A Balance Sheet Account is a tool used in dual entry accounting to record assets, contra assets (also known as asset offsets), liabilities, and equity accounts. Similar to object and revenue sources, these balance sheet accounts are often established to meet the reporting requirements of both external parties and those mandated by management to fulfill internal accountability requirements. The number of balance sheet account codes that need to be established are identified by management to meet the needs of both the external parties and those mandated by management to fulfill internal accountability requirements.
The Sub Balance Sheet Account chart of accounts data element can be used to further classify the financial activity within a given Balance Sheet Account. For example, using the information provided above, you may want to further delineate the types of fixed assets associated with Balance Sheet Account '2100' for fixed assets. Sub Balance Sheet accounts could be established to track the type of cars such as '00' for vehicle, '01' for truck and '03' for emergency use vehicle. Each Sub BSA code must be unique system-wide within a fiscal year (if your system is defined to be keyed by fiscal year). Only fiscal year and the balance sheet account itself key the balance sheet account element. No other elements further define the key.
The most common use of a balance sheet is as an offset account to balance out a spending or revenue entry. These accounts store totals within a fund for items such as cash, equipment, accounts payable and retained earnings, forming what is known as a Balance Sheet Account (BSA). Several sources exist to view BSA balances: ITD Balance Sheet Detail, ITD Balance Sheet Summary, and the Fiscal Year Balance Details. As with other accounting activity, BSA balances can also be viewed on ledgers.
Name |
Length |
Key #1 |
Key #2 |
Balance Sheet Account |
4 |
Fiscal Year |
|
Sub Balance Sheet Account |
4 |
Fiscal Year |
BSA |
4 |
|
|
|
4 |
|
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|
4 |
|
|
|
4 |
|
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|
4 |
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|
4 |
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CGI Advantage provides many levels of balance sheet account information for reporting, and controlling. Sub Balance Sheet Account is the lowest level and is delivered as optional. Balance Sheet Account is the first required level followed by several optional levels: Balance Sheet Class, Balance Sheet Category, Balance Sheet Type, and Balance Sheet Group at a higher level than Balance Sheet Account. In addition to these, expenditure accounting also uses hierarchies to support ACFR reporting with the rollups of Major ACFR Major BSA Group and ACFR Minor BSA Group.
BSA Measure |
Sample Value |
ACFR Major BSA Group |
Cash & Cash Equivalents |
ACFR Minor BSA Group |
Cash |
Balance Sheet Class |
Cash & Short Term Investments |
Balance Sheet Category |
Unreserved Cash |
Balance Sheet Type |
Current Asset |
Balance Sheet Group |
Liquid Assets |
Balance Sheet Account |
Cash |
Sub Balance Sheet Account |
Petty Cash |
Account Type - A required identification whether an account is an asset, liability, equity, or asset offset for later editing with the posting code requirement for account type. The setting can also be used for very high level reporting.
Level of Balance Control - An optional setting that defines whether or not the system will issue an error to a transaction that would take a Balance Sheet Account to a contrary balance, according to the selected Account Type. When the edit should be performed one of the following selections should be made: warning, override, or reject. The asset account type should normally have a debit (positive) balance. The liability, equity, and asset offset account types should normally have credit (negative) balances. The BSA Control Level parameter, on the Application Parameters (APPCTRL) reference page determines if the application will evaluate balances on the ITD Balance Sheet Detail (BBALD) or the ITD Balance Sheet Summary (BBALS) inquiry. The difference being a contrary balance is determined at the Fund, Sub Fund, BSA, and Sub BSA level on the ’Detail’ page or the Fund and BSA level on the 'Summary’ page.
FASB Class Identification - An indication for FASB sites whether the Balance Sheet Account is unrestricted, temporarily restricted, or permanently restricted. For GASB clients, this indicator is marked not applicable.
Cash Account - An indication that a Balance Sheet Account is a cash account for later editing with the posting code requirement for a cash account.
Memo Account - An indication that a Balance Sheet Account is a memo account for later editing with the posting code requirement for a memo account. The specific use of memo accounts within an application is determined by your site. These accounts can be ones not written to accounting journals or written to those journals. If written to journals, the accounts can be left in the year recorded or rolled forward like other accounts.
Payroll - An indication that a Balance Sheet Account is one used for Payroll for reporting purposes.
Contributed Account - An indication that a Balance Sheet Account is one that can be put in the Contributed Offset BSA field on the Fixed Asset Type (FATP) reference page indicating a fixed asset is not purchased, but acquired by another method.
Control Account - An indication whether or not a Balance Sheet Account can be manually entered on a transaction in either the BSA or OBSA fields. If the indication is yes, then the account should always infer.
Contract Withholding Exempt - An indication that a Balance Sheet and Sub Balance Sheet is exempt from contract withholding.
For these fields, please consult the CGI Advantage – Tax Reporting User Guide for more information.
1099 Income Code - A setting for Balance Sheet and Sub Balance Sheet to indicate that the code is part of 1099 Reporting.
1099 Type of Income - A setting for Balance Sheet and Sub Balance Sheet to indicate that the Type of Income is part of 1099 Reporting.
1099 Form Type - A setting for Balance Sheet and Sub Balance Sheet to indicate that the Form Type is part of 1099 Reporting.
Always 1099 Reportable - An indication that the Balance Sheet and Sub Balance Sheet is reportable even if the vendor is not marked as Incorporated.
1042-S Income Code - A setting for Balance Sheet and Sub Balance Sheet to indicate the income code for 1042-S Reporting.
1042-S Type of Income - A setting for Balance Sheet and Sub Balance Sheet to indicate that the Type of Income is part of 1042-S Reporting.
The following are other areas where balance sheet accounts codes are used to control with additional elements.
Balance Sheet Budget Fiscal Year Stage Definition
The following items in the "Advanced - Setup" topic at the end of this user guide contain the Balance Sheet Account measure.
Cash Balance Control
Fund Balance Control
Balance Sheet Balances