U.S. Government Standard General Ledger (USSGL)

Issues Resolution Committee (IRC) Meeting Minutes

April 2, 2015

HANDOUTS:

• Draft Summary of Changes 

• Draft Part 1 Section IV for Fiscal 2015 USSGL Attributes to Account Report

• Draft Part 1 Section V for Fiscal 2015 Statement of Budgetary Resources

• Draft Part 1 Section V for Fiscal 2015 SF 133 Report on Budget Execution and Budgetary 

Resources

• Draft Part 1 Section V for Fiscal 2015 Budget Program and Financing (P & F) Schedule

• Draft Part 1 Section VI for Fiscal 2015 Reclassified Balance Sheet

• Draft Part 1 Section VII for Fiscal 2015 Validations Summary

• Draft Part 1 Section VII for Fiscal 2015 Validations Detail

• Draft Part 1 Section VII for Fiscal 2015 Closing Edit Details

• Draft Part 1 Section VII for Fiscal 2015 Edits Summary

• Draft Part 1 Section VII for Fiscal 2015 Edits Detail

• Draft Part 2 Section II for Fiscal 2016 Accounts and Definitions

• Upcoming Changes for Central Accounting Reporting System (CARS)

• System Updates to GTAS

• Credit Reform for Basic Accounting and Reporting for Loan Guarantee Program
GENERAL ITEMS:

The meeting was called to order at approximately 9:30 AM in Conference Rooms 6N201 and 6N202 at 

the Metropolitan Square Building, 655 15th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 

Valeria Spinner (Fiscal Service) welcomed everyone in attendance and opened the meeting by asking 

IRC members in the room to introduce themselves. She then asked the participants on the phone to 

announce themselves.

AGENDA ITEMS:

Chris Fairhall (Office of Management and Budget) discussed the new SF 133 Abnormal Balance Report 

the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) plans to generate in the future. Many lines on the SF 133

Report on Budget Execution and Budgetary Resources (SF 133) must be positive or negative. A given line 

summarizes USSGL account balances that feed to the line. The new report will highlight instances when 

the agency reporting has resulted in an SF 133 line with an “abnormal balance”, i.e., Appendix F in OMB 

Circular A-11 says the line must be positive but, the report shows as negative or vice versa. OMB created 

the report as a tool to alert agencies to potential reporting issues and to provide the agency with the 

opportunity to correct these issues during subsequent reporting periods. 

A question was raised by Eileen Parlow (Securities and Exchange Commission) regarding situations 

where an SF 133 line can have either a plus or a minus. Chris stated the report excludes those lines. 

Chris added that OMB will modify future postings of the report to address false positives or other issues 

agencies raise with which OMB concurs. After reviewing these notes, Chris added it typically takes less 

than a week for OMB to make adjustments in subsequent postings of the report.

Maria Davis (Fiscal Service) presented an overview highlighting changes resulting from the Central 

Accounting and Reporting System (CARS) becoming the new system of record over the weekend of 

March 21, 2015, replacing the legacy system STAR. The participants were updated on the different types 

of CARS Users and their conversion statistics. Maria also reviewed the different reports available to 

users in CARS and emphasized that enhanced functionality now allows many of these reports to be 

downloaded on a daily basis rather than monthly as in the past. The CARS enrollment process was 

discussed as well as future training opportunities for users. 

Attendees were given the opportunity to ask questions. Debbie Mattingly (Department of Education)

asked about submitting the final SF-224 Statement of Transactions after becoming a full CARS Reporter. 

Maria explained there was a minor bug in the system that did not allow a full CARS Reporter to submit 

their final SF-224 via bulk file; only manual entry was allowed. Maria checked to see if the problem was 
fixed and reported it is no longer an issue and a new full CARS Reporter may now submit their final SF224 via a bulk file upload. A question was asked regarding how long data will be maintained from STAR.

Maria verified data has been archived back to Fiscal Year 2004 while Treasury Disbursed Office 

payments received in CARS from Regional Finance Centers are only available for two years. For guidance 

regarding definitions of the different dates used in CARS, users should consult TFM Chapter 6500. Senita 

Beverly (Fiscal Service) reported the issue with Intra-governmental Payment and Collection System 

(IPAC) transactions entered prior to March 21, 2015, would be resolved by close of business April 2, 

2015. David Surti (Department of Homeland Security) asked about the availability of the Quarterly 

Distribution Offsetting Receipts Report. The Quarterly Distributed Offsetting Receipts will no longer be 

available or posted to the website. If you need data contained in this report, please contact the Budget 

Reports Division by email.

Lisa Smith (Fiscal Service) presented an overview of the updates resulting from Governmentwide 

Treasury Account Symbol Adjusted Trial Balance System (GTAS) Version 2.5. All pages have been 

updated to include the new logo. Highlights of changes to the Bulk File Upload Page used by agencies to 

submit their bulk files were discussed. It was noted the TAS Submission Status Display and Certification 

processes were not changed. Andre Small (Department of Treasury) asked if period extension requests 

for a TAS would require any changes in GTAS. Luke Sheppard (Fiscal Service) stated those types of 

changes are made in CARS and the information then feeds into GTAS. Valeria added that all period 

extension requests must be submitted to Sonja Robinson (Fiscal Service) in the Budget Appropriations 

and Analysis group. Webster Coleman (Department of Labor) asked what changes in GTAS allow 

disbursements for the extended time period. Luke responded that GTAS replaces the ending period of 

availability with the period extension date and allows the reporting of disbursements until the extended 

date.

Kent Linscott (Fiscal Service) presented changes to the Part 1 2015 Section IV Attribute Table.

Lisa Smith presented changes to the Part 1 2015 Section V Report on Budget Execution and Budgetary 

Resources (SF 133), Program and Financing (P&F) Schedule, and Statement of Budgetary Resources 

(SBR).

Tia Harley (Fiscal Service) presented changes to the Part 1 2015 Section VI Reclassified Balance Sheet 

(RBS).
Luke Sheppard presented ad hoc changes for Period 05 to the Part 1 2015 Section VII – GTAS Validations 

and Edits.

Kent Linscott presented changes to the Part 2 2016 Section II Accounts and Definitions.

After breaking for lunch, Kathy Wages (Fiscal Service) and Tia Harley conducted a work group session to 

discuss updates and changes to the document titled, “Credit Reform Guide for Basic Accounting and 

Reporting for Loan Guarantee Program Without Collateral in Federal Credit Program.” These changes 

are being compiled in an effort to update existing scenarios and other guidance on the USSGL website 

that may have become outdated. 

 

Attendees:

• Mona Amatie, Architect of the Capitol

• Hesham Aziz, Department of Agriculture

• Alexandria Kindle, Department of Agriculture

• Gerald Davenport, Department of Defense

• Maryla Engelking, Department of Defense

• Peter Burlimann, Department of Education

• Debbie Mattingly, Department of Education

• Robert Bell, Department of Energy

• Kim Klein, Department of Energy

• Alana DuBois, Department of Health and Human Resources

• Patricia Irving, Department of Health and Human Resources

• Anne Kahle, Department of Health and Human Resources

• Yianting Lee, Department of Health and Human Resources

• Wesley Yon, Department of Health and Human Resources

• David Surti, Department of Home Land Security

• Diane Washington, Department of Interior

• Letitia Bing, Department of Justice
• Webster Coleman, Department of Labor

• Yen Le, Department of State

• Drena McDaniel, Department of Transportation

• Martha Lerner, Department of Treasury

• Isabel McConnell, Department of Treasury

• Andre Small, Department of Treasury

• Floyd Willis, Jr., Department of Treasury 

• Alex Lopez, Department of Veterans Affairs 

• Simranjeet Jassal, Environmental Protection Agency

• Vickie Massey, Federal Communication Commission

• Julio Rios, Federal Communication Commission

• Daniel Adams, Fiscal Service

• Senita Beverly, Fiscal Service

• Sandra Bumgarner, Fiscal Service

• Andrea Cherry, Fiscal Service

• Maria Davis, Fiscal Service

• Jonnathan Diaz-Olivo, Fiscal Service

• Tia Harley, Fiscal Service

• Kent Linscott, Fiscal Service

• Luke Sheppard, Fiscal Service 

• Lisa Smith, Fiscal Service

• Valeria Spinner, Fiscal Service

• Keith Stith, Fiscal Service

• Kathy Wages , Fiscal Service

• Marlana White, Fiscal Service 

• Melanie White, Fiscal Service

• Michelle Yanok, Fiscal Service

• Yong Scott, Government Accountability Office

• Cindy Scharf, Library of Congress 
• Chris Fairhall, Office of Management and Budget

• Angela Chan-Ng, Railroad Retirement Board

• Jenny Fultz, Railroad Retirement Board

• Rich Lannin, Railroad Retirement Board

• Dan Pesola, Railroad Retirement Board

• Chris Reich, Railroad Retirement Board

• Steve Sica, Railroad Retirement Board

• Peter Su, Railroad Retirement Board

• Eileen Parlow, Securities and Exchange Commission 

• Rebecca Shoustal, Small Business Administration

• Junghee Gogue, Social Security Administration

• Mark Graham, Social Security Administration

• Karen Hunter, Social Security Adminstration

• Chris Orr, Social Security Adminstration

• Kwame Opoku-Mensah, U.S. Agency for International Development

• Scott L. Smith, U.S. Agency for International Development

• Susan Stengel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 

• Jeanette Kuendel, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office