Frequently Asked Questions

Accounting

1. Which accounts are discretionary budget accounts?
   The discretionary budget accounts includes Classified Hourly Salaries (23xxx, 24xxx), Overtime (211xx and 22100), and all Operating expenditures (Operating expenditures include all accounts that start with 4xxxx, 5xxxx or 6xxxx).
2. What are the constraints on budget transfers?
   Budget managers may authorize budget transfers only within discretionary budget accounts and only within the same fund. The District does not allow budget transfers between discretionary and non-discretionary budget accounts nor between two different funds.
3. How do I reclassify an expenditure that belongs to another Fund, Organization, Account, or Program?
   Periodically, expenditures are coded to an incorrect Fund, Organization, Account or Program code. The need for expenditure reclassifications should be rare, since virtually all transactions should have a pre-approved and properly-coded purchase order. If you believe an expenditure was incorrectly coded to a specific FOAP, or if there is a need to allocate costs differently from the original transaction allocation, then please complete an Expenditure Transfer Request form and forward the completed form to your specific fund accountant in Fiscal Services. Please ensure the budget manager accepting the charge has first reviewed and signed the form before forwarding the document to your fund accountant.
4. What happens if an employee's costs are charged to an incorrect FOAP?
   Fiscal Services budgets personnel costs for permanent staff. During the budget process, managers are responsible for reviewing FOAP coding for permanent employees. Managers should notify Fiscal Services if they notice a permanent employee assigned to an incorrect FOAP during budget development. Managers develop their discretionary budgets for personnel accounts, which include classified hourly and overtime costs. In addition, the manager determines the appropriate FOAP for the Banner position on the PAF (Personnel Action Form). The employee’s FOAP on his/her Banner position is based on the nature of work the employee will complete as opposed to where funds may have been budgeted. Managers may need to complete a discretionary budget transfer to fund a classified hourly or overtime FOAP. Should a budget manager discover an incorrect FOAP for a specific employee, then the manager should follow-up on two specific corrections:

   1. First, the budget manager should complete a FOAP Change Form obtained from the Human Resources Department, which will correct the FOAP mapping for future payroll costs. The FOAP Change Form includes form routing instructions. Once Human Resources receives the completed FOAP Change Form, Human Resources will then update the FOAP on the Banner position for future payroll charges for that employee’s position.
   2. Second, the budget manager should notify their District Accountant who will review the employee’s costs in Banner and will correct the prior period payroll costs. The District Accountant will complete an expenditure transfer from the incorrect FOAP to the new FOAP.

   This two-step correction process ensures that both the previous costs and future costs for an employee are charged to the correct FOAP.