There are numerous State statutes which govern how financial transactions are recorded in the SFS, and many accounting standards that prescribe financial reporting requirements. The following are the most notable statutes for account code usage in the SFS:

• State Finance Law §8 prescribes that the State Comptroller shall operate, maintain, and at his discretion, revise and modify a state accounting and financial reporting system which accurately and systematically accounts for:
  • A revenues, receipts, resources and property of the state and each of its agencies;
  • for all advances to each agency;
  • for all appropriations and reappropriations made to each agency;
  • for all adjustments, segregations and allocations of such appropriations and reappropriations;
  • for all expenditures, disbursements, and recorded encumbrances made pursuant to such appropriations, reappropriations, and advances.
• From the state accounting and financial reporting system as outlined above, the State Comptroller shall be able to obtain accurate annual and interim reports containing:
  • Expenditure information for state purposes, local assistance, capital projects, debt service and general state charges, by fund type, by fund, by agency, by major program or purpose, by fiscal year of appropriation, by month of expenditure, disbursement, and encumbrance, and by the same level of detail as is contained in the appropriations bills enacted for the fiscal years involved;
  • Revenue information by fund type, by fund, and by revenue source including repayments of advances and each tax both in total and net of refunds and reimbursements.
• The Comptroller also shall be able to obtain accurate annual and interim financial statements and other reports which present fairly and with full disclosure the financial position and results of operations of the state of New York, in conformance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
• Lastly, the state accounting and financial system must make it possible to determine and demonstrate compliance with finance-related legal and contractual provisions to which the state or any of its agencies are subject.
• State Finance Law §22 requires that the annual budget and financial plan reports prepared by the Division of the Budget present revenues and expenses in detail. This includes major revenue sources for each fund, including detail for each major tax and for major components of miscellaneous receipts. Disbursements are required to be presented by major category of expense including local assistance, personal service, nonpersonal service, general state charges, and debt service. The budget and financial plan reports shall utilize a format that shall facilitate comparison and analysis with those reports submitted to the legislature by the State Comptroller pursuant to §8 of the State Finance Law.
• State Finance Law §24 (1) prescribes the minimum level of detail to be provided in proposed and enacted appropriation bills.

Guide to Financial Operations

REV. 11/26/2019