U.S. Standard General Ledger (USSGL)

Issues Resolution Committee (IRC) Meeting Minutes

April 26, 2018

LOCATION: 1722 I Street, NW, Washington D.C.

TIME: 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

HANDOUTS:

• Summary of Changes

• Draft USSGL Ballot

• Custodial Activity (Exchange) Guidance

• Custodial Activity (Nonexchange) Guidance

• Custodial Collections for a TAS Other than the General Fund of the U.S. Government Guidance

• TFM 2-4700 Appendix 7 – Table 6 – Not Finalized

• Continuing Resolution Guidance

• Budget Accrual and Reconciliation Guidance

• Section III TC D528

• Part 1, Section V, Fiscal Year 2018 and Part 2, Section V, Fiscal Year 2019:

Balance Sheet

• Part 1, Section VI, Fiscal Year 2018 and Part 2, Section VI, Fiscal Year 2019:

Reclassified Balance Sheet

Reclassified Statement of Operations and Changes in Net Position

• Part 1, Section VII, Fiscal Year 2018 and Part 2, Section VII, Fiscal Year 2019:

Validations Detail

• Part 2, Section VII, Fiscal Year 2019

Edits Detail

Edits Closing

GENERAL ITEMS:

Manager, Chris Beck (Fiscal Service), welcomed everyone to the IRC Meeting and conducted roll call. He then 

introduced Brian Casto (Fiscal Service) and Janet Frazier (Fiscal Service) as new USSGL Advisory Team 

Members, and announced that Steve Riley (Fiscal Service) had accepted another job within Fiscal Service. Over 

the next couple of months, Steve will be transitioning to the new job. Chris asked IRC Members to CC him on any 

correspondence sent to Steve. 

AGENDA ITEMS:

Kent Linscott (Fiscal Service) and Joel Erb (Fiscal Service) presented Custodial Activity Guidance. Two of these

scenarios were presented at the December and March IRC Meetings; all changes proposed by these scenarios will be 

effective 2019 and later. These scenarios resulted in two new proposed USSGL accounts: USSGL account 198100, 

“Asset for Agency’s Custodial and Non-Entity Liabilities – Other than the General Fund of the U.S. Government,” 
and USSGL account 571300, “Accrual of Agency Amount to Be Collected – Custodial and Non-Entity - Other than 

the General Fund of the U.S. Government.” The titles of USSGL account 198000, “Asset for Agency’s Custodial 

and Non-Entity Liabilities,” and USSGL account 571200, “Accrual of Agency Amount to Be Collected – Custodial 

and Non-Entity,” are proposed to be updated to include “General Fund of the U.S. Government.” In addition, to 

clarify the use of USSGL account 599700, “Financing Sources Transferred In From Custodial Statement 

Collections,” there is a proposed change to the definition. The Fed/Non fed Attribute Domain Value of “F” is 

proposed to be added to USSGL account 298000, “Custodial Liability,” USSGL account 298500, “Liability for 

Non-Entity Assets Not Reported on the Statement of Custodial Activity,” USSGL account 599000, “Collections for 

Others - Statement of Custodial Activity,” USSGL account 599100, “Accrued Collections for Others - Statement of 

Custodial Activity,” USSGL account 599300, “Offset to Non-Entity Collections - Statement of Changes in Net 

Position,” and USSGL account 599400, “Offset to Non-Entity Accrued Collections - Statement of Changes in Net 

Position.” The proposed creation of several new Reciprocal Categories (RCs) will result in the Fed/Non fed 

Attribute Domain Value of “Z” being removed from these same accounts and from RC 29. In addition, there are 

two new proposed Transaction Codes (TCs) as a result of the guidance: TC C133 and TC C135 are to segregate 

reporting of the general fund as opposed to other than the general fund. An additional proposed change is to update 

the comment for TC C404 and TC C420 to clarify their use in relation to the TC. 

One of the most significant changes from this guidance is where USSGL account 599700 will be reported,

depending on whether it is Exchange or Nonexchange activity. If the activity is reported as Exchange, it will be 

reported on line 7 of the Statement of Net Cost and line 12.8 of the Reclassified Statement of Net Cost. However, if 

the activity is reported as Nonexchange, it will be reported on line 6 of the Statement of Changes in Net Position and 

line 7.12 on the Reclassified Statement of Operations and Changes in Net Position. The new USSGL account 

198100 will be reported on line 5 of the Balance Sheet and line 3.12 of the Reclassified Balance Sheet. Also, if it is 

reported as Exchange Revenue, the new USSGL account 571300 will be reported on line 7 of the Statement of Net 

Cost and line 12.10 of the Reclassified Statement of Net Cost. However, if it is reported as Nonexchange Activity,

it will be reported on line 9 of the Statement of Changes in Net Position and line 7.14 on the Reclassified Statement 

of Operations and Changes in Net Position. Kent concluded by thanking the Department of Treasury (Treasury), 

Department of Interior (DOI), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department of Energy (DOE) and 

counterparts at Fiscal Service for their input and help on the working group.

Chris then clarified that agencies could look at the Summary of Changes (SOC) for a summary of the changes 

related to the Custodial Activity Scenarios. Kim Brislin (DOI) stated that her agency is still looking through the 

guidance to determine how it will affect them. DOE commented that they are also still reviewing the guidance and 

asked when the final date for comments would be. Chris responded that it very important for agencies to review the 

draft scenarios as they are posted, and that final comments for this scenario need to be received by May 15, 2018. 

DOE asked whether Fiscal Service was sharing comments received from agencies. Chris responded that those 

changes are tracked internally, but Kent and Joel would organize a meeting with the working group to go over any 

comments before the draft is finalized. 

Joel stated that the Intragovernmental Transaction and Reconciliation Branch (ITRB) recently became aware that 

some agencies did not have a Treasury Account Symbol (TAS) in GTAS to report their custodial activity. ITRB

worked with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to create a series of clearing accounts to facilitate 

custodial reporting. The titles of the new accounts will provide the custodian and receiving agency and the account 

series will be in the 360000 accounts. ITRB’s current goal is to identify all of the agencies that are currently 

collecting custodial collections but do not have a TAS to report the custodial collections in GTAS. The long-term

goal will be to standardize this process and determine if clearing accounts are the best way to report custodial 
activity. In order to create a clearing account for custodial collections, the agency must meet the following criteria: 

1) There is no current TAS in which the activity can be properly reported, (2) The financial activity reported for a 

TAS is related to custodial collections for a TAS (or Federal entity) other than the General Fund and (3) No 

budgetary USSGLs will be reported or impacted in the TAS to be created. In addition, the new custodial collection 

TAS must pass the following GTAS Edits/Validations: 1) No USSGL account 101000, “Fund Balance With 

Treasury,” balance at month, quarter or yearend, (2) No USSGL account 109000, “Fund Balance With Treasury 

While Awaiting A Warrant,” balance at month, quarter or yearend, (3) Federal custodial entity records the revenue 

as non‐federal (Fed/Non fed indicator “N”) upon receipt, and (4) Custodial dispositions are reported using USSGL 

account 599800, ”Custodial Collections Transferred Out to a Treasury Account Symbol Other Than the General 

Fund of the Treasury.” Joel stated that agencies could email ITRB if they need a new TAS for custodial collections. 

Agencies should provide a description of the custodial activity, the public law and the transactions they are looking 

to use. 

Michele Crosco (Fiscal Service) presented Continuing Resolution Guidance, an old scenario that has been updated. 

However, there are still many unanswered questions, so the updated scenario will not be published anytime soon, as 

currently, it is uncertain whether this scenario will replace the current scenario. The new guidance proposes new 

USSGL account 299100, “Other Liabilities – Reductions,” which will be voted on for the May 10th ballot.” Any 

other proposed changes from this guidance will be voted on at a later date. These include a new TC that will debit 

USSGL 109000 and credit a new USSGL account 309000 (currently unnamed); this will keep Edit 50 cleaner. 

Michele requested that agencies notify her if they have any problem with a new proprietary account that would 

offset USSGL account 109000. Michele then explained that Situation 2 of the Scenario is still being worked on, but 

she wanted to present to the group so that she could get feedback. The current scenario posts a transfer in. Michele 

asked agencies whether it would be better to post to the above-mentioned USSGL account 109000 and a new 

USSGL account 509000 (currently unnamed.) This account would be offset by the general fund and there would be 

no IGT difference. Many agencies commented on this issue. Chris suggested that more discussion was needed and 

that a meeting could be set up to consider this. He then reminded agencies that only USSGL account 299100 would 

be voted upon on the May 10th ballot; other changes may occur later as the guidance is developed further. A special 

ballot in July may be needed to vote on new accounts that come from this scenario. 

Kathy Wages (Fiscal Service) presented changes and updates to Part I, 2018 and Part II, 2019, Section II:Accounts 

and Definitions. For Part I, USSGL account 232000, “Other Deferred Revenue,” was updated based on TFM

Chapter 2-4700 Guidance. The Federal Attribute was added, and there are several editorial changes to account titles 

including updating hyphens and capitalization. Chris explained that the editorial changes would not show up on the 

ballot or the SOC because they are non-technical changes. 

Marlana White (Fiscal Service) presented Draft USSGL Ballot. The USSGL Board Meeting will be held on May 

10th, 2018, and the final ballot will be emailed to USSGL Board Members via a Survey Monkey Link. Ballots are 

due by noon May 23rd, 2018. If board members are not in agreement with the ballot, they should provide an 

explanation as to why they disagree. Chris encouraged all IRC Members to reach out to a USSGL Team Member if 

they do not understand an item or if they need more details about an item. Michele explained to IRC Members that 

a yes vote means you are voting to approve the item as it is; no additional changes can be made without another vote

after the item is approved. Teresa Tancre (OMB) commented that she felt another ballot would be needed in July 

because of several proposed OMB Circular No. A-11 changes. Chris explained that any July ballot changes would 

not be effective until Fiscal Year (FY) 2019. He also said that any changes presented in today’s meeting and voted 

on the May Ballot would be published in USSGL TFM Supplement Bulletin No. 2018-05 with a target date of the 

first week of June.
Marlana presented changes and updates to Part I, 2018 and Part II, 2019, Section III: Transactions. For Part I, the 

comment of TC D528 was revised to reflect a previous change. Chris stated that there would be changes to TC 

D514 as well; it will be revised in order to better explain when the TC should be applied. 

Kent presented changes and updates to Part I, 2018 and Part II, 2019, Section IV: Attribute Table. The only 

Attribute change that was not previously discussed was to add Attribute Domain Value 2020 to the Credit Cohort 

Year Attribute Domain to Part II. 

Jeff Taberner (Fiscal Service) presented Part I, 2018 and Part II, 2019, Section V: Balance Sheet and Part I, 2018 

and Part 2, 2019, Section VI: Reclassified Balance Sheet. For Part I and Part II, USSGL account 232000 has been 

added to line 19 of the Balance Sheet. Also for Part I and Part II, USSGL account 232000 has been added to line 7.9 

of the Reclassified Balance Sheet and USSGL account 320110, “Appropriations Outstanding – Transfers,” has been 

added to line 9.2 of the Reclassified Balance Sheet. 

Tia Harley (Fiscal Service) presented changes and updates to Part I, 2018 and Part II, 2019, Section VI:

Reclassified Statement of Operations and Changes in Net Position. For Part I and Part II, USSGL account 320110 

has been added to line 7.15 due to changes in TFM Chapter 2-4700, Appendix 7.

Michele presented changes and updates to Part I, 2018, Section VI: Statement of Budgetary Resources and SF133 & 

Schedule P Report on Budget Execution and Budgetary Resources & Budget Program and Financing Schedule. For 

the Statement of Budgetary Resources (SBR), the Fed/Non fed Attribute Domain Value of “E” was added to 

USSGL account 421200, “Liquidation of Deficiency – Offsetting Collections,” on line 1890. On the SF 133 & 

Schedule P Report on Budget Execution and Budgetary Resources & Budget Program and Financing Schedule, the 

same change was made to line 1020 and 1080. Michele stated that the Draft OMB Circular No. A-136 proposed 

significant changes to the SBR, including removing lines 1000 through 1042, lines 3000 through 3200 and lines 

4126 through 4187. She encouraged all agencies to review the draft. David Surti (DHS) asked how removing all 

these lines would affect tie points on the SBR. Teresa responded that these lines had become a problem for the 

budget side and she was in favor of removing them. Luke Sheppard (Fiscal Service) explained that Edit 21 also 

checked the tie points that David was referring to. Chris stated that it might be helpful to explain this to the 

auditors. Also, OMB Circular No. A-11 and OMB Circular No. A-136 changes become effective in FY 2018. In 

addition, Chris commended Carol Johnson (OMB) for her work with Circular No. A-136. He explained that the 

draft proposed removing Note 22 in addition to significantly reducing SBR reporting requirements to help reduce 

agency burden and streamline reporting.

Dan Adams (Fiscal Service) presented changes and updates to Part I, 2018 and Part II, 2019, Section VII: 

Validations and Edits. For Part I, Validation 32 added a pass exception for TAS 097 20182020 0111. Also, 

Validation 69 added a pass exception for TAS 480 X 5589 with USSGL account 411900, “Other Appropriations 

Realized.” In addition, Validation 90 added pass exceptions for fund families 012 1072, 014 1039, 014 1046, and 

086 0338 for Disaster Emergency Fund (DEF) code "C." For Part II, USSGL account 299100 was added to 

Validation 37. In addition, USSGL account 198100 was added to Edit 22. USSGL accounts 198100, 299100 and 

571300 were added to Edit 23. Edit 45 had a few changes: USSGL account 198100 was added to closing group 

198100. Also, USSGL account 571300 was added to closing group 331000, “Cumulative Results of Operations.”

Dan told agencies that the SF 133 Quarterly Reports are currently incorrect; the target date to have this issue 

corrected is by the end of Period 09 reporting. An update will be posted on the home page once the problem has 

been fixed. Also, agencies were reminded that every TAS is required to list a Trading Partner (TP) Main Account 

beginning in FY 2019.
Steve presented Budget Accrual & Reconciliation Guidance (BAR). There have been a few changes to the BAR. 

First, Footnote 4 was revised to read “Only for credit reform transactions that are not reflected in liability accounts; 

all other funds must omit this line.” Footnote 18 was added to exclude credit reform activity. The third change was 

to remove the gray column on the Non Fed Side for the memorandum accounts. In addition, verbiage was added to 

Footnote 19 stating, “This crosswalk applies only to funds that have Net Cost of Operations, Net Outlays, or both.” 

USSGL account 134100, “Interest Receivable – Loans,” and USSGL account 134500, “Allowance for Loss on 

Interest Receivable – Loans,” were moved from the Accounts Receivable Section to the Loans Receivable Section. 

USSGL account 727200, “Losses on Changes in Long-Term Assumptions,” and USSGL account 727100, “Gains on 

Changes in Long-Term Assumptions,” were removed from the BAR. Steve reminded agencies to refer to the 

footnotes when preparing the BAR because a lot of useful information is found there. Also, the BAR is a guide and 

it is not all-inclusive. Agencies should use their professional and discretionary judgement for applying specific 

agency items, and should send any future comments or questions on the BAR to Brian. Kim asked whether the 

BAR would be revised to remove the Fed/Non fed split since Note 22 of the financial statements was proposed to be 

removed. Chris responded that the BAR would not be revised because Fiscal Service still needed the breakout in 

GTAS. David asked whether a Fed/Non fed breakout would be added to the budgetary accounts. Chris explained 

that this would not be necessary because these accounts were reported in total and not required to be split between 

Fed/Non fed on the BAR. Michele noted that the proposed changes to the SBR could cause changes to the BAR 

and the USSGL Advisory Team will keep IRC Members updated on this. 

MEETING ROUNDTABLE:

Chris reminded agencies to look at the draft ballot before the May 10th USSGL Board Meeting and said the July 

IRC Meeting would be a meeting with many updates due to changes in the guidance. 

Luke stated that the Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standards (SFFAS) 47 would be implemented this 

year; with this implementation, Appendix 5 of TFM Chapter 2-4700 will be broken into Appendix 5A and Appendix 

5B. Appendix 5A will be what Appendix 5 used to be. Appendix 5B resulted from the implementation of SFFAS 

47, and will include a listing of all consolidated entities plus a disclosure of related parties. Fiscal Service must 

have confirmation that agencies agree with the determination. Emails have been sent to agencies for confirmation. 

Luke asked agencies to respond to the email as soon as possible. 

Luke informed agencies that there have been proposed changes to the GTAS reporting window schedule. Period 12 

would work more like Periods 01, 02 and 03 in that agencies could request a period extension. Also, the reporting 

period would close on November 8th as opposed to November 15th. Teresa explained that an extension window was 

for proprietary entries only; there would be no budgetary extensions given. 

Michele stated that minor changes to Schedule F – Budget Balance Sheet Crosswalk would be presented at the July 

IRC Meeting.

David asked whether any new USSGL accounts would be implemented next year when SFFAS 51 becomes

effective. Chris responded that USSGL Staff had looked at this and did not feel that any new USSGL accounts 

would be needed. However, if agencies felt new accounts were needed, they should email Chris with the details so

the USSGL Advisory Team could review. 
Valeria Spinner (OMB) asked agencies to look at the GTAS Error Reports and try to respond to them. These

reports can be found on the OMB Website. 

Meeting Wrap-Up:

Chris concluded the meeting.

Attendees:

Chris Beck, Bureau of the Fiscal Service

Dan Adams, Bureau of the Fiscal Service

Justin Sheline, Bureau of the Fiscal Service

Kathy Wages, Bureau of the Fiscal Service

Kent Linscott, Bureau of the Fiscal Service

Luke Sheppard, Bureau of the Fiscal Service

Marlana White, Bureau of the Fiscal Service

Michele Crosco, Bureau of the Fiscal Service

Tia Harley, Bureau of the Fiscal Service

Dion Carter, Department of Agriculture 

Scott Young, Department of Defense

Yianting Lee, Department of Health and Human Services

Jennifer Denardo, Department of Interior

Brian McConkey, Department of the Treasury

Karen Czapia, Department of the Treasury

Vickie Massey, Federal Communications Commission

Teresa Tancre, Office of Management and Budget

Valeria Spinner, Office of Management and Budget

Deron Smallwood, Small Business Administration

Rachel Beasley, Small Business Administration
Agencies via Conference Call:

Bureau of the Fiscal Service

Department of Agriculture

Department of Commerce

Department of Defense

Department of Education

Department of Energy

Department of Health and Human Services

Department of Homeland Security

Department of Housing and Urban Development

Department of Interior

Department of Justice

Department of Labor

Department of State

Department of Transportation

Department of the Treasury

Department of Veterans Affairs

Federal Deposit Insurance Commission

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Government Accountability Office

Library of Congress

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Science Foundation

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Office of Management and Budget
Office of Personnel Management

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

Railroad Retirement Board

Securities and Exchange Commission

Small Business Administration

Smithsonian Institution

Social Security Administration

U.S. Agency for International Development

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency