MD.250.8.1, FNM - Use of Accounting Codes on Spending Documents and Direct Charge Guidance

Maryland Bulletin: 250-8-1
Subject: FNM - Use of Accounting Codes on Spending Documents and Direct Charge Guidance
Date: October 3, 2007

Purpose. To inform employees on the procedures for coding spending documents and provide guidance on direct charge.

Expiration Date. September 30, 2008.

All Supervisors are responsible to ensure that the directions in this bulletin are followed.

Explanation.  In order to ensure expenditures are recorded properly in the accounting system and financial accountability is maintained for the funds Maryland NRCS receives, the appropriate accounting code needs to be entered on spending and obligation documents. Enclosed is a list of FY08 Accounting codes.

Under Direct Charge (see the enclosed Direct Charging of Expenditures document), financial transactions should be directly charged to the benefiting program unless they are listed on the enclosed Indirect Cost Items document.

All employees will ensure that the appropriate accounting code is included on all spending documents. Spending documents without accounting codes will be returned for completion.

NRCS-FNM-35, Request for Travel Authorization/NRCS-FNM-1, Meeting Attendance Request
Enter the accounting code in block 15 on the FNM-35 form and block 8 on the NRCS-FNM-1 form.

AD-616, Travel Voucher (Temporary Duty Travel)
Code will be entered using information from the "Travel Information for Voucher form".

AD-700, Procurement Request
Enter the appropriate code in Item 29 - Accounting Classification, Section E.

SF-1164, Claim for Reimbursement Expenditures on Official Business
Enter the appropriate accounting code in the Accounting Classification section at bottom.

AD-287-2, Recommendation & Approval of Awards
Enter the appropriate accounting code in block 8.

Request for Compensatory Time or Overtime
Enter the appropriate accounting code in the "purpose" line.

PCMS Credit Card Transaction
Cardholders need to reconcile transactions to the appropriate accounting code for the program to be charged. Also see AD-700, Procurement Request above.

WebTCAS - Timesheets
See attached FY08 Direct Charging of Expenditures document under Salary Costs.

Contact. For any questions regarding accounting codes in general, please contact Marie Monn, Budget Officer at 443-482-2924. Questions regarding the appropriate accounting code to be used should be directed in the following order: your supervisor, Program Manager, Budget Officer

JON F. HALL
State Conservationist

The first two or four digits of the accounting code are the last two digits of the fiscal year (FY08=08) CTA funds 01 and 02 are multi year funds so they use two fiscal years, 0809. The next two digits are the fund code. T = Technical Assistance, F = Financial Assistance and R = Reimbursable. The last two digits are the state code (Maryland = 24).

FY-08 Direct Charging of Expenditures
October 1, 2007

Background:

Direct charge is the policy and procedures for charging costs as worked to the benefiting fund.

Congress makes funds available for obligation and expenditure in each NRCS program through specific or general appropriations. The use of each appropriation is governed by various authorities including the terms of the appropriation itself; legislation authorizing the appropriation; and general statutory provisions that allow or prohibit certain uses of appropriated funds.

In addition to funds appropriated to NRCS by Congress, trust and other funds are available for specific NRCS activities by transfer appropriations from other Federal or non-Federal agencies including the commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), or by reimbursement from Federal or non-Federal sources.

Direct charge captures the costs of delivering NRCS programs and links the resulting financial data with program accomplishment data. The concept is that as many of the costs of a program as possible will be charged directly to the benefiting program/fund. See attached FY 08 Accounting Codes/Funds file.

Direct Charging has two categories of cost/expenditures: Direct costs/expenditures and indirect costs/expenditures.

Direct costs/expenditures are charged directly to one program/fund. For example:

• Travel for a conference on Conservation Security Program would be charged to program/fund (85T)/accounting code (0885T24).

Indirect costs/expenditures are charged using fund 64T to all programs/funds via a process called cost allocation. See the FY08 Indirect Cost Items document for a list of items to be charged to the cost allocation accounting code 080964T24. Of course there are some exceptions, for example:

• If we lease a copy machine for one of our field offices, the cost would be an indirect charge to cost allocation (accounting code 080964T24). If we lease a copy machine for a temporary Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) office, the cost would be a direct charge to EWP (accounting code 0816T24).

For some expenditures, the program/fund to be charged is easy to determine. For some we must rely on our best judgment. The key to direct charging is that there is a reasonable justification for our decision for charging the expenditure to the program/fund that is most benefiting.

Salary Costs

The largest cost to be direct charged is employee salary. Supervisors and Program Managers are asked at the beginning of the fiscal year to give their best estimate of the programs that each employee will be working on and how much time will be spent working on those programs. These numbers are put in a spreadsheet for projections based on Maryland's fund allocations. By using the projection spreadsheet, we can keep track of what is being spent in each fund and foresee possible deficits. The projected numbers will change during the year as we receive allocation changes and/or our program of work changes.

Direct charging of salary is not "cut and dry". We have developed the following guidelines to assist you in determining how to charge your time. These guidelines are to be applied using your best judgment.

Degree of Accuracy: Employees should use their best judgment to determine the degree of accuracy to enter their time in WebTCAS. WebTCAS has the capability to record time in quarter hour increments to each Program and Activity combination. For some salary cost items (overtime, leave earned or taken, holiday worked, and reimbursable agreements) employees will utilize this capability and record time in quarter hour increments. For regular tour of duty work on regular programs, employees should apply their best judgment when recording their time to ensure that it reasonably reflects the work accomplished during the pay period. For example:

I am spending the entire pay period working on EQIP applications. During that pay period, I receive phone calls and make visits to landowners regarding EQIP. In any given day, the amount of time spent on EQIP may be insignificant, but at the end of the pay period, I should go back and code a block of my time to EQIP (76T) using my best judgment as to the amount of time to charge. The result is the time charged for the pay period reasonably reflects the work I accomplished during the pay period.

Leave and Holidays: When employees enter leave in WebTCAS, the leave i.e., annual leave, sick leave, comp time, admin leave, etc., is charged to the program/fund that the greatest amount of time is planned in the employee's annual salary plan. Holidays are automatically entered in WebTCAS and prorated the same way. This process will be transparent to the employee. Employees are to correctly enter leave by type (annual leave, sick leave, etc.) and amount in quarter hour increments.

General Purpose Meetings/Training: Examples of general purpose meetings/trainings are: awards ceremony, leadership team meetings, computer training, supervisory training, etc. Based on your best judgment, pick a single program/fund to charge salary expenses for a general purpose meeting/training. Ideally, time for these activities should be charged to programs/funds in the same ratio as the annual salary budget plan for the individual. For example:

An employee is attending the annual awards ceremony. Their salary budget plan is Conservation Operations (01T) - 167 days and EQIP (76T) - 95 days. They charged two days of computer training last month to 01T. They would charge the awards ceremony to 76T. This concept is that the employee is attempting to prorate their salary costs for these items to all funds in the approximate proportion of their planned salary budget.

Training and Conferences: Training and conferences will be charged to the program/fund benefited. Also read the discussion on charging salary for General Purpose Meetings/Training above. It is critical that the program/fund/accounting code charged for registration/tuition, travel vouchers and timesheets are consistent. If EQIP training is scheduled and EQIP funds a portion of the employee's salary, charge the training to EQIP (0876T24). If a Soil Scientist funded 100% by Soil Surveys (02T) attends EQIP training, they would charge the training to Soil Surveys (080902T24). The concept is they are attending the training to benefit their soil survey work as it relates to the EQIP program and/or as career development training.

Benefits All (64T): Only employees specifically identified on the Indirect Cost Items document are to charge to this WebTCAS Program Code. Also, all charges for Civil Rights meetings and work done under Special Emphasis Programs should be charged to 64T.

Non-Salary Costs

Travel: Travel will be charged to the program/fund most benefiting. Time recorded in WebTCAS and the program/fund charged for travel should be consistent and reasonably reflect the work accomplished during the travel period using the employee's best judgment. For example:

Employees traveling to an NRCS meeting for which the agenda will cover a variety of different programs including some for which the employee is not budgeted.  The employee's salary budget plan is Conservation Operations (080901T24) - 150 days, Environmental Quality Incentive Program (0876T24) - 75 days, and Wildlife Habitat (0875T24) - 37 days. The employee should charge their time and travel to Conservation Operations (080901T24).

Equipment: Items listed in the enclosed Indirect Cost Items document will be charged to accounting code 080964T24 if the cost is less than $5,000. If the equipment isn't listed on the Indirect Cost Items document or costs $5,000 or more, it will be charged to a single program/fund. If a piece of equipment will be used on several programs, it will be charged to the program creating the need or the program where it will primarily be used. For example:

The EQIP program (76T) needs a plotter and the plotter will be used on the other projects as well. The plotter could be charged to accounting code 0876T24 as EQIP is the program that created the need. If it is determined that the plotter would be used primarily on CTA (01T) projects over its useful life, then it could be charged to accounting code 080901T24. Either method of determining the accounting code to be charged is reasonable and acceptable.

Material, Supplies and Services: Materials, Supplies and Services listed on the Indirect Cost Items document will be charged to accounting code 080964T24. All other materials, supplies and services will be charged directly to a single program/fund. There are exceptions, however. For example:

If we pay Kinko's to print an annual report of all the program accomplishments in the state, the expense would be charged to accounting code 080964T24. If we have an annual EQIP report printed, the cost would be charged directly to EQIP 0876T24. If a cost can be attributed to a specific program/fund, it should be charged directly to that program/fund.

Awards: Awards will be charged to the program/fund that benefited from the performance. If the performance benefited all the programs the employee worked on during the fiscal year or the State in general, the award should be charged to the program where the employee spent the majority of their time or the program that benefited the most. Only awards for employees listed on the Indirect Cost Items document should be charged to accounting 080964T24.

If you have any questions about which program to charge for expenditure, please contact the Program Manager for the program, your supervisor or Marie Monn, Budget Officer, at 443-482-2924.

FY08 Indirect Cost Items
October 1, 2007

Only the employees identified in this document are to charge to the "Benefits All" Program code in WebTCAS and only the items identified in this document are to be charged to the Cost Allocation accounting code 080964T24.

For employees whose salary is charged to the Benefits All Program code in WebTCAS, discretionary expenses such as travel, training, materials, supplies, and equipment, should also be charged to the Cost Allocation accounting code 080964T24.

The only exceptions to the above policy are any equipment that will be entered into the Property Management System (PROP), and relocation expenses for Benefits All funded employees. To be entered into the PROP system, the item must cost $5,000 or more. Any equipment that will be entered into PROP must be charged to an individual program/fund. Equipment that costs $5,000 or more for employees who charge salary to the Benefits All Program or that would normally be charged to Cost Allocation will be charged to 080901T24.

STC Staff

State Conservationist - Jon Hall
State Conservationist's Secretary - Lydia Donovan
Public Affairs Specialist - Carol Hollingsworth

Administrative

Administrative Officer - Vacant
Contracting Officer - Robert Ellsworth
Contract Specialist - Debbie Hepburn
Human Resource Management - Holly Marken
Budget Officer - Marie Monn
Budget Analyst - Laurie Blasky
Secretary - Samone Scanlon
Secretary - Becky Hickman

Civil Rights Management

Civil Rights Advisory Council (a portion of their time)

Common Business Infrastructure and Services (All are non-salary costs)

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