U.S. Government Standard General Ledger Board and
Issues Resolution Committee Meeting Minutes

February 19, 2004

GENERAL ITEMS

Judy Yuran (FMS) opened the meeting and introductions were made. She noted that Keith Mertz (FMS) would discuss the Draft Revolving Fund Scenario. This scenario is a modification of a previously issued Revolving Fund Scenario that was revised to raise some new and on-going issues.

HANDOUTS

• Draft Revolving Fund Scenario
  
  
• Presentation on The Governmentwide Financial Report System (GFRS)
  

AGENDA ITEMS

Keith Mertz (FMS) presented the Revolving Fund Scenario. Keith began by stating that the scenario is not all inclusive. It is a general scenario showing the basic operations of a typical revolving fund. It does not include data on commitment accounting, revolving funds without reimbursable agreements, and revolving funds without corpus. It also does not include transactions that may be unique to certain agency revolving funds.

The following issues were raised concerning revolving fund operations:

• Revolving funds often incur obligations in excess of their fund balance. This is the acceptable method of doing business in revolving funds provided they have adequate spending authority from offsetting collections. However, if they receive an invoice for payment that exceeds their fund balance (which often happens) they cannot make the payment until their fund balance is equal to or greater than the amount of the invoice.
  
  
• Some revolving funds do not write down orders to obligations at yearend when the ordering entity's funds are expiring. This could eventually make the fund under capitalized. According to OMB Circular No. A-11 these orders must be written down.
  
  
• Some revolving funds write down all orders to obligations at yearend even when the ordering entity's funds are not expiring. Although this is a conservative way of doing business, we do not believe that this is proper practice since a non-expiring ordering entity is permitted to keep the obligations on its books. Also, if only the performing entity writes the orders down, then there is no proper elimination.

Eileen Parlow (DOD asked what is the purpose of startup capital appropriated to revolving funds? Should it be saved? Kathy Winchester (FMS) responded by saying that the purpose and requirements of the fund are spelled out in the legislation that established the fund.

Keith Stith (FMS) gave an update on FACTS II reporting for the first quarter of FY 2004. Keith noted that we had 92 percent agency participation, and that, in past quarters, we had 90 percent or less.

Jeff Hoge (FMS) gave a presentation on the Governmentwide Financial Report System (GFRS), which will be used to transmit the agency yearend closing package to FMS. The GFRS is currently being developed at FMS as an Internet based application. The closing package transmitted over the GFRS will be used to aid in preparation of the Financial Report of the United States Government (FR). This system will link the FR of the Government directly to the agencies audited financial statements. The FR was previously prepared based on the agencies FACTS I USSGL submissions. The due date for agency reporting will be November 18, 2004, this includes the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) approval and an Inspector General Opinion.

Orientation training will be held on the GFRS during the last week of April 2004. The training will be an overview of the GFRS and is geared toward departmental personnel and personnel at the Chief Financial Officer level. Training for the GFRS users will be held June 1 thru August 15, 2004. All training will be held at FMS in Hyattsville Maryland.

The following questions and issues were raised during the presentation:

Joe McAndrew (Treasury) noted that the trading partner codes for the closing package that will be used in GFRS are different from the trading partner codes that have been previously used in the Intragovernmental Eliminations process. This requires the agencies to keep two sets of trading partner codes in their records. Jeff said that he would look into the issue.

Bruce Henshel (Commerce) asked if the CFO can delegate the GFRS approval process that they have been designated to perform. Jeff responded that it is the decision of the CFO you can delegate the task but not the responsibility.

Jeff noted in summary that the GFRS is designed to eliminate the audit findings at FMS related to the preparation of the FR. Since the FR will now be directly linked to agencies audited financial reports, the focus on reconciling the FR would be in auditing the agency data. Currently there is no guidance on auditing the closing package. However, the Treasury Fiscal Assistant Secretary is taking the lead on this issue.

CLOSING REMARKS

Judy requested that the agencies provide feedback to the USSGL work group on the Revolving Fund Scenario and on reimbursable activities by next week. She requested that they provide information on their specific agency revolving funds and how they are different from the one presented in the draft scenario.

ATTENDEES

Judy Yuran, FMS
Toni Clark, FMS
Melinda Pope, FMS
Kathy Winchester, FMS
Karen Metler, FMS
Gwen Marshman, FMS
Karl Foltz, FMS
Keith Mertz, FMS
Shadonna Broaddus, FMS
Margaret LoHing, FMS
Lena Lewis, FMS
Wanda Francisco, FMS
Jeff Hoge, FMS
Keith Stith, FMS
Cheryl Dixon, FMS
Joe McAndrew, Treas
Iming Clark, Treas
Rena' Narce-Carroll, U.S. Mint
Lenizc Cyrus, U. S. Mint
Don McKay, FMS/TAS
John Emery, FMS/TAS
Marilyn Evans, DHS
Warren Cottingham, DHS
Traci Carroll, HUD
James White, HUD/FHA
Shari Palumbo, HUD
Eileen Parlow, DOD
Audrey Clark, DOD/DFAS
Wayne Hudson, DOD
Maryla Engelking, DOD/DFAS
Joy Marcou, DOD/DFAS
Barbara Hill, DOD/DFAS
Bob Booker, DOD/DFAS
Barbara Harbell, DOE
Dean Amorn, DOE
Christine Kent, DOT
Teresa Lampkin, DOT
Wendy Calvin, DOT
Veronica Freeman, DOL
Denise Robinson, FCC
Leslie Liu, NRC
Eric Rivera, NRC
Jim Brady, EPA
Leslie Godsey, SBA
Joseph Henry, SBA
Joe Sorbera, EXIM
Helen Baxter, DOC
Britt Fucito, DOC/PTO
Bruce Henshel, Commerce
Sashi Patel, NSF
David Surti, USDA
Geneva Jones, USDA
Lynn Moaney, USDA
Alan Levine, USDA/FSA
Karen Hunter, USDA/CCC
Kenneth Ossman, USDA/CCC
Letha Holliday, SSA
Michael Swanchara, GSA
Mark Brey, IRS
Earl Barnes, GSA
Janet Winchester, VA
Michele Murphy, VA
Eileen Angle, State
Nancy Babe, State
Kotora Padgett, DOJ