This document is intended for use by University staff as a tool to understand Financial terminology.

Transcription

1 GLOSSARY This document is intended for use by University staff as a tool to understand Financial terminology. ACCRUAL ACCOUNTING ACCRUED ACQUITTAL ASSETS AUDIT FINANCIAL ANNUAL REPORT The method of recording income in the period in which it is earned and expenses in the period in which they are incurred rather than when they are paid or received. Added on or owing at the end of the financial period. Accrued items for a University include (in expenditure) unpaid invoices, salaries and rentals paid beyond the end of the period and value of goods received but not paid. Statement of income and Expenditure on specific Grant/Project activity to acquit external funds received. An Asset is an identifiable item of property with an economic life greater than one year, which is valued at $10, or more. Assets may be purchased, manufactured on site by the University, or donated. A systematic investigation and report on the financial affairs of an organisation. Universities are required by law to conduct an audit each year. The audit must be carried out by a registered auditor or certified practising accountant and follows certain conventions Publicly available information on the operations and financial position of an organisation provided each year to interested parties by the management committee or Board. The Annual report includes Statement from the Chancellor, Non-Financial information, Statistics, Financial Performance and Auditor General s Report. APPROPRIATION Appropriation relates to the recurrently funded operations of the University - those funded through operating and related grants of the Commonwealth and Territory governments. These are identified as budget values. Appropriation accounts cannot receive income only increases and decreases in budget. ATTRACTIVE ITEMS Attractive Items are items which have all the attributes of an Asset but whose value is more than $1,000 but less than $10, These items are expensed at the time of purchase. These may be recorded in the Oracle Fixed Assets Module. BOARD OF SURVEY A group of University staff who make decisions in regard to retirement of University assets. BOOKBUD Original budget as per the Annual Budget Book at cost centre level.

2 BUDGET A summary of income and expenditure forecasts (plans and expectations). Cashflow budget is for planning and controlling the flow of cash. Capital budget is for expenditure on physical assets, including special projects and capital works programs for property purchase, renovation and sales. Operating budget is the income and expenditure on your organisation's normal operations Budget worksheet is the format used to calculate the budget BUYER Person nominated to complete purchase orders on behalf of a cost centre or a person nominated by the organisation to purchase particular goods. (Eg Stationery-Joanne Stone) CASH ADVANCE Money in advance for a specific purpose to be acquitted by receipts. CHARGE ACCOUNT Terminology used in elvis, which means cost code. CHART OF ACCOUNTS A list of the accounts of a business and their numbers, arranged according to their order in the ledger. Sometimes referred to as COA. The University s accounts (cost codes) are made up of 15 digits consisting of 5 sections Area (4 digits), Activity (4digits) Natural Account (3 digits) Sub account (2 digits) and Entity (2 digits) COST CENTRE A part of an organisation's operations for which you wish to record and monitor income and expenditure separately to other areas of your finances. For example, this could be recurrent funds (Administration or Academic) with each area forming a cost centre, or it could be related to specific projects undertaken within or across programs (e.g. a restricted account for a particular purpose). COST CODE An account from the University s Chart of Accounts. In elvis referred to as a charge account. CREDIT NOTE Accounts Payable: A credit note is generally issued by a Supplier when goods are returned or when goods have been invoiced at a higher rate than was agreed on the Purchase Order. Accounts Receivable: A credit note will be issued by accounts receivable to reflect a reduction in the value of an invoice raised to a debtor. CREDITOR Someone you owe money to (for example, your stationery supplier who has delivered an order to you on account). Creditors are also referred to as Accounts Payable. DEBTOR Someone who owes money to you (for example, a client who asked you to undertake training work on their behalf and hasn't yet paid for it). Debtors are also referred to as Accounts Receivable.

3 DELEGATION DEPRECIATION Financial authority over certain cost codes and types of business transactions. Also referred to as coordinators. The value assigned for the use of an asset over a period of time. Does not affect actual funds availability in financial period. Method used to gradually reduce value of an asset on estimated life expectancy. DISPOSAL OF ASSET Faculties can dispose of assets by transfer or sale, through the Board of Survey (BOS). Lost and stolen assets require paperwork to be processed through Board of Survey. Asset Officer must be notified an any movement of assets. DISTRIBUTION elvis In elvis the distribution is the area on the requisition form where you type in the charge account (Cost Code). electronic Varsity Information System DISCOVERER Oracle Discoverer (Discoverer) is a data access tool that enables business users to view information in their database. Discoverer is easy to use and provides a logical, intuitive interface for data query, analysis and reporting. EXPENDBUD Actual Operation Budget at cost centre level. Source of information for funds inquiries and all Appropriation Reports. EXTERNAL CLIENTS Persons or companies (Suppliers) that provide goods and services to the University that operate independently from the control of the University. FINANCIAL ACCOUNTS Includes balance sheet, profit and loss statement, income and expenditure statement and any other formal accounting report. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT The control of your organisation's financial resources, by the management of reporting, monitoring and planning processes. FIS Free into Store. A freight term used when buying goods advising creditors and staff that the University is not liable to pay freight on goods being purchased. FSG Financial Statement Generators a type of report in elvis GENERAL LEDGER GST The General Ledger is the central repository of accounting information. Goods and services tax. INCOME AND EXPENDITURE STATEMENT A periodical financial statement that summarises the income and expenditure and shows the resulting surplus or deficit. (This is called a profit and loss statement in a for profit business)

4 INDIRECT COST IN KIND INTERNAL CLIENTS A general cost, or overhead, that cannot be directly related to any particular program or activity of the organisation. Goods or services, which benefit your organisation but do not cost you anything. For example, rent free premises or the donation of legal services. GST is generally attractable on in-kind transactions if they have a monetary value. Approval should be gained for an inkind transaction as University infrastructure and exchange of services/goods is usually involved. Staff, faculties, divisions, sections that operate as part of the University. (i.e.nfih, The Shed Café, Printery etc..) iprocurement IP ADDRESS JINITIATOR Internet Procurement (iprocurement) allows requisitioners to source goods and services in a user-friendly web based environment. The environment looks like shopping on the web and is intended for occasional users. This module is available as part of the Oracle Financials suite (elvis) An IP address is a unique identifying number of each computer or device on a network. Networks use these numbers as protocols to route messages to their destination. A small Java program required by the system to allow elvis to work. JOURNAL An internal process used to transfer funds from one cost code to another cost code. Journals can be used to enable errors to be fixed, reimbursement of expenses to/from other University schools, faculties/divisions, the charging of internal services and the transfer of funds between cost centres. Request for Journal form must be completed in full. LINKS LEDGER Links is the University s electronic document distribution system. The University uses Links to distribute cheques, EFT remittances, invoices, statements, RFQ s and purchase orders, via , fax or printed to paper. See General Ledger LOADEDBUD MATCH TO PO NOTIFICATION ON COSTS A copy of EXPENDBUD reflecting all budget activity (ie. Original plus variations). Designed to be compared with BOOKBUD The University requires that invoices received by Accounts Payable be matched to the Purchase Order. Notifications can be received via or from within elvis. They request Requisitioner, Requisition Approver, Buyer & Buyer Approver to perform specific actions relating to the procure to pay processing. Additional costs associated with establishing an activity, usually applied to salaries costs. Salary on costs includes superannuation, workers' compensation and sick pay, holiday and long service leave provisions.

5 ORACLE PETTY CASH PURCHASE ORDER The Oracle Corporation is the world s leading supplier of software for enterprise information management. The University uses Oracle software for it s financial management. We currently use seven modules iprocurement, Purchasing, Accounts Payable, Assets, General Ledger, Receivables and Cash Management. As well as these modules we use two management tools - Oracle Web Portal and Oracle Discoverer. Petty Cash Funds are cash advances granted to cost centres by the University to facilitate payment of minor expenditures not exceeding $100 each. These funds are approved, established, increased/decreased and withdrawn by the Chief Accountant of the University. A Purchase Order (PO) is created from a Requisition and when accepted by the supplier, becomes a contract. Purchase orders appear on the ledger as an encumbrance obligation. PRE-PAYMENT PRICE VARIANCE Payment made for something before the goods or service are received. This generally includes payments required by a contractual arrangement such as advance rental, service agreements, subscription, memberships or for supply of goods where the University does not have an account with a creditor. Prepayments are accounted for each month with an accrual journal under cost code using entity 60. A price variance occurs when the invoice price is more or less than the Purchase Order price. PROCURE TO PAY PROCESS The cycle used by the University to order, receive and pay for goods and services. REIMBURSEMENTS Payment made to repay person/s who have used their own funds to obtain goods/services on behalf of the University. Reimbursements can be made via cash (from Petty Cash) or via EFT/Cheque from Accounts Payable using the University s procure to pay process. Generally original documents/receipts are required for reimbursement claims. RECEIPT A receipt is proof that you have received goods and services. Suppliers issue receipts when you pay for goods using cash. On elvis, requisitioners or receivers are required to receipt purchase orders when goods are delivered. RECONCILIATION A checking process which ensures that the balances of two or more related accounts are in agreement and accurate in value. REQUISITION-REQ A Requisition is an Oracle Financials form completed electronically by the requisitioner on elvis. The form is used to request the supply of goods and services on behalf of the cost centre. Requisitions appear on the ledger as an encumbrance commitment.

6 REQUISITIONER RESPONSIBILITY Requisitioner is the name given to the person completing a requisition. The name of the role that defines the functions you can perform and the financial delegations you have in elvis. RESTRICTED ACCOUNT REVENUEBUD Restricted Account relates to those activities funded for a specific purpose (eg research, contract etc) and the university uses them for self funded and project related activities. Corporate Source of Funds Information SUPPLIER TAX INVOICE An individual or firm outside the University that sells goods or services. Sometimes called vendors. A tax invoice is a document from a supplier (vendor) requesting payment for goods or services rendered. For all transactions between $75 and $1,000 (including GST), the following information must be included on an invoice to meet the requirements of a Tax Invoice : The words "Tax Invoice" stated prominently; Supplier s Australian Business Number ( ABN ); Supplier Name and Address; Date of issue of invoice; Itemised description of the supplies; Price of the supply; and Either the total amount of GST or a statement that the price is GST inclusive, if the amount of GST payable is exactly 1/11 th of the total price. For all transactions over $1,000 the tax invoice must include the following additional information: Quantities of each item or extent of services supplied; Customer name; and Customer address or ABN if address not supplied. TRAVEL ALLOWANCE Travel Allowance (TA) can be for kilometre allowance, course/convention/workshop fees, accommodation, meals, food, cab hire, airport taxes, bus fares, phone calls, fax machine and secretarial expenses. VARIANCE The difference between a budgeted amount and the actual amount for a given period. Significant variances should be explained and corrective action taken if necessary. WEB PORTAL WORKFLOW NOTIFICATION Oracle Web Portal is a tool that provides a bird s eye view of the financial position of cost centres. Web Portal displays the value of the transactions as at close of business the previous day. At the end of month portal does not roll into the next month until two to three days after Ledgers close off the month. An is sent to all users advising them that this will occur. Workflow Notifications can be received via or from within elvis. They request Requisitioner, Requisition Approver, Buyer & Buyer Approver to perform specific actions relating to the procure to pay processing.