Amounts expended for foreign travel-related lodging and meals.
E382 Other Foreign Travel Expense
Amounts expended for miscellaneous foreign travel-related expenses such as parking, baggage fee, ect.
Do not use for foreign airfare expenses (use E355). Do not use for foreign travel-related food/lodging (use E3883)
Chart of Accounts Training
- Develop a plan for communicating changes
- Develop online accounting resources
- In-class training courses for new employees
- refresher courses for others
- Develop in-person classroom training content
- Provide extensive campus-wide communication on Chart of Accounts changes
- Accounting Services Training Program
JV Approval’s
Departments create and submit accounting journal vouchers using the Banner forms FGAJVCD or FGAJVCM. Supporting documents must be attached to the Journal Voucher using OnBase.
All accounting JVs require approval from Accounting Services.
For information on how to enter accounting JVs and attach supporting documents in NolijWeb, see the Originator Guide – Accounting JVs.
Click below to watch a video on how to enter JVs on the FGAJVCM form.
How to enter an accounting JV on FGAJVCM
For information on how to review and approve JVs and view NolijWeb documents, see the Approver Guide.
Click below to watch a video on how to approve:
Questions about accounting JVs? Contact Diane.Fuller@wwu.edu.
How to Correct an Error in Financial Records
Error discovered in financial report (either Banner or Millennium):
What Type of Transactions?
Revenue from outside sources (G-code). A/R or deposits processed by the Student Business Office (SBO)
- Contact SBO
- Email: sbo@wwu.edu
- Phone: (360) 650-2865
Inter-departmental Revenue (H-code)
- Contact the other department
- Either department can initiate Accounting JV in Banner
- Debit the FOAPAL of the incorrect revenue & Credit the correct FOAPAL
- Submit JV
Donation, Contribution, or Endowment Interest in a Foundation fund (chart 2- various codes)
- Contact Foundation Office
- Email: western.foundation@wwu.edu
- Phone: (360) 650-3027
- Initiate Accounting JV in Banner
- Credit the FOAPAL of the incorrect transaction & Debit the correct FOAPAL
- Submit JV
*Contact payroll if you need more information or clarification
You need to correct payments already made and future payroll
- To permanently change the funding source for Future payroll, submit a Personnel Action (PA) (faculty staff) e-sign form. A retroactive state date on the PA will also automatically generate a redistribution to move or correct payments made in previous pay periods.
- After obtaining required approval from Department and VP, submit the form to Human Resources.
You only need to correct or move payments already made
- To correct only past payroll funding, initiate a Salary/Benefit Funding Redistribution Request Form for Prior Pay Period(s) e-sign form. This form moves the salary & associated benefits for each pay period that has already been processed.
- After obtaining required approval from Department, submit the form to Accounting Services.
State-funded budget allocations are a set amount and do not usually change mid-year. The initial Budget Load is an annual process coordinated by your Division Budget Officer. Amounts you see in the Budget Column of reports are the result of this process, which distributes your total annual allocation into the various expense categories. There are occasionally one-time allocations made mid-year which do not change your recurring budget.
Self-sustaining or Auxiliary budgets are an estimate of your projected revenue and expenses. These can be adjusted as needed.
Position Budgets: Budgeted salary for permanent employees is tied to a specific position number and employee ID (W#) and should be adjusted as personnel changes occur. Budget for temporary and student employees is usually in a pooled position. Budget for benefits is pooled in account code F900B, which estimates your total annual benefit expense for all employees.
- Contact your Division Budget Officer or the WWU Budget Office if you need more information
- Do you have permission to key transactions in the Millennium Budget & Forecasting module?
- Yes
- Submit Budget Transfer (BT) in Millennium Budget
- No
- Contact your Division Budget Office
- Division Budget Office submits Budget Transfer (BT) in Millennium
- Yes
- Identify who initiated the transfer (contact Accounting Services if you need help) and discuss who will make the correction.
- Transfer Decision Tree Chart to determine the correct account code for the transfer
- Initiate Accounting JV in Banner
- Reverse the FOAPAL of the incorrect transaction & enter the correct FOAPAL
- Submit JV
If the Accrual Period (period 14) is still open, corrections can be made to the previous year's transactions, using the steps identified with each type of transaction. Once the Accrual Period is closed, changes can only be made to previous year activity if Accounting Services determines that it is a "material change" (something that is substantial enough to affect the Institution's Financial Statement).
- Contact Accounting Services
- Email: accounting.services@wwu.edu
- Phone: (360) 650-3568
Things to Watch For
Fiscal Year End (FYE) Deadlines
To ensure that purchases and other transactions are completed before FYE, please review the list of year-end deadlines published by Accounting Services in “Finance Footnotes” and on its website under FAQs.
Journal Vouchers
Begin reviewing your financial reports in preparation for FYE now. Please review your expenses, account codes used, and fund balances. It is easiest to review budgets and initiate JVs to “clean up” year-to-date activity now so that you can focus on FYE transactions in June.
- The June accounting period closes on July 7th, and June JVs must be submitted by June 30th to ensure sufficient time for approval. Monitor the status of JVs submitted in late June because any June JVs that are not approved by Accounting Services before July 6th will need to be resubmitted.
- The accrual period (period 14) is used by Accounting Services to ensure that late posting transactions are assigned to the correct FY. Make sure that you account for any expenses, especially travel, that are likely to post after July 1st when estimating your year-end balance.
- During the accrual period both FY16 and FY17 are open. Pay close attention to the dates used on JVs!
- We ask that you do not submit any JVs after July 10th to allow time for colleges and departments to make accounting adjustments prior to the deadline for accrual JVs.
June Travel
Travel charges continue to post during the accrual period. It is important to anticipate any travel expenses that will post by FYE, and budget accordingly to avoid negative year-end balances (or use self-sustaining funds for June/July travel). FYE deadlines specific to travel reimbursements are published on the Travel Services website.
Open Encumbrances
Encumbrances reflect funds that have been identified for specific uses; for example, all Travel Authorizations and Purchase Orders result in encumbered funds. These open commitments do not reflect funds being held for those expenses, but are shown in budget reports to provide a snapshot of your balance that takes the anticipated expenses into account.
- Review your encumbrances to identify which ones are associated with expenses incurred before July 1st.
- Encumbrances for expenses that will post in the next fiscal year can be ignored, and the amount can be included in the year-end balance estimate (see examples on back)
- Encumbrances that remain open after the related expense has posted need to be cleared using the Encumbrance Liquidation form. [Note: Most travel encumbrances can be released in TEM.]
- Open encumbrances will be rolled to the next fiscal year. It is good practice to periodically review your encumbrances to clear any that are no longer needed.
Fast Index (recommended – where it all comes together!)
A Fast Index is a data entry shortcut code that represents a Fund-Organization-Program combination to facilitate accuracy. A Fast Index code should be used for any combination of required elements codes that will be used on a regular basis.
Account codes must be selected for each and every transaction and are not included in a Fast Index.
Fast Index Codes are three to six character alpha codes (e.g. FIR or FSYWOM). The first character is always F, which stands for Fast Index.
The following Fast Index conventions have been established for WWU, the Foundation and Alumni:
1st Char |
2nd or 3rd Char* |
Description | Fund Convention (x is variable) |
Chart 1 – WWU | |||
F | B | State Operating Fund | Fund is 1xxxx |
G | Agency Fund | Fund is 8xxxx | |
I | Internal Fund | Fund is 3xxxx | |
S | Self-Supporting | Fund is 2xxxx | |
X | Auxiliary | Fund is 4yxxx (y = 3,4,5) | |
XX | Associated Students | Fund is 41xxx | |
Chart 2 & 3 | |||
F | F | Foundation (Chart 2) | 6-digit fund code: 1xxxxx, 2xxxxx or 3xxxxx |
A | Alumni (Chart 3) | 2-digit fund code: 1x, 2x or 3x |
*There are other discontinued 2nd and 3rd characters not listed here that exist for historical purposes.
The following Fast Index conventions have been established for Academic Affairs only:
1st Char |
2nd or 3rd Char* |
Description | Fund Convention (x is variable) |
Chart 1 – WWU | |||
F | A | Academic Affairs TA Salary | Fund is 12947 |
B | State Operating Fund | Fund is 12xxx | |
K | Academic Affairs Classified Staff Salary | Fund is 129xx | |
N | Academic Affairs NTT Faculty Salary | Fund is 129xx | |
T | Academic Affairs Permanent Faculty Salary | Fund is 129xx | |
Z | Academic Affairs Exempt Staff | Fund is 129xx | |
Q | Academic Affairs One-Time Pay | Fund is 12xxx |
Location (Where items are located)
Use of location codes are optional and can be used to represent a physical location. It is primarily used with, but not limited to, the Fixed Asset module. Location (“Locn”) codes can be established with up to five levels of hierarchy; for example, OM would refer to all locations in Old Main and the next three numbers would represent the room number within the building. Some areas that use location codes include Facilities Management, Accounting Services, Extended Education, and University Residences.
Location code examples:
Location Code | Description |
BT | Buchannan Towers |
HH253 | Haggard Hall 253 |
OM230 | Old Main 230 |
XSP | Off-campus location |
Activity (Optional for additional detail and tracking)
The use of activity codes in an accounting string is optional, but they can be very useful for internal tracking of transactions associated with specific projects or activities. Activity codes (“Actv”) can be any combination of six digit alpha-numeric characters that is not already in use.
Example Activity Codes |
Description |
ASB685 | Psychology Club |
NTTCOM | Communication Studies NTT Salaries |
MCLSPA | Spanish Club |
For example, if a department wanted to track recruiting expenses they would add the activity code to the rest of the accounting string for all transactions. After the recruitment period they would have the ability to generate a report of all expenses with the activity code to summarize recruitment expenses. This can be very helpful, but the activity code must be consistently used to be effective. Activity codes can be used to track institutional activity across departments.
Program (Why the money is being used)
Program (abbreviated Prog) codes are mandatory and define why the money is being spent or collected. Program codes consist of three numeric characters followed by three alpha characters. The numbers in program codes represent classifications used in reporting to the State of Washington (e.g. codes beginning with 011 are used for instruction related transactions only). The last three characters of the Prog code are flexible and can be used to distinguish programs within the University.
This chart represents just a few examples of Program Codes and how they can be used to track ongoing functions within the various administrative units of the University (Institution, Divisions, or Departments). A full list of Program Codes with the roll-up hierarchy can be obtained by running the FWRCLST report in Banner or in Millennium FAST-Finance by selecting Additional Reports>FOAPAL codes.
Examples of COA 1 Program Code Classifications (for State reporting) |
Examples of COA 1 Program Codes |
010 – Instruction
011 – General Instruction 013 – Summer Session |
011C2C Compass 2 Campus Program 013LDS Summer Session – Leadership Studies |
060 – Student Services
061 – Basic Student Services 063 – Other Special Programs & Services |
061TCS Tutoring Center Services 063INT Special Programs – International Program |
100 – Grants & Contracts – Restricted
110 – GC Non-research Restricted 120 – GC Research – Restricted |
111LED GC Non-research Library Science Ed 120GEO GC Research Geology |
850 – Other programs for State Reporting 850 – Auxiliary Enterprises |
850BKS Bookstore 850DRA Dept. Related Activities Committee (DRAC) |
Examples of COA 2 Program Code Classifications (NO State reporting) |
Examples of COA 2 Program Codes |
No State reporting number classifications SCHFEL – Scholarships & Fellowships SPTWES – Support to WWU |
SCHOLR Scholarships SPTINS Instruction |
Account (What the money is used for)
The account segment of the FOAPAL is mandatory and represents what the transaction is for and how it is recorded. The alpha prefix represents the classification of the transaction. Account (abbreviated Acct) codes consist of one letter followed by three numeric characters. For example E115 is the expense account code used for lab supply purchases.
The following are the account code categories:
Account Code Prefix |
Description |
E | General Expense |
F | Salaries, Wages, and Benefits Expense |
G | Revenue from outside the University |
H | Internal Revenue (within the University) |
K | Transfers |
L | Liabilities |
S | Assets |
W | Control Accounts (Accounting use only) |
X | Fund Balances (Accounting use only) |
Y | Fund Additions (Accounting use only) |
Z | Fund Deductions (Accounting use only) |
Selection of proper account code is extremely important as it affects our financial statements, reports to the State, and other external reporting requirements. Please refer to the Annotate Chart of Accounts for additional information and detailed descriptions.