Glossary | Business Affairs

Glossary

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Academic Employee: A person employed in an Academic position.
Academic Position: Academic positions include teaching, research, and some administrative positions. Academic employment is specified by law to be unclassified and, in general, is governed by the Administrative Rules of the Oregon Board of Higher Education and by Oregon State University regulations.
Academic Support: Expenses incurred for administrative and support services such as in the Deans' offices, academic departments and divisions, educational media services, and centers/departmental administrative offices that benefit common or joint departmental activities.
Account Code: The third element of a FOAPAL used to identify specific financial transactions. Account codes define the type of activity taking place, such as revenues, expenses, and transfers in the Operating Ledger, and assets, liabilities, and fund balances in the General Ledger. Account codes with similar characteristics can be grouped into account types.
Account Index: See Index Code.
Accountable Property: Property acquired for a current sponsored project that has not been released unconditionally to Oregon State University (OSU).
Accounts Payable: An expense that has been incurred but check has not been issued.
Accounts Receivable: Any person, organization or agency that incurs charges, fines, or penalties at Oregon State University establishes an accounts receivable at OSU. An account becomes past due when not paid by the due date. Payment due dates are stated in each bill. Specific payment deadlines for students are listed in the Schedule of Classes. For financial reporting purposes, accounts receivable is revenue earned but not received by the close of the fiscal year. Revenue has been earned if goods were sold or services were provided, either completely or substantially in full, by the close of the fiscal year.
ACH: See Automated Clearing House.
Acknowledgements: Acknowledgements are sometimes issued by vendors to confirm their receipt of an order. Data appearing on the acknowledgement form should match order information on BANNER-FIS PO and/or in your pending file to verify that the vendor has recorded the order correctly. Note any discrepancies and vendor comments. Acknowledgements, as well as packing slips, work orders, quote sheets, etc. may show unit prices but are never used as invoices. These are documentation for files only.
Activity Code: The fifth element of a FOAPAL accounting string. These codes are available to the department to facilitate more detailed reporting and tracking.
Address Changes: Forward all notifications of vendor remittance, correspondence, or order address changes to the Accounts Payable Office. Employees should contact their department with changes, and students should go to the web, or kiosk to change their address.
Advertising: There are two kinds of advertising, Classified and Display. Enough information should be on file to verify the ad contents and date of publication. A tear sheet (printed copy of the advertisement) should be kept in departmental files. Beware of con artists who, without your knowledge or approval, reprint an ad that validly appeared in a different publication, then "invoice" you for the bogus ad. OSU is under no obligation to pay for unsolicited advertising. Examples include Employment Digest, Military Digest, Professional Employer, Chronicle of Science, and National Employment Advertiser.
Affiliated Foundation: Supports the activities of the institution and must be approved by the president of the institution. OSU affiliated foundations are Oregon State University Foundation and Agricultural Research Foundation.
Agency Funds: Used to account for funds external organizations while the funds are in the custody of the University. The University acts as the fiscal agent for the owner of the funds. Examples include trust funds held by the Memorial Union and payroll deduction funds held by the Business Affairs Office.
Agency-Owned Property: Property owned by a federal agency and furnished (on loan) for a specific project.
Allocable Costs: Goods or services that is chargeable or assignable to a particular project.
Allowable Working Capital: Retained earnings representing no more than 60 days operating expenditures, excluding capital items or non-cash expenses such as depreciation or amortization. This is calculated as the average operation expenditures of the last three years of operations multiplied by .1667 (60 days divided by 360 days).
Appropriation: An authorization granted by a legislative body to make expenditures and to incur obligations for specific purposes. An appropriation is usually limited in amount and the time within which it may be expended.
Approval Process: See also Implied Approval. After a FIS transaction document is completed, it is subject to the approvals process. Some documents will receive implied approvals. Other documents will be routed to reviewers through approval queues. Documents receiving approval may then be posted. See also disapproval.
Approval Queue: The approval queues route FIS documents to various individuals (approvers) for review in the approvals process. The FOAPAL elements and/or dollar amounts determine which queues are required. Once reviewed, the document is either approved and sent to posting, or is disapproved.
Approvals Process: After a FIS transaction document is completed, it is subject to the approvals process. All BANNER invoices (except those having to do with hosting and travel account codes, and those paying with a fund and account) will route through department level approval queues before routing to Business Affairs Payables final approval. The BANNER invoice label must be completed and attached to all payments. Forward the payable document to Business Affairs Payables. Some documents will receive implied approvals. Other documents will be routed to reviewers through approval queue. Documents receiving approval may then be posted to the operating or general ledger. See also Disapproval. The BANNER invoice label must be completed and attached to all payments. The BANNER document requires two people verifying the transaction - the person completing the document and the department budget approver.
Asset Tag: A permanent identifying label or decal attached to a piece of equipment. Federally- owned equipment also requires a "Property of U.S. Government" tag.
Assets: Property owned, such as cash, receivables, inventories, investments, land, buildings and equipment, intangibles, prepaid expenses, and anything that has a value to the owner or is available for the payment of a debt. The financial value of property or economic benefits that are owned. Typical assets include: Cash (A0xxx-A1xxx), Accounts Receivable (A3xxx), Inventories (A4xxx), and Prepaid Expense (A5xxx), Fixed Assets or Capitalized Assets (A8XXX).
Assignment: See Payroll Draw definition.
Audit: * To evaluate whether the statements prepared from the accounts present fairly the financial position of the institution.
* To evaluate whether the results of institutional financial operations of the constituent funds and balanced groups are consistent with the previous year
Auto-Pays (Centralized Processing): Selected vendors have been contracted by OSU to submit their billings centrally to Business Affairs Payables for processing. See FIS 408: Centralized Processing of Expenditures for more information.
Automated Clearing House (ACH): An electronic item that is processed through the Automatic Clearing House established as a clearing and settlement facility for financial institutions. ACH transfers take 2 to 4 business days to reach their destination and can be recalled or returned for a variety of reasons.
Auxiliary Enterprises/Funds: An entity which exists to furnish a service to students, faculty or staff, and which charges a fee that is directly related to, although not necessarily equal to, the cost of the service. The general public may incidentally be served by some auxiliary enterprises. The term may include dormitories, residence halls, dining halls, college unions, parking facilities, student health services, and intercollegiate athletics. These funds are used to account for operations that are financed and operated in a manner similar to private business enterprises and not directly related to the educational mission of the University. Goods and services are provided on a self-supporting basis.
Awards - See Also Employee Recognition Awards: Per Dictionary: Something that is conferred or bestowed, usually on the basis of merit. Per IRS: An award must be included as gross income unless it is transferred to charity or, if for employee achievement, the employer's cost for the award does not exceed the amount allowable as a deduction for the cost of the award. Per OUS: Student Employee Awards, account code 10507, are amounts awarded to student employees in recognition of special service or accomplishments. These amounts are subject to income tax and social security/Medicare withholding and must be included in the employee's gross income for year-end W-2 reporting. An award may also be a reward for achievement or performance that is generally more specific than the other categories, and is often given at the end of a school year. Awards, also called prizes, are usually small ($200-$500) and may be non-monetary (a plaque, etc.). Monetary awards may impact financial aid recipients, and processing must be handled through the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships. The Scholarships & Awards Authorization for Payment (SAAP) form and instructions may be obtained online at the lucre website.