee (SPARC)
This committee approves all MCG clinical faculty positions.
Supplemental Pay
Compensation to an employee in excess of the employee’s annual base salary and is appropriate only in limited situations. Supplemental Pay is compensation that an employee receives for work performed within the home institution that is significantly different from his/her normal job duties and generally outside of the employee’s home department.
Suspense Account
A specific CFC that charges hit due to errors that occur during the payroll processes ran by Shared Services Center. These errant expenses can hit the suspense account for a variety of reasons, such as a project having an end date during the pay period, issues with the effective date on a distribution or using an inactive combination code.
University System of Georgia (USG)
An organizational unit of the State of Georgia, under the governance of the Board of Regents, engaged in business activities. The USG’s accounting policies conform with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAP) applicable to public colleges and universities engaged in business-type activities as prescribed by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) and the State of Georgia’s statutory basis of accounting (Budget Funds) reported in the State of Georgia Budgetary Compliance Report (BCR).