Processing Closeout Adjustments To: "AO - All Administrative Officers" cc: "DC - All District Chiefs", "B - Branch Chiefs and Offices", "A - Division Chief and Staff" Subject: Processing Closeout Adjustments Date: Tue, 08 Oct 1996 19:19:54 -0400 From: "Alice A Sabatini, Administrative Officer, Reston, VA" In Reply Refer To: Mail Stop 442 October 7, 1996 MEMORANDUM REPLY REQUESTED BY OCTOBER 16, 1996 REPLY REQUESTED BY OCTOBER 17, 1996 To: See Distribution From: Alice A. Sabatini Administrative Officer, Water Resources Division Subject: Processing Closeout Adjustments All offices received specific division policy and procedural guidance on closeout in the memorandum from me dated September 3, 1996. This memorandum provides additional instructions on processing closing adjustments. Because all offices are now using remote data entry into the Federal Financial System (FFS) to record payments, accruals and obligations, we will also use this method to process closeout adjustments. However, because many of you have expressed a desire to maintain the functionality provided by the Administrative Information System (AIS) Adjustment Drawdown Report, we will also be requiring that offices enter adjustment data into AIS as well. This should not require much additional work because we do not anticipate that cost centers will have many expenditure adjustments this fiscal year. The lowered volume of adjustments is related to longer processing lead times in the FFS; payroll data for pay period 21 being entered as actual rather than as estimates; and the use of remote data entry has allowed more control over the data at the cost center level. You are reminded that the deadline for the electronic submission of closeout adjustments is tentatively scheduled for close of business Wednesday, October 16, 1996. Copies of documentation to support all adjustments should be express mailed to be received by the Headquarters office no later than noon Thursday, October 17, 1996. Please be advised that if FFS reports are made available prior to Friday, October 11, 1996, these deadlines will be shortened. Please make certain to address your closeout adjustment packages to Mail Stop 442, Attn: Kelly Bradley (phone 703-648-5040). Last year, we had a large number of offices send these packages to OFM (Mail Stop 270) which delayed our receipt and resulting in one lost package that had to be resent by the cost center. All adjustments must be entered into the Federal Financial System (FFS) using Remote Data Entry (RDE) and processed with a "Q" in the action field. All documents must also be entered into AIS. The AIS data must be transferred electronically to be followed by the AIS Adjustment Drawdown Report and supporting documentation in hardcopy. Transactions that are not entered in both the FFS and the AIS will not be processed. It is recommended that adjustments be transferred to Headquarters daily from the time that cost centers begin to populate entries for the Adjustment Draw-down Report in AIS. Only the last file sent will be used. Remember that the FFS balances are the official numbers--adjustments MUST be made to correct FFS to agree with your local records (AIS). The following are detailed instructions for entering and transferring closeout adjustments to Headquarters. A. Entering Documents in the FFS Offices should be identifying items that require adjustment and entering adjustments into the Federal Financial System via Remote Data Entry. After October 8, 1996, the 4P, 4V, 4I and 4N documents will no longer be available for use in fiscal year 1996. All transactions previously recorded using these document types should now be recorded using one of the accrual documents (4A, 4C, 4U, 4B, 4D). All documents recorded in FFS after October 8, 1996, can be processed only with a "Q" in the action field. The "Q" applies to a quick edit in the FFS and will require further approval and processing by the Financial Operations and Reporting Section before it is posted. These document types include 4M, 4O, 4A, 4C, 4U, 4B, 4D, 4S, and 4J. Please note that all documents (except 4P, 4V, 4I and 4N) entered into FFS after October 8, 1996 may only be entered with a "Q" action even if they are being processed against FY 1997 funds. This action is necessary because FFS must associate the data entered with specific accounting period. During the adjustment period, these documents will be associated with accounting period 13 96. When all of the WRD adjustments are processed (approximately October 24, 1996), the accounting period will be changed to 01 97 for the document types referenced in the previous paragraph. Any documents entered prior to this accounting period change with a "Q" action will be processed by OFM personnel; no additional action is necessary by the cost centers. We are not suggesting that offices discontinue data entry for fiscal year 1997, but are advising that these documents will not be processed and will not appear on AIS transaction files during this period. B. Entering Documents in the AIS The preliminary and adjusted balance frame can be accessed via the main window frame by selecting Preliminary Balance from the function list field, by typing Preliminary Balance in the execute entry field or by using the cascading menu bar in the following sequence: expense->closeout->closeout adjustments->preliminary balance. The preliminary and adjusted balance frame should be used to enter account number balances as shown in the net balance available column on the Federal Financial System (FFS) Report 286A (Net Monthly Summary of Project and Customer [FPCA]) for the month ending September. This balance file needs to be populated at only the project level, since we do not fund at the subproject level in the FFS. For example, if a cost center's preliminary Report 286A shows an ending balance of -2000.00 for the 00100 project, that is the amount that the user would add to the preliminary balance file. ONLY NET BALANCE AVAILABLE SHOULD BE ENTERED. The burden earned will be recomputed after adjustments are processed. These preliminary balances will be used on the Adjustment Draw-down Report and by AIS frames in calculating the adjusted account balance. To enter preliminary balances in AIS: Change mode to insert by using the pull down menu bar, clicking on edit and then clicking on edit/insert or by using the accelerator command alt-i. After changing the mode, the balances for each account number should be entered. Key in fiscal year, account number and preliminary balance (which is the net ending balance as shown on the September FFS Report 286A). The adjustment balance is a system calculated value. If auto-save is on, the data will be saved when the user tabs or enters past the last data entry field. If auto-save is not on, the data should be saved after each account number balance entry is completed. After preliminary balances are entered for all accounts, review the data in the table field for accuracy. The preliminary balances should be compared to the FFS Report 286A net available balance. Change the mode to edit, query the account numbers that are inaccurate, make changes, and save the data. After ensuring accurate entry, close the frame or iconify it for later use. ***If the net amount authorized on the Report 286A does not agree with the AIS assessment report, a funding adjustment must be processed. Most cost centers reported that it is easier to recalculate the net balance available prior to populating the preliminary balance file. This is done by subtracting the total encumbrances shown on the report 286A from the correct net amount authorized (taken from the AIS assessment report) to yield a corrected net balance available. Enter the corrected total in the preliminary balance file and report the funding adjustment as shown below. If a corrected preliminary balance is calculated, please highlight or asterick the balance on the hard copy Adjustment Draw-down Report submitted to Headquarters and submit the adjustment on the form provided in the September 3, 1996 memorandum. For example: AIS shows your net amount authorized for the 00100 project as $100,000, but FFS shows the net amount authorized as $90,000. Take the net amount authorized from AIS ($100,000) and subtract the total encumbrances from the Report 286A ($99,880) to yield the corrected net balance available ($120). Enter this corrected amount in the preliminary balance file. ***Any adjustments to funding should be calculated as shown above and annotated on the Adjustment Draw-down Report.*** The Account Balance Report is a summarized Adjustment Drawdown Report without the adjusted transactions. It shows the account and cost center preliminary and ending balances. Both reports can be run at any time during the adjustment process. Transferring the Adjustments to Headquarters After all adjustments have been entered into FFS and AIS (no later than close of business Wednesday, October 16, 1996), the AIS entries should be transferred to Headquarters. To tranfer records, click on the TRANSFER TO HQ button or use the pull down menu bar under Special and click on TRANSFER TO HQ. After clicking on the button, a pop-up window will appear asking the user if it is ok to transfer adjustments for cost center XXXX and fiscal year 1996 (XXXX equals your cost center) Click on OK. In order to transfer, data must be shown in the header entry fields on the frame. After clicking on OK, the records are queued for transfer and the system message will read, "Records sent". For ease of data entry, we have left the descriptions used for the nature of adjustment last year unchanged. This will allow offices to use the AIS pulldown to populate the data in this field. Offices may choose to key in the descriptions and not use the pulldown examples at their discretion, but data entry must follow the examples shown below (two character code followed by a space, -, space, narrative explanation). Sample nature of adjustment descriptions: AE - an accrual adjustment or forgotten accrual MO - purchase order, contract or other obligating document was not processed MO - purchase order needs to be de-obligated TO - relocation travel authorization or amendment was not obligated SV - SV adjustment within the same cost center SV2 - SV adjustment involving another cost center within WRD SV3 - SV adjustment involving other Survey Division, (i.e. Geologic Division, National Mapping Division, etc.) OF - adjustments between funds PY - SV adjustment involving more than one fiscal year (i.e. a standard voucher that is correcting an OFM error causing an expenditure to be charged to FY 1996 instead of the correct fiscal year) All SV (4S and 4J) adjustments must have an offsetting entry, i.e. for every debit, there must also be a credit. You should make every effort to contact the affected cost center or division to alert them to the fact that you are processing an adjustment that will affect their cost center and consequently their closing balance. It is the responsibility of the cost center receiving the credit to coordinate the adjustment with the cost center receiving the debit. If you need additional information regarding the processing of closeout adjustments, please contact your Regional Administrative Officer, Michele O'Meara (703-648-5042) or Kelly Bradley (703-648-5040). Distribution: AO, FO, PO