Number: 
03-150-111
Type: 
Rule
Policy Steward: 
Manager of Analytical Ops
Format Updated: 
University Policy & Standards Converted: 
Status: 
Current
Revision Date: 
Friday, April 27, 2018

* This information replaces FIS 1107 Journal Vouchers

 

The purpose of a journal voucher (JV) is to process internal transactions and corrections between or within units at Oregon State University (OSU).

  • JV’s involving only OSU Departments are created on form FGAJVCD in FIS Banner.
  • Budget changes are done by JV to 1) allocate funds from a budget reserve to a specific project or purpose (fund type 11); 2) contribute support to another unit or program that will record the expenditure (fund type 11); or 3) reflect a revision of plans, estimates, or priorities when new information has changed the financial outlook of a program or entity (fund types 1x-2x). Individual unit or business center staff are responsible for Banner input of budget JVs within a college or administrative unit and within a single fund. The only exception to this is a budget change within a college and between the college's operating and special project funds. Budget changes between colleges or administrative units or between funds must be sent to the Budget Office for Banner input.
  • Manual encumbrance JVs reserve a future budgetary expense or clear encumbrance balances which did not liquidate in the payment process.
  • Some "journal vouchers" are completed by an automated upload process and are not individually entered in Banner.

In order to produce meaningful financial reports, it is important that significant revenue and cost items are recognized during the month in which they occur and costs are reflected against the revenue-producing activity for which they were incurred. Therefore, journal vouchers should be processed in the month the activity happens.

Primary JV rule codes

3BCx (the rule code for each business center)

  • Original transactions between one unit and another such as testing services
  • Distribution of unit copy machine costs
  • Correction or addition of Activity Codes
  • Correction of other FOAPAL elements (index or account code)
  • Entries are limited to the following Account Codes:  09xxx, 2xxxx, 3xxxx, 79xxx

3JV1

  • General Ledger “A” asset and “B” liability account transactions
  • Transactions involving 01xxx – 08xxx revenue (F document reference is required)
  • Transactions involving 4xxxx capital equipment and construction account codes – except for if on grant/contract funds, which should use 3GNT
  • Transfers (9xxxx account codes) between funds
  • General Ledger “E” and “F” fund additions/deduction transactions

3GNT

  • Corrections to or from grant/contract funds or between grant/contract funds
  • Distinguishing grant funds:  Index and Fund both begin with a letter

Commonly Used Rule Codes (Journal Types): 

2ENC - Manual Encumbrance Establishment JV
2LIQ - Liquidate Remaining Encumbrances
2LQP - Partial Liquidation of Encumbrance
4ENC - Revenue/Expense JV with Encumbrance Liquidation
1xGF - Departmental Budget change (E&G only)
1PBB - Grant Budget Change (expenditure only)

Processing Rules:

Text is required on all Journal Vouchers. Text must contain sufficient information as to the purpose of the JV transaction, as well as, the name (first and last), and phone number of the person inputting the JV. No text or the lack of clear information in the text will cause the JV to be disapproved. For corrections involving grants and contracts (3GNT rule code), specific detailed information is required. See Cost Transfer Guidelines within OSRAA Policies for these requirements.

Use the same rule code on all sequences of a Journal Voucher.

An Index must be entered whenever Operating Ledger revenue (0xxxx) or expense (1xxxx through 9xxxx) account codes are used. The Fund, ORG, and Program codes will automatically be populated when the Index is entered.

An Index must not be entered when General Ledger account codes Axxxx, Bxxxx, Exxxx, Fxxxx are used. In this case, enter only FUND, Account Code, and amount.

Use Debit or Credit in the indicated field, unless it is a budget JV. For budget JVs use + or -.

Explain in the Description field what the transaction is for. Do not simply enter "See Text." This field should briefly explain the transaction and be consistent so that it meets the needs of the customer and any potential end user (i.e. external auditor or person from another unit). All transaction lines relating to the same transaction should have the same description. Also, when correcting an entry be intentional about the description so that it is very similar to the description as shown on the original document. This will help when sorting the description field for a report. Use the Text block to included additional information.

If correcting a posted Banner document, enter the document number in the Document Reference field. Examples of the letter the document reference number will start with include:

F Student A/R and Cashier Operations I Invoices
J Journal Vouchers JC Telecommunications
P Purchase Orders VC Chemistry Stores
VF Facilities VP Printing and Mailing
VM Transportation Services (Motor Pool) VV Veterinary Medicine
Z Purchasing Card Distributions VU Facilities - Utilities

The Document Reference field must be completed when the same account code is debited and credited, when redistributing amounts from one account code to another, and/or when adding or changing an activity code.  The reference must be a Banner document number and be the last I-doc or JV number for the transaction. If there is no Banner document reference number, the reason must be stated in the text of the JV.

For FUPLOADs, the document reference field is a unique number from the external system where the data is pulled. [For example, Cashiers (F-docs) use the deposit number from the Cashiering system, Conference Services will use the registration I.D. captured through their Event Registration system, etc.]

Transactions should be corrected document-by-document, line-item by line-item and referencing the original Banner document number. This is necessary to provide an accurate audit trail.

Corrections should be completed within 90 days of the original charge and in the current fiscal year. After 90 days, a detailed explanation is needed to state the reason the JV was not done in a timely manner. When closely related work is supported by more than one funding source, a cost change may be made between those indexes provided it is a proper charge, the correction is timely, and is supported by an explanation that it is the same project with the same principal investigator. If you have been notified by OSRAA that a cost is unallowable on the grant and must be paid from state funds, indicate this in the text.

The Budget Period field is required, if the rule code/journal type begins with "1" (Budget JVs). The budget period field is 01 through 12. Do not complete the budget period field for other journal voucher types.

Some Journal Voucher Dos and Don'ts

  • When preparing a JV involving meals or refreshments, supply the following information:
  1. Who - Approximate number of people attending and who approved the purchase
  2. What - Purchased or payment for
  3. When - Date of the meeting
  4. Where - Location of the meeting
  5. Why - Purpose of the meeting
  • Salary/payroll transfers or corrections including GRA/GTA Fee Remission (1095x) changes cannot be done on a JV unless specifically approved by Central Payroll. This includes subsequent redistributions because of salary allocation changes. These must be made through the HRIS module. Contact the appropriate Business Center.
  • Donations and contributions cannot be made from institutional funds. These include donations to the OSU Scholarship funds. JV’s indicating donations will be disapproved.
  • Parking fines and book fines may not be paid from institutional funds. This includes parking fines assigned to state vehicles. Parking permits for individual employees whose duty station is OSU Corvallis campus may not be paid from institutional funds. JV’s for these will be disapproved.
  • When distributing a cost from one index to another, the debit and credit account code must be the same and equal the account code on the original payment. Document reference is the “I” document of the original invoice. Also, indicate in Text that this is a distribution of an original cost.

Example: 20 boxes of paper were purchased to receive a huge discount. The unit only needed 8 boxes. They “sell” (distribute) the cost of 12 boxes to the unit down the hall. The original purchase was made using 20101 Office supplies account code. Redistribution is made using the 20101 account code as both the debit and credit for 60% (12/20) of the original cost.

  • OSU units with E&G, AES, FRL, or Extension funds use 79xxx Internal Sales Reimbursements account codes as the credit when recharging costs to different indexes within OSU for established processes or services. Example: distribution of monthly copy charges to various departmental indexes – use account code 79107 as the credit and 24602 as the debit or charge.  Internal sales credits are not allowed on grant/contract, gift, endowment/endowment-match, E&G special project, or OSU Foundation (OSUF)/Ag Research Foundation (ARF) pass-through funds. The JV should be completed by the charging department or unit, not the receiving department.
  • In most cases, internal sales of self-support units/fund (Designated Operations, Service Centers, or Auxiliary Enterprises use 09xxx account codes as the credit on JVs When both sides of the transaction are Auxiliary funds use 79xxx as the account code for the credit. The JV should be completed by the charging unit, not the unit receiving the goods or services.
  • When moving revenue (0xxxx account codes) the “F” document code must be given. This shows that the dollars came from an outside source.
  • Use a revenue account code (06xxx or 08xxx) when the credit (income) goes to an Agency fund 9xxxxx. Agency funds are not part of the University Financial Statement so they are considered an "outside" entity.

1107-08: Approving Journal Vouchers

Fiscal Operations Manual
Section 1100: Banner Processes
Effective: 12/22/2010

Revised: 08/03/2020

How to review a completed JV

  • Date?  Is it within the current month?
  • Text?  Is there an explanation of the transaction, including units & unit fee for internal fee charges?  Is the User name (first and last) with phone number included?
  • Are description fields complete with information that assists in determining correct account code?  If an acronym is used and it is not common, ask what it means and ask that it be explained in Text.  For service or testing, is specific information provided including who ordered the test and fee/amount per test.
  • Is this a correction?   If yes, are “Doc Ref” fields completed?
  • Is this a current fiscal year transaction?    Prior-year transactions should not be approved – check with Business Affairs. Use Data Warehouse or Banner “direct access” to FGIDOCR or FOIDOCH to check out Doc Ref number, if transaction is not completely clear.
  • Is the correct rule code used?  Does it involve correction to a grant? If so, use 3GNT rule code.
  • Are account codes correct?   Are Debits and Credits correct?
  • Check all sequences.  First 6 may be fine, but number 7 may have an error.
  • Is transaction appropriate for funding source?   Program code?  Ok for OSU funding?
  • Is the supporting documentation sufficient? Does it verify the accuracy and appropriateness of a transaction, comply with institutional policies and procedures, and provide a clear audit trail? Examples of appropriate supporting documentation include spreadsheets that include detail, agreements, emails that denote decisions and approvals, etc. A copy of the JV is not sufficient supporting documentation.

How to request corrections

  • If more Text is needed, contact the input person to add information using FOATEXT screen.  Do not approve until this is done.  Put the JV on “HOLD”.  This is done by adding text. Say why the JV is on HOLD, your name, your number, and date.  Use text seq numbers 01-09 so the HOLD will appear at the top of the text screen after saved.  To take HOLD off, remove text on that seq, renumber seq to appear at bottom of text screen and save. **Line sequences can only be changed through FOATEXT in Banner – cannot renumber seqs in Self Service.
  • If wrong account code, disapprove.  In disapproval, request “Seq #” change account code to xxxxx.
  • If JV involves more than inputting unit, disapprove with message “see Email”.  Then send Email to all units affected.
  • If wrong rule code, disapprove with message to change rule code to xxxx rule code on all sequences.
  • If the JV should be deleted, provide the instructions - go to FGAJVCD, enter in the JV #, then Ctrl-Page Down, and Shift F6 twice.

Important Reminders

  • Never approve a JV you have entered.  [separation of duties]
  • Never approve a JV if in doubt or questionable – Don’t hesitate to call Business Affairs.
  • Never approve a JV that effects a change from income to expense or vice versa.
  • BE EXTRA DILIGENT AT YEAR-END.   
  • Be extra diligent at the beginning of a new fiscal year. Prior year transactions are not acceptable.

 

Additional references

Year-End Processing
FIS 200 Revenue (Internal)
FIS 519 Recharge Activities