USSGL IRC Board Meeting Minutes

May 22, 2014

Handouts:

• CRM Presentation Treasury Update for USSGL Board 

• ETFM USSGL IRC

• USSGL Voting Ballot

• USSGL Board Meeting Fiscal Year 2014 and Beyond

General Items:

The meeting was called to order at approximately 9:30 AM in Conference Room 107a and 107b 

at the Liberty Center Building located at 401 14th Street, SW, Washington, DC.

Valeria Spinner (Fiscal Service) welcomed everyone to the Board Meeting. Introductions were 

made by the IRC members present in the room and those who were on the phone. Valeria

strongly encouraged all Voting Members to be present at future Board Meetings in order to 

review the ballot and presentations that are not available via teleconference. 

Agenda Items:

Carolann Marker (Fiscal Service) presented updates regarding the Central Accounting 

Reporting System (CARS). The benefits of becoming a CARS reporter include a Daily Account 

Statement, transaction-level details in the Account Statement, daily reclassification functionality 

and the elimination of the Statement of Difference. CARS reporters have the ability to view Fund 

Balance with Treasury daily instead of waiting until the first three workdays of the month to 

classify transactions with Treasury. In addition, Full Cars Reporters can make daily adjustments 

to reconcile their General Ledger with the Fund Balance of Treasury. CARS supports the 

Governmentwide data transparency initiative and standardization by sharing information within 

Treasury and agency systems. Carolann referenced the Shared Accounting Module which gives 

agencies the ability to view the Standard Treasury Account Symbol and crosswalk it to the 

Legacy Account Symbol. CARS also streamlines reports in Treasury by improving data for 

downstream systems and processes. The Shared Account Module (SAM) public website 

publishes the opening, closing and all changes to a Treasury Account Symbol at 6am everyday. 

The Enterprise Reference Data Model within SAM uploads valid Treasury Account Symbols to 

agencies accounting systems. The 4th iteration of the Commissioner Chief Financial Officer 

Letter was sent out to agencies requesting a transition plan be in place by October 1, 2014.

Agencies can find their transition status on the Bureau of Fiscal Service website. The slides from 

the presentation will be posted on the United States Standard General Ledger (USSGL) website.

Jack DeGrange (Fiscal Service) presented the transition of the USSGL Treasury Financial 

Manual (TFM) to the ETFM. The ETFM is a cloud-based, web content management system that 

manages and publishes all of the TFM content. On August 13, 2013, the ETFM went live on 

www.Tfm.Fiscal.Treasury.Gov. Improvements to the TFM as a result of the implementation of 
the ETFM include business representation from all internal Assistant Commissioner areas, 

electronic approval before releasing the TFM to the public, consistent workflow process for all 

areas, and an advanced search for the various sections of the TFM. Jack explained that the 

USSGL TFM is still in the design and approval phase. The USSGL TFM will be accessible 

through the “Supplement” link under Volume 1 or by clicking the “USSGL” link on the main 

menu once it is added to the ETFM website. The advanced search allows users to search by a 

specific word or phrase within a volume, part, bulletin, and chapter. The USSGL ETFM is being 

developed in June 2014 and tested in July 2014 with an expected production date of August 

2014. The USSGL scenarios will remain on the USSGL website. 

Maryla Engleking (DOD) asked whether the current USSGL TFM on the USSGL website will 

still be available for use until the ETFM is fully tested and implemented. Valeria said the 

USSGL TFM link will still be available on the USSGL website and will take users directly to the 

ETFM. Michele Crisman (Fiscal Service) mentioned that the ETFM will provide a search 

function of the USSGL TFM.

Claudia Donovan (Fiscal Service) presented the logistics of Ballot #14-01. Voting members 

must indicate whether they vote “Yes” or “No” for each item on the ballot. If a voting member 

votes “No” on any item, he/she must provide an explanation why. Only the designated Voting 

Board Member for each agency is allowed to vote. The ballots can be faxed, emailed, or 

completed through Survey Monkey. Ballots are due back no later than June 5th. An email will be 

sent out to all IRC Members with the results of the ballot.

Teresa Tancre (OMB) shared updates regarding OMB Circular No. A-11. All proposals were 

submitted and vetted inside the branch. Issue papers were written for the necessary proposals. 

These issue papers and recommended changes will be distributed to agencies for comments by 

June 13th . The OMB Circular No. A-11 has a projected publish date of July 15th. Agencies who 

submitted a proposal to the OMB Circular No. A-11 that was not approved will receive a phone 

call from OMB explaining the rationale behind the decision. All changes to the TFM crosswalks 

as a result of the OMB Circular No. A-11 for FY 2014 and FY2015 will be presented at the

August IRC meeting. Teresa expects minimal changes to the memo lines of the P&F schedule. 

The changes to the P&F are due to sequestration.

Michele presented a modification to new USSGL account 415500, “Appropriation to Liquidate 

Contract Authority- Allocation- Transferred”. This account was added last year for use by the 

Department of Transportation only. However, the definition will be revised to include agencies 

who receive an allocation transfer from the Department of Transportation. Next, Michele talked 

about the three different types of reporters for 4th Quarter FY2014 (Federal Agencies’ 

Centralized Trial Balance System (FACTS) II, FACTS I and the Government-wide Treasury 

Account Symbol Adjusted Trial Balance System (GTAS). For FACTS II reporters, she stressed 

the importance of understanding when it is appropriate to use USSGL account 435000, 

“Cancelled Authority” versus USSGL account 435100 “Partial or Early Cancellation of 

Authority With a U.S. Treasury Warrant”. If an agency has budgetary reporting requirements the 

following year, they should use USSGL account 435100 which closes into USSGL account 

420100, “Total Actual Resources-Collected”. USSGL account 435000 does not close. Agencies 

are not permitted to submit a beginning balance for USSGL account 435000 in FACTS II or 

GTAS which is in compliance with OMB guidance. FACTS II reporters do not use the Agency 
Transaction Module (ATM) for their cancellations and adjustments. If they use ATM, by 

mistake, their funds could be swept twice. However, GTAS reporters must use ATM for any 

cancellation and adjustment. The flowchart included in Michele’s PowerPoint presentation also

illustrates the differences between FACTS II and GTAS reporters. “The USSGL Cancellation 

Cheat Sheet” is listed as a reference on the bottom of the flowchart. This cheat sheet includes 

questions to ask regarding the type of cancellation as well as additional information related to 

cancellations, partial adjustments, and specific permanent reductions. “The USSGL Cancellation 

Cheat Sheet” is located on the USSGL website for agency use. There are no new edits for 

cancellations and adjustments for FACTS II reporters. However, GTAS has added two new 

edits;edit 65 and 66. Lastly, Michele discussed modifications to current USSGL accounts for 

FY2014 and proposed USSGL accounts for FY2015. The definition of USSGL accounts 109000 

“Fund Balance With Treasury Under a Continuing Resolution”, 132100 “Unfunded FECA 

Benefit Contributions Receivable” and 299000 “Other Liabilities Without Related Budgetary 

Obligations”, 540500 “Unfunded FECA Benefit Revenue” and 718100 “Unrealized GainExchange Stabilization Fund” were revised. Proposed USSGL account 463500 “Funds Not 

Available- Adjustments to Exchange Stabilization Fund” was established for Treasury use only. 

USSGL accounts 577700 “Authority Transfer Control-In” and 577800 “Authority Transfer 

Control-Out” were created for the General Fund use only. USSGL account 729200, “Other 

Losses from Impairment of Assets” was created per FASAB SFFAS No. 44, “Accounting for 

Impairment of General Property, Plant and Equipment Remaining in Use”. Teresa explained that 

USSGL accounts 109000 and 290000 were modified to help agencies who were unable to record 

a debit to USSGL account 411900 “Other Appropriations Realized” because they did not receive

their warrant. Based on the public law that was enacted and passed by Congress, agencies now 

have the capability to obligate against those resources which is now reflected in the revised 

definition of USSGL accounts 109000 and 290000.

Valeria presented information regarding updates to the ATM.ATM is used to process 

Appropriation Warrants, Nonexpenditure Transfers and Warrant Journal Vouchers. The YearEnd Cancellation Module is a new module being added within ATM this year for the 

cancellation process which will replace FACTS II 2108. The Year-End Transaction Module 

(YETM) is used to report the 5th year cancellation of fund balance with Treasury (USSGL 

4350), adjust mandatory Indefinite funding upward/downward to obligational authority (USSGL 

4391), and the return of funding derived from Special or Trust Fund Receipts back it’s associated 

receipt account. It is scheduled to be open for agency use on October 7, 2014. Agencies will have 

to request access for this module. Treasury will be sending out a letter to all agencies in June 

with instructions on enrollment. Valeria asked the IRC members who will be using the YearEnd Cancellation Module whether Treasury should reach out to the FACTS II users or ATM 

users for nonexpenditures and warrants. A consensus was reached to send out the enrollment 

letter to both FACTS II and ATM users. Valeria stated that GTAS reporters must go into the 

Year-End Cancellation Module to cancel their transactions before uploading data in GTAS.

When users log into ATM, they will be able to view all of their valid Treasury Account Symbols

(TAS) that are available for cancellation. Agencies can select each TAS they would like to 

cancel. A 5th year cancellation transaction will be created automatically and will post to the 

Account Statement. Users who have indefinite authority will make an adjustment. The 

adjustments for sequestration and indefinite authority that are considered mandatory will be 

completed at year-end. Teresa said agencies must wait until the end of the fiscal year in order to 

accurately report their sequestration amount. This information is reported in the MAX collect 
database. OMB plans on working with agencies to get everything completed in an appropriate 

time frame. 

Webster Coleman (DOL) asked whether the GTAS adjusted trial balance carries the same 

transactions as the ATM. Michele answered “Yes, GTAS gets a feed from CARS where ATM 

resides”.

Valeria said there are specific BETC’s associated with year-end cancellations. Michele added 

that you can find the BETC’s for each validation in section seven of the USSGL TFM. An IRC 

member asked whether there was a future timeframe for entering cancellations into ATM. 

Valeria responded that ATM will open for the cancellation process on the 5th or 6th workday

once Treasury receives the preliminary numbers for FACTS II. Each agency should identify a 

backup preparer or certifier in case the designated preparer or certifier is absent. 

Another IRC member asked if ATM users will be required to re-enroll if they already have 

access to process a transfer. Valeria responded “Yes, they will have to log in and modify their 

access and select the Year-End module”. 

Teresa asked whether GTAS users who complete the backdated document exercise to make 

year-end adjustments for indefinite or to cancel an account will have to go back into ATM.

Valeria said agencies will have to go through the normal backdated document process. 

However, as long as GTAS is open, ATM will be reopened for adjustments. Teresa asked 

Valeria to confirm that the two systems will be in sync once the approval of a backdated 

document is completed and ATM is open to agencies after they resubmit in GTAS. Valerie 

responded “Yes”.

An IRC member asked for more information on the Indefinite Authority section in ATM. 

Valeria explained that the Indefinite Authority is another step within ATM. Users must select

their TAS from the dropdown box and a balance will appear. The user will then type in the 

amount they would like to adjust. 

Teresa asked if the balance is considered to be the initial warrant processed for the indefinite 

authority and whether it includes everything the user has input for ATM. Valeria responded 

“Yes, Treasury would have issued the warrant for the indefinite authority. When users log in, 

they will see the warrant amount that was issued which at that time can be adjusted.” 

Valeria mentioned another feature that was added to ATM to process Special and Trust 

Cancellations. However, the amount for Special and Trust Fund Cancellations will be verified by 

Treasury before final approval. 

An IRC member asked if early and partial cancellations for no-year will be available at year-end 

or throughout the year. Valeria said Treasury would like agencies to wait until the end of the 

year for no-year early and partial cancellations. Although, agencies that would like to cancel 

during mid-year can send a letter to Treasury stating the reason for the Partial or Early 

Cancellation and the legislation which supports this request. There is a two year period of no 

disbursements or activity once it cancelled. 
Teresa asked if an agency would still pass all the edits within GTAS if it completes an early

partial cancellation. Michele responded that she will make a note to review the edits to see if 

they are fatal for all twelve periods.

Valeria mentioned that updates to ATM will be presented again at the Bureau of Fiscal Service 

Conference this year.

Valeria continued the meeting by discussing the USSGL Issues Log. All issues submitted to the 

USSGL Issues Log have been assigned to a USSGL representative. Valeria asked IRC members 

to contact her if the issue they have submitted has not been resolved. She will have the USSGL 

representative who has been assigned to the issue get in contact with the IRC member. 

An IRC member asked if they could receive an automatic response email whenever an issue is 

submitted that includes the issue number and the details of the issue. Michele answered “Yes, we 

can help with that.” Maryla Engleking (DOD) mentioned that IRC representatives used to 

receive a copy of each issue that was submitted during the year by their agency. Michele highly 

encouraged IRC members who submit an issue to Cc: their IRC representative on the email. The 

USSGL will look into making the Cc: a required field that features a dropdown option containing

the names of each the IRC representative.

Michele asked that Board Members submit governmentwide issues that they would like the 

USSGL staff to work on for FY 2015. Teresa would like OMB to be notified of any issue that is 

submitted regarding budgetary accounting. Michele mentioned that the USSGL does not 

typically work with contractors. The USSGL asks that contractors work with their IRC 

representative to submit an issue. Teresa suggested restricting access to who can submit an issue 

through the USSGL Issues Log.

Meeting Wrap Up

Valeria adjourned the IRC meeting at 12:00pm.

Action Items:

1) Review the edits related to early partial cancellations to see if they are fatal for all twelve 

periods.

2) Research a dropdown option containing the names of the IRC representatives in the Cc: 

field of the IRC Issues Log Form.