Once it is determined that a statutory transfer account authorization is provided and needed, agencies must submit a written request to the Division of the Budget (DOB) to approve the transfer of federal grant funds to a state fund. The following information must be provided in the request:

• Chapter, section, year, page and lines of the law authorizing the transfer;
• Federal Fund(s), Project ID(s), and amounts from which the transfer will be made;
• State fund into which the transfer will be made;
• Total budget amount requested.
• Agency contact, including phone number.

A copy of the Article VII legislation page must also be included.

If approved, DOB will submit to the requesting agency either a copy of the request signed by DOB, or a separate signed letter on DOB letterhead authorizing the transfer.

Project Child Budget

Critical ChartFields for the project child budget journal are:

Program = 99998

Account = 60801

Budget Reference Year = Current Year

Activity Code (Agencies can use any activity setup under the project(s) – should the agency need a new activity code set up under a project they should establish the new activity via the Project Guide in SFS. See Chapter XIX, Section 2.C Project Activities for additional information on setting up project activities.)

Once the child project budget journal is posted, the agency can prepare a GL Journal Entry to record the operating transfer.

GL Journal Entry – Operating Transfer

When entering the GL Journal Entry for the operating transfer the required transactional ChartFields for the charge and revenue lines on the journal are:

Expenditure lines:

• GL Business Unit;
• Department;
• Program (this value will always be 99999);
• Fund;
• Account (Critical: this value will always be transactional account code 60810) – This account code does not require appropriation and segregation budget control.
• Budget Reference (current year);
• PC Business Unit (this value will always be NYS01 for non-onboarding agencies. Onboarding agencies will use their BU);
• Project ID;
• Activity (can use any activity under the project. A child budget with the Activity and the Budgetary Transfer account code (60801) must exist);
• Analysis Type (this value will always be “GLE”);
• Fund Affiliate (The fund affiliate is the receiving fund).

Note: Journal entries for IT transfers must be for the entire amount approved by DOB or else the journal will be denied by OSC.

Revenue Lines:

On the revenue transaction line where the cash is getting transferred into:

• GL Business Unit
• Department
• Fund (should match the receiving fund authorized in law).
• Account (Critical: this value will always be transactional account code 36310).
• Fund Affiliate (must be the federal fund transferring the cash from the expense side).
• Agencies must enter any remaining chartfield coding necessary for any required program or federal reporting.

In the description area of the GL journal entry, agencies must describe the purpose of the transfer, including the fund name or program in which funds are being transferred into, and must include the specific legislative authority authorizing the transfer (Chapter, Year, Page, and Line). Agencies must also attach a copy of the budget bill language, the DOB authorization letter, and appropriate backup documentation to support the transfer.

During the agency review process, the transaction will budget check against the project budgets. Appropriation and segregation budgets are not necessary since these transfers are operating transfers and are not subject to appropriation control. Upon OSC approval and posting, the document will record a charge against the project within the projects module. The transaction will be included in any reports that contain the Project ID(s) used on the journal entry.

Authorization Review

OSC and DOB will monitor all Federal Operating Transfers to ensure that project budgets are not set up without DOB approval and that yearly authorized amounts are not exceeded.

Authority to transfer federal funds to an earned revenue account or to reimburse State spending expires on March 31 of the fiscal year in which the budget bill was passed.

Questions

Please direct questions regarding federal projects to the Bureau of State Accounting Operations at [email protected].

Please direct questions regarding journal entry transactions to the Bureau of State Accounting Operations at [email protected].

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Guide to Financial Operations

REV. 07/12/2022