Part 2, Section III: Account Transactions

This section provides accounting transactions for events occurring throughout the federal government. The transactions illustrate both proprietary and budgetary entries for each accounting event. Transactions are grouped under the following categories:

The above categories provide a basic framework for organizing the transactions. Also included, as a quick reference, is a listing of transaction descriptions. These accounting transactions document basic standard posting logic for financial events across the federal government.

The following notes explain conventions to follow when using the U.S. Standard General Ledger (USSGL) and the limitations of this compilation of USSGL transactions:

• There are valid accounting events/postings not yet documented. Agencies may engage in financial activity that the USSGL Board has not yet addressed. If so, submit an issue to the USSGL Board through the agency’s USSGL representative. To illustrate the issue, document accounting events specific to the activity in a simple accounting scenario. Include references to specific legislation, accounting standards, or central agency requirements that make the activity unique from those currently documented. This documentation may be useful for explaining variances from the USSGL standard to auditors.
• For deposit funds, there are valid accounting postings not yet documented. When recording any transaction in a deposit fund, agencies should not record (a) budgetary entries or (b) entries that result in net revenues, expenses, gains, or losses in nonfiduciary deposit funds. Examples of many transactions commonly used in non-fiduciary deposit funds are provided in the USSGL Implementation Guide: Nonfiduciary Deposit Funds with Investment Authority and Clearing Accounts.
• For nonexpenditure transfers of budget authority between Treasury Appropriation Fund Symbols (TAFS), the "Transfer From" entity will determine the source of funds being transferred and record a proprietary USSGL account that designates the funding as being derived from either:
  • Unexpended appropriations from general fund resources not earmarked by law for a specific purpose–USSGL Account 310300, “Unexpended Appropriations–Transfers-Out,” or
  • Financing sources that impact cumulative results of operations-USSGL Account 576500, “Nonexpenditure Financing Sources–Transfers-Out.”

The “Transfer To” entity must use a proprietary USSGL account that corresponds to the proprietary USSGL account used by the “Transfer From” entity. USSGL Account 310200, “Unexpended Appropriations–Transfers-In” corresponds to USSGL Account 310300. USSGL Account 575500, “Nonexpenditure Financing Sources–Transfers-In” corresponds to USSGL Account 576500. Failure of both entities to record the matching proprietary USSGL Account category (310200/310300 or 575500/576500) will result in agency-wide and/or government-wide elimination discrepancies.

There may be mixed funding in a single TAFS. The net position of a TAFS may be a mix of:

• Unexpended appropriations derived from general fund resources not earmarked by law for a specific purpose, and
• Financing sources, such as Economy Act revenue, that impact cumulative results of operations.

To facilitate reconciliation of interagency expenses and revenues, do not post cost directly to “in-process type” asset accounts. Agencies must first record cost, such as direct labor (payroll and benefits) and direct materials that do not meet agency established capitalization thresholds, in the appropriate USSGL Account 600000 series expense account. Use USSGL Account 661000, “Cost Capitalization Offset” to apply the cost to the desired “in-process type” asset account. Do not record amounts applied to asset accounts under this method to USSGL Account 88XXXX series accounts.

The transactions illustrate USSGL accounts without applicable attribute values. Therefore, a single transaction listed here may translate to several similar transactions in the agency’s accounting system depending on how many combinations of USSGL accounts and attribute values are valid to record the agency’s activities. Agencies must post transactions using the 6-digit USSGL account plus valid attribute values to fully comply with implementation of the USSGL at the transaction level and to facilitate necessary central agency reporting. Additionally, since the 6-digit base account combined with valid attributes is itself a USSGL account, agencies must post debit and credit entries to reclassify balances even when the 6-digit base account is the same.

Transactions affecting budgetary status may contain debit or credit postings to multiple USSGL status accounts that may be valid for a particular transaction. Choose a USSGL account appropriate to the status of authority in the affected TAFS and the accounting event recorded.

All transactions apply to activity with federal and non-federal entities unless limited by account definition or otherwise noted in the transaction description.

A USSGL transaction crosswalk can be obtained on the TFM website.

The transaction reference provides an example of where this transaction appears. It may not provide all possible USSGL implementation guidance that contains this transaction.

Note: The following alpha extensions to transaction numbers indicate:

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