As we have further explored and anchored our understanding of the functionality of Oracle Cloud Financials, we have learned there is a preferred way to deploy Budgetary Control (referred to herein as "BC"). Thus, beginning with FY22 (July 1, 2021), you will see some changes to the way you see information in Budgetary Control.  

 

This communication provides an overview of the changes you will see in Budgetary Control, related information in a module called General Accounting, and information on upcoming changes to reports. 

 

What is Budgetary Control? What is General Ledger?  

 

Budgetary Control ("BC") is designed for procure-to-pay functionality. This is where funds checking happens, and by design Oracle expects only expense accounts to be present in BC. BC includes the following amount types: 

  • Original board-approved budget 

  • Adjusted budget (i.e., budget transfers affected by end users and Budget Department). 

  • Commitments & obligations (i.e., requisitions & purchase orders) 

  • Expenditures 

  • Funds available 

 

General Ledger ("GL"), found in the General Accounting module, is the complete set of the college's books & records. GL includes the following amount types: 

  • Original board-approved budget 

  • Actuals 

 

 

Budgetary Control: Differences between FY21 and FY22:

FY21: 

All subcodes are represented in Budgetary Control. 

FY22: 

For FY22 we have removed account types that Oracle did not intend to be included in Budgetary Control. Only "expense" accounts are represented in Budgetary Control. Account types such as "revenue" and "assets" have been removed. Expense accounts are as follows: 

  • Operating expenses (subcode 6000-7999) 

    • Salaries & benefits – 6000-6999 

    • Non-salary operating expenses – 7000-7999 

  • Chargebacks (subcodes 9000-9999) 

  • Capital expenditures clearing, fund 06 only (subcode 8999) 

 

Where are the other subcodes located? 

  • General Ledger will include all subcodes. Thus, revenue, asset, and liability accounts—as well as expense accounts—will be in General Ledger. 

 

How does this change impact me? 

 

Most departments which rely only on expense accounts can continue operating as they did in FY21—that is, relying on Budgetary Control and reports derived from the same (e.g., Funds Available Dashboard, Departmental Activity Report).  

 

Departments which rely to some extent on awareness of activity in revenue accounts will need to adopt changes in the way activity and balances are viewed and analyzed. Use of the GL module and upcoming reports derived thereon will be needed. 

 

  • Original board-approved budget will be loaded to both BC and GL. 

  • Adjusted budget will exist in BC only. Budget adjustments will not flow to GL. 

  • Budget transfers will be available only for non-salary operating expense subcodes and chargeback subcodes only.  

  • Existing reports (e.g., Funds Available Dashboard, Departmental Activity Report) pull data from BC only. Thus, these reports will show only expense and chargeback accounts, and will show all amount types outlined above (original budget, adjusted budget, commitments/obligations, expenditures, and funds available). 

  • New reports are in development to extract data from the GL. These reports, when complete, will be formatted as similar as possible to existing reports in BC. Reports from the GL will include both revenue and expense, however amount types will be limited to original budget and actuals.  

 

We realize for departments with both revenue and expense that we now have two separate locations and reports for giving you the full spectrum of information you may need—one report coming out of BC, and another from GL. This is a significant change, however it is completely necessary and will result in more accurate data and better decisions.  

 

Impact on your day-to-day activity: 

 

  • Transfer budget between existing expense accounts:  

    • Transfers among departments you can access: Similar to how BC works in FY21, the Transfer Budget button will be available to end users to move expense budget around as needed.  

    • Transfers involving one or more departments you cannot access: For transfers to/from departments outside your purview, please continue to use the Budget Request Form. 

  • Funding for expenses in excess of board approved expense budget: 

    • Revenue in excess of original revenue budget in GL: Complete the Budget Request Form to include the revenue subcode(s) in the 4XXX range where revenue has been received as the from account, and one or more expense accounts as the to account. For situations where additional expense budget is needed prior to the receipt of revenue (e.g., for an upcoming revenue-generating event), please do the same and also provide an explanation justifying the request.  

    • Chargebacks in excess of original chargeback budget in BC: Complete the Budget Request Form to include the chargebacks subcode(s) in the 9XXX range where revenue has been received as the from account, and one or more expense accounts as the to account. 

    • Transfer from restricted (02) fund to unrestricted (01) fund:  To the extent an underlying transaction in the unrestricted fund is related to the purpose of a restricted fund, a restricted fund may be used to provide funding to the unrestricted fund. The mechanism to complete this transfer is a manual journal entry, which will credit the underlying 01 fund expense account, thereby creating funds available in BC. To complete the manual journal entry, please complete the Accounting Request form.  

 

Further information about navigating the GL and upcoming reports will be made available in the near future.