United States Department of Agriculture
Research, Education and Economics
ARS * CSREES * ERS * NASS
Bulletin
Title: | Year-End Closing Dates and Closing Guidance |
Number: | 03-305 |
Date: | June 16, 2003 |
Originating Office: | Financial Management Division |
Distribution: | Area Administrative Officers ARS Division Directors Servicing Budget and Fiscal Officers Location Administrative Officers/Technicians Research Leaders Budget and Program Management Staff ARS Operations Section, NFC |
Expires: | October 30, 2003 |
This bulletin provides guidance for managing year- end activities as well as Timeline/Cutoff Dates and Contact List Enclosures. |
Due to externally imposed accelerated deadlines associated with the preparation and submission of the Department=s FY 2003 financial statements, we are providing year-end closing guidance and deadlines for various financial operations. The following provides preliminary annual closing guidance.
All fundholders, Location Administrative Officers/Technicians (LAO/Ts), program managers, contracting officers, purchasing agents, Servicing Budget and Fiscal Officers (SBFOs), and all other employees responsible for preparing, reviewing, approving, and submitting obligation documents to NFC should give special attention to these procedures and make a special effort to meet the established cutoff dates.
Payments against cancelled appropriations are governed by the statutory provisions of Public Law (PL) 101-510. Briefly, PL 101-510 states that budget authority is canceled after the five-year period of expired authority has ended for an annual (1 year) appropriation. At the end of the five-year period all budget authority, both obligated and unobligated, is cancelled and the unused budget authority is transferred to the Treasury. Thereafter, payments against cancelled years must be funded from current years' direct appropriated funds within the Area. There is no central funding source to draw upon. A number of Areas had to use FY 2003 funding to pay for FY 1997 and other canceled years' invoices this year.
As part of this process, it is important to review all prior year (FY 1998 - 2002) unliquidated obligations and to clear out all invalid obligations so that our financial records provide an accurate picture of our obligated balances and to maximize the availability of prior year budget authority for paying invoices properly chargeable to prior year periods. Please refer to Policy and Procedure 323.7 for additional guidance on reviewing unpaid obligations.
The Status of Funds (SOF) Reports (reconciled with June's Foundation Financial Information System (FFIS) data) issued July 25, 2003, must be as clean and up-to-date as possible. This includes all appropriated and non-appropriated (soft fund) accounts. Aging documents must be researched and estimates reviewed and updated, as necessary. Beginning in August, SOF Reports should be issued to the fundholders on a weekly basis.
Fundholders should make every effort to identify and obligate available funding for routine purchases by the end of August (August 29). Needs identified after August 29 should be unexpected or unforeseen (emergency) and must be coordinated through the LAO. LAO's should develop internal processes to control and capture these obligations. The SBFOs will provide specific guidance to the Locations on options for maintaining funds control during this period.
The Financial Management Division (FMD) will work with the Budget and Program Management Staff (BPMS) and the National Program Staff (NPS) to ensure that High Priority Requirements List (HPRL) and program funding is released as early as possible. Obviously, business will not come to a halt and there will be occasions where requirements will be unexpectedly identified late in the year or funding will be made available at the last minute. However, these occasions should be kept to a minimum and routine, Acommon@ purchases should be completed prior to August 29.
The Location administrative and accounting personnel will be required to finalize
the Location's year-end estimates between September 25 and 30, 2003. All obligations
to be made using FY 03 funding must be known by the accounting
staff prior to September 29, 2003.
Of equal importance to the direct funds are the reimbursable, soft
funds. All reimbursable and trust fund accounts must be reconciled and all transactions
captured. If any costs are residing on a direct account which belong on the
soft fund, they must be transferred prior to September 24, 2003, or captured
in a year-end estimate. In order to ensure processing through the accounting
system, the last day a trust fund or CRADA check may be accepted for use in
FY 2003 is September 5, 2003. FY 2003 Reimbursable Agreements (new or
amendments) must be established prior to September 18, 2003, in order
for the funds to be available for FY 2003 business. Guidance on developing and
reporting carry-over balances for agreements will be provided at a later date.
FMD issues a bulletin every fiscal year end entitled, Obligation of Appropriation:
Fiscal Year Chargeable, which provides general guidelines to aid managers
and fundholders in deciding spending priorities prior to expiration of the annual
appropriation on September 30. This bulletin will be updated for FY 2003 and
re-published soon. Refer to this bulletin for guidance. Please call your SBFO,
AAO, or Headquarters Staff if you have any questions.
Review of year-end estimates and balances by fund type will be required from
the SBFO by October 1, 2003. SBFO's are required to do a screen print
from the ALOC table for their division (Area) for all Fund Types (01, 08, 91,
92, 93, 95, 02, etc.), review the information, notate that it is complete/correct
to the best of their knowledge, and fax the information to the Chief, FOB, FMD,
on 301-504-4302, by October 1, 2003, 3:00 p.m. EST.
The CRIS Activities Module (CAM) will still be required. Additional guidance
with due dates will be provided later in the fiscal year.
Steve Helmrich, Director
Financial Management Division
4 Enclosures
TIMELINE/CUTOFF DATES
July 1, 2003 (Tuesday)
Early July
July 25, 2003 (Friday)
July 25-31, 2003
August 1, 2003 (Friday)
August 15, 2003 (Friday)
August 29, 2003 (Friday)
September 2, 2003 (Tuesday)
September 5, 2003 (Friday)
September 8, 2003 (Monday)
September 11, 2003 (Thursday)
September 18, 2003 (Thursday)
September 23, 2003 (Tuesday)
September 25-30, 2003
September 25, 2003 (Thursday)
September 26-30, 2003
September 28, 2003 (Sunday)
September 30, 3002 (Tuesday)
October 1, 2003 (Wednesday)
October 2, 2003 (Thursday)
|
||
ARS, Operations Section, NFC: | Telefax Number (504) 255-5111 | |
SUBJECT | NAME | PHONE NUMBER |
Training |
Linda Massenburg |
(504) 255-5770 |
General Information, Mailing, New Business | Jan Key or Debbie Gordy |
-6376 or -5762 |
Reimbursable Agreements: | Brenda Duhe or Regina Delay | -5768 or -5769 |
Interagency Agreements (Outgoing Funds) | Regina Delay | -5769 |
Contracts/Agreements | Yvonne King Anitha Anderson Brenda Duhe |
-5766 -5767 -5768 |
ARS, FMD-FFISOB: | Telefax Number (301) 504-4390 |
|
ARS, FMD-FOB: | Telefax Number (301) 504-4302 |
|
Chief, Fiscal Operations Branch, FMD | Lisa Baldus | (301) 504-1300 |
LOTS/ALRM | IT Help Desk | (301) 504-1074 |
FFIS Inquiries | FFIS Help Desk | (301) 504-4429 |
Express Mail/Postal Service Information for Document Delivery
The following addresses and telephone numbers are provided to assist you
with the use of express mail and postal service:
ARS Operations Section Express Mail Address:
OCFO, COD, ACPRB, ARS Operations Section
13800 Old Gentilly Road
2nd Floor, Post V-45
New Orleans, LA 70129
For documents that are not processed by ARS Operations Section, NFC, such as
purchase orders, travel vouchers, and Government Bills of Lading, which need
to be expedited to other offices at NFC, the express mail address and phone
numbers are:
NFC's Express Mail Address:
USDA, NFC
Addressee*
13800 Old Gentilly Road
New Orleans, LA 70129
*Be specific as to the addressee (i.e., name of section within NFC such
as the PRCH unit, and/or designated person)
Phone Number: 504-255-5557 or 5558
NOTE: You should consult with your local or express mail service about
the exact mailing time (days) for service to New Orleans, Louisiana.
ARS Operations Section's Regular Mailing Address:
OCFO, COD, ACPRB, ARS Operations Section
P.O. Box 53326
New Orleans, LA, 70153
NFC's Regular Mailing Address:
USDA, NFC
P.O. Box 60000
New Orleans, LA 70160
To expedite the routing and subsequent processing of all documents, please
remember to separate documents for mailing as offered in the above instructions.
Do not commingle the documents which need to be sent to ARS Operations Section,
NFC, with the documents which must be sent to other NFC offices.
Instructions For Using LOTS To Prepare Year-End Estimates
1. Enter all outstanding obligation documents into Location
Obligation Tracking System (LOTS).
2. The Automated LOTS Reporting Module (ALRM) has a
year-end estimate feature built into the reports. The following procedures,
taken from Page 19 of the ALRM User Manual, give instructions on how to obtain
a year-end estimate from the LOTS data:
Year-end estimates can be easily accomplished in ALRM by using Attachment A,
sorted by Budget Object Code. Use the following procedures to prepare a year-
end estimate:
a. Select the appropriate MU level report.
b. Select <U> (Unposted) for Attachment A options.
c. Select <A> (All) to get all the unposted Attachment A records.
d. Select <O> (Object Class) to have the listing sorted by Object Class.
e. Select either <A> (Ascending) or <D> (Descending) for sort order.
f. Select <H> (History) for obligation entries.
The resulting Attachment A will have all your LOTS unposted records by two-
digit budget object code. Review the listing for transactions that should be
reported as year-end estimates. Review and determine the transactions to be
reported with a check mark or some other identifier.
3. Group and summarize the transactions by the two-digit
budget object code (except for budget object code 25xx) and distinguish
between those that are accrued expenditures (YE/DE) versus undelivered orders
(YE/UN document).
NOTE: Any method used to aggregate the data for direct entry of YE documents must contain detailed information to support the entries. This method will facilitate the reconciliation of the financial reports and must be retained for 3 years for audit purposes.
Generally, the following transaction types should be used when entering estimates
on YE documents:
Transaction |
BOC |
YE Transaction Type |
Description/Examples |
Payroll |
1100 |
DE |
Payroll charges for FY 2003 PP 19 (70%), awards, overtime BOC 6000 IS NO LONGER USED |
Travel |
2100 |
DE |
Travel Charges (except relocation) |
Relocation |
2100 |
UN |
|
PCMS |
2670 |
DE |
PCMS charges not recorded |
Transportation |
2200 |
DE |
Federal Express, Postage, etc. |
Rent, Communication, Utilities |
2300 |
DE |
Estimates are needed from feeder systems such as UVTN, TELE |
Printing |
2400 |
UN |
|
Other services |
25XX |
UN |
Budget Object Code 25XX must be reported to the four-digit level. BOC 2554 requires Sub-object Code |
Supplies |
2600 |
UN |
|
Equipment |
3100 |
UN |
|
Grants |
4200 |
UN |
Must use Sub-object Codes (see Overview Module of Learner's Guide) |
Specific Cooperative Agreements |
4500 |
UN |
Must use Sub-object Codes (see Overview Module of Learner's Guide) |
NOTE: Retain all LOTS records created during this FY in the LOTS subdirectory where they currently reside. The CRIS Activities Module (CAM) will be utilizing the current fiscal year records to accumulate and summarize LOTS entries by CRIS. DO NOT delete the current fiscal year.
Instructions for Entering Year-End Estimates in FFIS
Using the step-by-step instructions starting on Page 123 in the Spending Module
of the FFIS Learner's Guide or Page 46 of the Quick Reference Guide (see FMD
webpage) the following guidance is provided for entering estimates into FFIS:
1. Print screen ALLT before and after entering YE documents to ensure your estimates are captured appropriately.
2. When entering the document ID number, use the SEC 1 code applicable for your Area, Location code, plus a sequential number or enter # to enact automatic document numbering.
3. Use a reversal period of 01 04 (October 2003).
4. Per the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) Bulletin #2002-001, Elimination of Miscellaneous Vendor Codes, the use of miscellaneous vendor codes as specified in the Learner's Guide and Quick Reference Guide (MISC-G or MISC-N) has been prohibited. Therefore, the following Vendor Codes will be used for your Area/National Agricultural Library/FOB, as applicable:
FOB/Headquarters
12400300F C
Beltsville
12400300F D
North Atlantic
12400300F E
Midwest
12400300F F
Pacific West
12400300F G
Northern Plains
12400300F H
Southern Plains
12400300F J
Mid South
12400300F K
South Atlantic
12400300F L
National Agricultural Library
12400300F N
NOTE: The use of Area pseudocodes (9203XXXXX A) is to be used for voluntary collection activity only.
5. Enter YE/DE for accrued expenditures (salaries, utilities, etc.). The result will be reflected in the EXPENDED AMT field on the ALLT and ALOC tables.Remember, using the I indicator increases the account's obligation amount (decreasing the available balance) and the D indicator decreases the account's obligation amount (increasing the available balance).
6. Enter YE/UN for undelivered orders (contracts, purchase orders, relocation orders, etc.). The result will be reflected in the UNLIQ OBLG AMT field on the ALLT and ALOC tables.
7. Since the budget object code 6000 is no longer used, all salary estimates MUST be recorded against budget object code 1100.
8. Similar to prior years, budget object code 25XX must be reported to the four-digit detail level. (Note: BOC 2554 requires a Sub-object code.)
9. Each line of the YE document represents a different budget object code and/or accounting code.
10. Enter estimates for feeder system (payroll, utilities, etc.) activity since estimates will not be automatically generated.
In the event that the initial preparer of the year-end estimate is unavailable
throughout all year- end activities, you should ensure that a knowledgeable
person is available to answer any questions/inquiries concerning year-end estimates.
If you encounter problems in preparing and/or transmitting your year-end estimate,
contact your SBFO.
Footnote: 1
1 Receiving the AD-700 Procurement Request by this date provides reasonable assurance that the request will be completed prior to the end of the Fiscal Year. AD-700s received after this deadline will be handled on an if- possible basis and will not be assured completion prior to the close of the Fiscal Year.