U.S. Standard General Ledger (USSGL)

Board Meeting Minutes 

May 7, 2020

LOCATION: Call-In Only

TIME: 1:00 pm to 2:00 pm

PARTICIPANTS:

Bruce Henshel, Commerce

Scott Young, DOD

Jeffrey Carr, Energy

David Surti, DHS

Derrick Washington, DOI

Tesfaye Wyes, DOL

Drena McDaniel, DOT

Jassal Simranjeet, EPA

Chris Beck, Fiscal Service

Jeff Taberner, Fiscal Service

Joel Erb, Fiscal Service

Josh Hudkins, Fiscal Service

Kent Linscott, Fiscal Service

Heather Six, Fiscal Service

Kyle Moore, Fiscal Service

Luke Sheppard, Fiscal Service

Regina Epperly, Fiscal Service

Steve Riley, Fiscal Service
Yianting Lee, HHS

Terri Dawson, HUD

Terrance Alfred, NASA

Patrice Williams-Johnson, NRC

Cynthia Paolillo, NSF

Teresa Tancre, OMB

Rachel Beasley, SBA

Christopher Long, SSA

Kawan Taylor, Treasury

Alfred Buck, USAID

Kevin Close, USDA

Eric Schneider, VA

HANDOUTS:

• USSGL Board Ballot Items & Projects

• Breaking Out the Appropriations Used and Expended

• G-Invoicing Update

• USSGL Board Ballot 20-02

Manager, Steve Riley (Fiscal Service), welcomed everyone to the Annual USSGL Board Meeting and conducted 

roll call. 

Josh Hudkins (Fiscal Service) presented USSGL Board Ballot Items & Projects. The USSGL Board Ballot 

contains items for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 and 2022. 

FY 2021 items are:

1. Add USSGL account 411910, “Indefinite Appropriation – Upward Adjustments.”

2. Add USSGL account 417400, “Transfers – Current-Year Borrowing Authority Converted to Cash.”

3. Delete USSGL account 463000, “Funds Not Available for Commitment/Obligation.”

4. Add USSGL account 310710, “Unexpended Appropriations Used – Disbursed.”

5. Add USSGL account 320710, “Appropriations Outstanding Used – Disbursed.”

6. Add USSGL account 570010, “570010 Expended Appropriations – Disbursed.”

7. Add USSGL account 570006, “Appropriations Expended – Disbursed.”

8. Modify USSGL account 310700, “Unexpended Appropriations – Used – Accrued.”

9. Modify USSGL account 320700, “Appropriations Outstanding – Used – Accrued.”

10. Modify USSGL account 570000, “Expended Appropriations – Used – Accrued.”
11. Modify USSGL account 570005, “Appropriations Expended – Accrued.”

12. Add USSGL account, 199010, “Other Assets – General Fund of the U.S. Government.”

13. Add USSGL account, 299010, “Other Liabilities Without Related Budgetary Obligations – General Fund 

of the U.S. Government.”

14. Add USSGL account, 299110, Reductions of Other Liabilities – General Fund of the U.S. Government.”

15. Modify USSGL account, 421000, “Anticipated Reimbursements.”

16. Modify USSGL account, 423300, “Reimbursements Earned – Receivable – Transferred.”

17. Modify USSGL account, 425100, “Reimbursements Earned – Receivable.”

18. Modify USSGL account, 425200, “Reimbursements Earned – Collected From Federal/Non-Federal 

Exception Sources.”

19. Modify USSGL account, 425400, “Reimbursements Earned – Collected From Non-Federal Sources.”

FY 2022 items are:

1. Add USSGL account, 439502, “Authority Unavailable for Obligation Pursuant to Public Law – Temporary 

– Anticipated Current Year Authority.”

2. Modify USSGL account, 439500, “Authority Unavailable for Obligation Pursuant to Public Law –

Temporary – Realized Current Year Authority.”

3. Add USSGL account, 439503, “Authority Unavailable for Obligation Pursuant to Public Law – Temporary 

– Anticipated Prior-Year Authority.”

4. Modify USSGL account, 439501, “Authority Unavailable for Obligation Pursuant to Public Law –

Temporary – Realized Prior-Year Authority.”

5. Add USSGL account, 439702, “Appropriations (special or trust) Temporarily Precluded From Obligation –

Anticipated Current-Year Authority.”

6. Modify USSGL account, 439700, “Appropriations (special or trust), Borrowing Authority and Contract 

Authority Temporarily Precluded From Obligation – Realized Current-Year Authority.”

7. Add USSGL account, 439703, “Appropriations Temporarily Precluded From Obligation – Anticipated 

Prior-Year Authority.”

8. Modify USSGL account, 439701, “Appropriations Temporarily Precluded From Obligation – Realized 

Prior-Year Authority.”

9. Add USSGL account, 439801, “Offsetting Collections (Anticipated) Temporarily Precluded From 

Obligation.”

10. Modify USSGL account, 439800, “Offsetting Collections (Collected) Temporarily Precluded From 

Obligation.”

11. Add USSGL account, 449000, “Anticipated Resources – Unapportioned Authority.”

12. Modify USSGL account, 445000, “Unapportioned – Unexpired Authority.”

Teresa Tancre (OMB) stressed her concern that agencies understand the necessity for the proposed new budgetary 

USSGL accounts. If any agency is contemplating voting against, please call OMB before the vote, so that it can get 

the explanation as to what the changes are and the impact for them. 

Luke Sheppard (Fiscal Service) stated that, as Teresa mentioned, if any agencies have questions to the USSGL 

accounts for the General Fund side of things, please reach out to him or Joel Erb (Fiscal Service.)

SSA, HHS, VA, DHS, Transportation, Commerce, Library of Congress, and Nuclear Regulatory 

Commission were all concerned about the timeline that is proposed for the new General Fund USSGL accounts. 

Luke Sheppard plans to meet with them at another time to talk about this issue.

The USSGL Team will work on updating Borrowing Authority and Contract Authority Scenarios, Prior-Period 

Adjustment (PPA) Scenarios, Prior-Year Adjustment (PYA) Scenarios, General Fund Receipt Account Guidance, 
Trust Fund Accounting Guidance, Economy Act Scenario, Revolving Fund Scenario, BAR working group, and 

Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) Standard Implementation Working Groups for Statement 

of Federal Financial Accounting Standards (SFFAS) 54: Leases.

Alex Abshire (Fiscal Service) presented the GTAS SMAF Attribute Confirmation. It is a new process for Fiscal 

Service in FY 2020, beginning in period 8 reporting. It will be on a quarterly basis and prior to quarter end reporting 

to, hopefully, catch agencies when they are less busy. 

Joel Erb (Fiscal Service) presented General Fund Disbursement BETCs/New USSGLs. The creation of the 

Business Event Type Codes (BETC) provide more detailed classifications of disbursement transactions, which 

differentiate between gross disbursements of appropriations derived from the General Fund of the U.S. Government 

(General Fund) versus gross disbursements of appropriations and other budget authorities not derived from the 

General Fund. This is a phased approach. The creation of USSGL accounts is the second phase and creates the 

USSGL accounts that allow agencies to differentiate between amounts accrued, or not actually disbursed, and those 

that tie to a disbursement, which creates a transaction in Central Accounting Reporting System (CARS.) The final 

phase will be to create an edit that will tie the disbursement of General Fund appropriations in CARS to the 

disbursed USSGL account. The creation of these accounts make that edit possible in the future, as agencies begin 

using the new USSGL accounts and BETCs. Finally, the General Fund confirmed with the Intragovernmental 

Transaction & Reconciliation Branch (ITRB) that the new USSGL accounts would go into the same Reciprocating 

Categories (RCs) that the current USSGL accounts are in; USSGL accounts 310710 and 320710 would be added to 

RC 39, and USSGL accounts 570010 and 570006 would be added to RC 38. Please contact 

GeneralFund@fiscal.treasury.gov to discuss any concerns. In addition, the General Fund Team promised followup meetings with any agency who raised a concern during the call.

HHS asked why Fiscal Service ceased looking at using the attributes as previously discussed. Joel said that Fiscal 

Service originally polled some of the agencies and most of them agreed that the attribute was not going to work; that

is why Fiscal Service went down the USSGL route. Luke mentioned that using the USSGL would be the least 

burdensome change for agencies when they implement the new process because the attribute feeder system would 

have to be overhauled, as well as with the GL system. He understands that other agencies might have a different 

process, and that the General Fund Team is interested in the challenges that agencies face and how the General Fund 

Team can help. Please contact GeneralFund@fiscal.treasury.gov to discuss any concerns.

Chris Long (SSA) mentioned that when they have a collection, they are hitting USSGL account 570000 and, with 

the proposed new USSGL account 570010, this is going to throw out a check between the disbursement BETC and 

the new USSGL account. Joel mentioned that the General Fund Team would meet with SSA to go over this.

Teresa wanted to make clear to agencies that there are budgetary relationships with the BETC codes, and that OMB 

would like to sit down with the General Fund Team and some agencies and map out the budgetary USSGL accounts. 

Joel said he was willing to sit down and discuss this issue.

Chris presented G-Invoicing Update. G-Invoicing is the long-term sustainable solution to improve Buy/Sell 

transactions. In FY 2019, there were $24 billion in IGT Buy/Sell Elimination Differences. G-Invoicing is part of 

Fiscal Service’s solution to these elimination differences. G-Invoicing will also serve as an agreement broker, a data 

exchange utility, and a conduit for sharing data and exchanging information on Buy/Sell IGT activity. The GInvoicing mandate date is June 30, 2021; this date will be for new and open agreements and orders. GTAS Release 

3.3 is scheduled for June 2020 and will cover performances. New orders should be in G-Invoicing by October 1, 

2022 and “In Fight” orders should be in G-Invoicing September 30, 2023.

Josh presented USSGL Ballot 20-02. An email containing Ballot 20-02 and a survey monkey link will be sent to all 

USSGL Board Members by COB May 7, 2020. The ballot is due back by noon on May 21, 2020. 
Steve concluded the meeting.