Glossary | Business Affairs

Glossary

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Facilities And Administrative (F&A) Cost: Formerly known as indirect cost. Expenditures associated with a grant, contract, or cooperative agreement that cannot be directly charged to, nor specifically identified with, individual projects. F&A costs involve expenditures necessary for the development and maintenance of an environment conducive to sponsored projects, including maintenance of facilities and library, and administrative services. The policy for the calculation of an F&A cost rate is found in OMB Circular A-21.
FASOM: Financial Administration Standard Operating Manual - this manual is used by OUS to set accounting/operating guidelines for the universities in the OUS system.
Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR): FAR-Procurement standards that are applicable to federal contracts. http://www.arnet.gov/far/
Federal Perkins Loan: A need-based; university administered federal loan with a 5% interest rate. The government pays the interest while the student is enrolled at least half time. Repayment begins nine months after graduation, withdrawal or attendance drops below at least half-time enrollment. The loan is made available to full-time undergraduates, post baccalaureate and graduate students with high financial need. Payments and the length of the repayment period depend on the size of the loan with up to 10 years to repay. The OSU Business Affairs Student Loan Office handles repayment, deferment and cancellation options
Federal Perkins Student Loan: A federally funded loan co-administered between the Office of Business Affairs and the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships. OFAS administers the application process and recipient selection. The Office of Business Affairs maintains the promissory notes and processes the repayment schedules. See the Financial Aid & Scholarship website for information on Financial Aid.
Fee Remissions
Fellowship Administration Fee: Sponsored fellowships that carry an institutional educational allowance are charged an administration fee. See section 606 Post Doctoral Fellowship Administration Fee Policy and 607 Institution Educational Allowances.
Fellowships: Generally, an amount paid for the benefit of an individual to aid in the pursuit of study or research, usually at the graduate level. See the Graduate School website for Graduate School institutional allowance policy. See FIS 1402-06: Post Doctoral Fellowship Administration Fee.
Fiduciary Responsibility: A relationship where someone (the fiduciary) acts in the capacity of a "caretaker" of another's rights assets and/or well being. The fiduciary owes an ethical and/or legal obligation to carry out this responsibility with discretion and intelligence as well as honesty, integrity, and impartiality.
Field: A data item within a block. For example, an address information block may include fields such as street address, city, state, zip code.
Financial Administration Standard Operating Manual (FASOM): Financial Administration Standard Operating Manual - this manual sets the accounting/operating guidelines for the universities in the Oregon University System (OUS). http://www.ous.edu/cont-div/fasom/
Financial Aid: This category includes awards of aid and actual disbursement to students. It includes PELL grants, Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants (SEOG), Oregon Opportunity Grants, Federal Perkins loans, Federal Direct loans, institutional loans, university and non-university scholarships, fellowships, special awards, and tuition remission waivers. It does not include Financial Aid administration or counseling, or graduate assistant fee remissions (which is connected with employment). All student payments, including cash awards, are processed through Financial Aid using the Scholarship Awards Application form.
FIS: 1. The University
FIS (Financial Information System): FIS is the University's financial information system, a comprehensive software package for entering, adjusting, and retrieving financial data. FIS is a complete financial system, with modules devoted to accounting, purchasing, accounts payable, fixed assets, grants, and budget development. It offers University administrators and departmental staff accessibility to financial information, data security, and compatibility with other databases at OSU and elsewhere in Oregon higher education.
Fiscal Period: A unit of time (corresponding to calendar months) into which the fiscal year is divided. Period 1 is July 1st through July 31st, and so on. An extra accrual period (called Period 14 in FIS) also exists.
Fiscal Year: A twelve-month period of time to which the annual budget applies, and at the end of which an institution determines its financial position and the results of its operations. Oregon State University's fiscal year extends from July 1st to June 30th of the following year. The fiscal year for the federal government runs from October 1st to September 30th of the following year.
Fixed Asset: See Capitalized Equipment
Fixed-Price Agreement: An agreement in which a price is determined in advance for the performance of a specific project or scope of work. Expenses are not subject to detailed billing. Invoices are prepared for a flat amount or by-task basis. Any residual funds, less F&A, after project completion will be authorized to be spent on further project-related research or made available to the department for use in instruction and departmental research.
FOAPAL: Acronym for the six chart of accounts elements used to process financial data. FIS term standing for fund, organization, account, program, activity and location codes.
Forbearance: A period of time during which a borrower of a Federal Perkins Loan, because of hardship, is permitted to postpone or reduce loan payments. Also, forbearance may be given for circumstances that are not covered by deferment. To qualify for forbearance, the borrower must meet one or more of a number of requirements established by Federal regulations. Usually the borrower is charged for the interest that accrues on the loan during the forbearance period. Forbearance is not automatic. Contact the Oregon State University Student Loan Office for more information.
Foreign Travel: Foreign travel comprises travel in foreign countries. It does not include travel in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico or U.S. Possessions.
Form: A standard FIS screen display that resembles a printed form in appearance and organization; forms are used to create transactions, perform queries, and generate summaries.
Fringe Benefits (OPE): Benefits related to personnel listed in budgets that are paid through OSU (personnel does not include consultants). Benefits are calculated on the portion of the salary charged to the sponsor and include retirement, Social Security, and medical benefits.
FTE (Full-Time Equivalent Positions)
Fully Funded Grants: Non-governmental grants that are paid in advance earn interest. Interest is calculated on the monthly cash balance and is posted quarterly. All restrictions in the grant document must be followed.
Fund Accounting: A method of recording financial information that groups resources into funds based on their source and any limitations on use.
Fund Balance: Fund balances are the excess of the assets of a fund over its liabilities. The term net equity is often used to mean fund balance.
Fund Code: The first element in FOAPAL, and the source of revenue/budget. Examples: general funds, grant funds, gift funds, agency funds, service department funds, designated operations funds, inventions/royalties funds, auxiliary funds, student loan funds, endowment funds, plant funds.
Funding Source: Where the budget or funds for a project or activity come from.