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This Treasury Financial Manual (TFM) bulletin notifies Federal Program Agencies (FPAs) of current and upcoming reporting requirements for IPAC.
In accordance with 31 United States Code 3513, the Secretary of the Treasury (the Secretary) must prepare reports that will inform the President, the Congress, and the public on the financial operations of the U.S. Government. These reports must include the financial information that the President requires. In addition, the head of each executive agency must give the Secretary reports and information on the agency's financial conditions and operations that the Secretary requires to prepare the reports.
This bulletin rescinds TFM Volume I, Bulletin No. 2007-04.
In November 2006, the Financial Management Service (FMS) issued a TFM requirement mandating all FPAs to report the new standard Governmentwide Accounting (GWA) TAS/BETC on both the sender and receiver sides for all intragovernmental transactions reported through the IPAC System by August 1, 2008.
Since the issuance of this guidance, there have been two very important factors affecting FMS's current implementation strategy. First, there is a new initiative emerging from the Financial Management Line of Business (FMLoB) effort, namely to develop a Common Governmentwide Accounting Classification (CGAC) structure. This structure will help improve and standardize accounting and reporting practices in FPAs. The development of this structure is a collaborative effort between the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Financial Systems Integration Office (FSIO), FMS, and FPA representatives. A critical element in the CGAC code is the TAS/BETC, which also is critical for the new GWA reporting process.
Second, because of OMB's prioritization of the CGAC initiative, the FSIO Core Financial System (CFS) testing, which includes critical GWA requirements, has been delayed. In support of the IPAC implementation date, FPAs were expected to have the updated certified vendor packages tested and implemented by August 1, 2008. However, because of FSIO's testing delay, FPAs will not have certified CFS packages with the functionality to provide the new standard GWA TAS/BETC on both the sender and receiver sides for IPAC transactions.
Because of these external factors and after evaluating FPA feedback, FMS currently is working to establish a new date when all FPAs will be required to report the TAS/BETC on both the sender and receiver sides for their IPAC transactions. During this time, FMS will continue working to transition FPAs to the GWA way of reporting transactions.
Since August 1, 2006, only TASs that are valid and appropriate for use through IPAC have been accepted in the GWA System. However, the format or structure of the valid TASs has been flexible in IPAC, allowing for multiple formats to represent the same TAS.
In an effort to streamline central accounting and reporting processes, FMS analyzed the TASs reported by FPAs to Treasury through the various interface systems, including IPAC. To implement standardization and consistency, a standard format has been developed that the GWA System will use and that eventually all systems interfacing with the GWA System will use as well. Standardization of the TAS is especially important in the new GWA environment, since, in the future, transactions flowing from these interface systems will be updating the fund balances of FPAs' accounts.
In addition, the BETC is an up to 8-character code used in the GWA System to indicate the type of activity being reported, such as payments, collections, borrowings, etc. This code must accompany the TAS and the dollar amount(s) in order to classify the transaction against the fund balance with Treasury. The BETC, in effect, replaces transaction codes and standard subclasses that are currently used on the central accounting reports, such as the Statement of Transactions (FMS Form 224) and the GWA System Account Statement.
The IPAC System will be the first feeder system to require the new standard GWA TAS/BETC. In the near future, the GWA TAS/BETC will be required in all FMS payment and collection systems.
Eventually, all IPAC transactions will be required to report the new standard GWA TAS/BETC on both the sender and receiver sides of the transaction. However, agencies are encouraged to submit the current format TAS/BETCs for both the sender and receiver sides as soon as possible. Until agencies are required to use the new standard GWA TAS/BETCs, GWA will provide a crosswalk from the current TAS formats to the new standard GWA format. Further information and a list of valid TASs and BETCs can be found on the GWA Web site at http://www.fms.treas.gov/gwa. The spreadsheet on the GWA Web site displays the component pieces of the TAS, along with the concatenated format for reporting in IPAC currently, and the new standard GWA TAS format.
To some FPAs, there may not be an apparent difference between the TASs they report today and the new standard GWA TASs. The main difference is the elimination of standard subclasses. This means that FPAs will report an account symbol, without having to report a subclassification of that account based on explicit transaction types (such as borrowings, investments, funds held outside Treasury). Instead of the transaction type being reported as a standard subclass of the account symbol, it will be reported as a business event separate from the account symbol. For example, an investment in Treasury securities is currently reported as a subclass 88 of the account symbol: (88) 20X1234. In the GWA environment, the FPA will report the account symbol 20X1234 and a separate BETC of INVTSEC (Investments in U.S. Treasury Securities).
The subclass field will continue to be used for those TASs that have a unique program meaning or a unique need for subclassification below the program level that is not based on transaction types. For example, for one agency, subclass 01 might represent "Program and Admin" and subclass 02 might represent "Grant Programs," whereas, for another agency, subclasses 01 and 02 might represent different site locations.
Note: FPAs should be aware that the Budget Clearing "F" account (F3875) will not be valid for use through IPAC in the future. FPAs should continue to work toward identifying the proper TAS to report IPAC transactions. A separate TFM release will be issued in the near future detailing Treasury's policy for "F" account usage.
FPAs will follow the IPAC procedures outlined in the following TFM releases:
This bulletin is effective immediately.
Direct questions concerning this bulletin to:
GWA Customer Assistance Group
Governmentwide Accounting Modernization Project
Governmentwide Accounting
Financial Management Service
Department of the Treasury
3700 East-West Highway, Room 500D
Hyattsville, MD 20782
Telephone: 202-874-8270
Fax: 202-874-6170
Kenneth R. Papaj
Commissioner
Date: June 7, 2007