| Accounting Principles |
Accounting principles are general rules and guidelines that entities must follow in order to accurately report their financial statements. |
| Accrual Accounting |
Accrual accounting is a method that records revenue when it is earned and records expenses when they are incurred, not when the cash is received. Different than cash accounting, this method provides a more realistic understanding of income and expenses and helps with long term projections. |
| Adjusted Base Budget (BB) |
The adjusted base budget is defined as the initial July 1 budget load adjusted throughout the year through the use of base budget adjustments. The adjusted base budget is the basis for budget construction for the upcoming fiscal year. |
| Approver |
Person who is responsible for reviewing and approving a non-exempt staff member’s recorded hours in a university-managed timekeeping system. The Approver should have direct knowledge of the non-exempt staff member’s hours worked and attendance; typically, the Approver is the non-exempt staff member’s direct supervisor. |
| As of Date |
The as of date is the date specified in the parameters and shows the cut-off date of the information provided. |
Asynchronous
|
One of the two timekeeping methods utilized by Indiana University. This method consists of recording time worked at the end of the workday in an approved electronic timekeeping system. |
| Cash Receipt |
Cash receipt is the collection of money (currency, coins, checks). A company’s receipts refers to the cash that the company received. |
| Contra Asset |
A contra asset object code is an offset to another asset code (i.e. accounts receivable or capital assets) and typically acts as a reserve to reduce the associated asset code. |
| Credit |
A credit is an accounting entry that either increases a liability or equity account, or decreases an asset or expense account. |
| Current Budget (CB) |
The current budget is loaded along with the base budget load on July 1 and adjustments through the use of current budget adjustments are reflected for the current year only. |
| Current Liability |
A current liability is an obligation that is expected to be settled within twelve months. |
| Debit |
A debit is an accounting entry that either increases an asset or expense account, or decreases a liability or equity account. |
| Encumbrances |
A main concept of government accounting, an encumbrance is a restriction placed on the use of funds to ensure there are enough funds for future expenses/obligations such as salary, loan payments, etc. |
| Expenses |
Expenses are defined as the cost incurred to do business or the outflow of resources associated with the general operations of an entity. |
| Federations |
Federations are fundraising agencies that normally conduct fundraising campaigns within a single metropolitan area or some part of a particular state, and allocate part of the net proceeds to each participating organization on the basis of the donors’ individual designations and other factors. |
Fiscal Officer
|
A person who is trained and hired for the purpose of providing fiscal, policy, and internal control management of all funds in a unit, and is responsible for ensuring that processes and related controls have been established to achieve the organization’s mission and objectives. |
| Fiscal Period |
A fiscal period at Indiana University is broken out into 12 separate periods based on months in the calendar year. Period one is equivalent to July during the fiscal year. |
| Fiscal Year |
A fiscal year at Indiana University spans from July 1st through June 30th of the subsequent calendar year. The last day of the fiscal year is June 30th. |
| Fund Balance |
Fund balance is essentially the difference between assets and liabilities. In general, it is the balance remaining after the assets have been used to satisfy the outstanding liabilities. |
| General Ledger |
The general ledger (GL) acts as a repository of all financial and budget information. The GL contains all the financial transactions that are created via Kuali Financials documents, fed in from external systems, or created during batch processing. |
| Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) |
US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP) is the combination of authoritative standards (requirements) and the commonly accepted ways of recording and reporting accounting information. |
| Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) |
The organization responsible for establishing accounting and financial reporting standards for state and local governments and those entities that are funded by state and local government. |
| Income Statement |
An income statement, also known as the statement of revenues, expenses, and changes in net position, is a financial statement that summarizes the revenue streams, expense categories, and overall profitability of an entity. |
| Liability |
A liability is a debt or obligation that arises from past events. |
| Liquidity |
Liquidity refers to the ease with which an asset, or security, can be converted into ready cash without affecting its market price. Cash is the most liquid of assets while tangible items are less liquid. |
| Materiality |
Highlights any variance that meets the specified materiality threshold specifically for the income statement. Materiality is set at 10% of the associated revenue stream. |
| Monthly Budget (MB) |
Monthly budgets allow departments to spread their annual budget into 12 different buckets. This is important when entities have revenue and expense lines that are not earned or incurred evenly over the 12 months of the fiscal year. |
Non-Exempt Employee
|
Employees who are subject to the minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended. The term includes part time, temporary work-study, support and service staff, and professional overtime-eligible staff. |
Payroll Processor
|
A person responsible for ensuring the completeness and timeliness of all time and attendance information. The Payroll Processor reviews the non-exempt staff members’ hours worked, benefit time taken, and earn codes used for compliance with university policies and procedures. |
| Reconcile |
The review of operating reports monthly to ensure that the revenue and expenditures posted to the account are those that were approved by the fiscal officer, or their delegate, and that they are allowable and appropriate. |
| Synchonous |
One of the two timekeeping methods utilized by Indiana University. This method consists of recording time worked by clocking in and out of an approved electronic timekeeping system. |
| T-Accounts |
A tool used to help identify the ending balance of a given asset, liability, revenue, or expense. The left side is for debits and the right side is for credits. |
