Bureau of Accounting and Financial Management

Financial Management

Our Goal…

is to ensure quality accounting and reporting of enterprise-level financial activities by issuing the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), Single Audit Report and other financial reports; maintaining the Commonwealth’s chart of accounts; managing the implementation of new accounting standards; supporting cash management initiatives and leveraging technologies to be more cost effective.

 We Achieve Our Goal…

by coordinating the timely and efficient preparation and issuance of enterprise  financial statements, by being a thought leader with respect to the development, interpretation and implementation of new accounting standards, by providing prompt and courteous service to agencies’ requests for changes to the chart of accounts, by effectively interfacing with the federal government on cash management and cost allocation processes, and by devising and implementing technology solutions that result in greater efficiency and effectiveness of government operations.

About Us

The Bureau of Financial Management (BFM) within the Office of the Budget manages the preparation and issuance of both budgetary and GAAP based financial statements.  These enterprise-level financial statements include the monthly Status of Appropriations (used to monitor each agency’s expenditures against its approved budget), the CAFR (used to report the balances and results of commonwealth activities in accordance with GAAP) and the annual Single Audit (a federally mandated report disclosing the financial results of federally funded programs administered by the commonwealth and the commonwealth’s compliance with applicable laws and regulations. 

BFM is also responsible for serving as the SAP Business Process Owner and serving as the liaison between Comptroller Operations and the Office of Administration’s Integrated Enterprise Systems regarding matters that impact the financial functionality of the commonwealth’s SAP Enterprise Resource Planning system.  BFM also maintains the general ledger chart of accounts in SAP to ensure that necessary coding is maintained in SAP to enable agencies to properly account for programs and activities.  BFM plays a vital role in monitoring GAAP developments by preparing responses to exposure drafts and by analyzing and implementing new accounting standards.

BFM has two divisions that both serve as liaisons with the Department of Treasury and the Department of the Auditor General in their respective areas of responsibility as well as perform these various functions:

• The Financial Management Division (FMD) serves as the Finance Business Process Owner, maintains the general ledger chart of accounts, provides customer support for fixed assets and project systems matters in SAP, and monitors balance sheet account activities.  The FMD performs month-end and year-end closings in SAP and issues budgetary financial statements.  It also manages the commonwealth’s contracts for the use and acceptance of credit cards, and manages enterprise-wide activities to improve the economy and efficiency of financial activities in the commonwealth.  Examples of this latter responsibility include efforts to expand the Purchasing Card program whereby agencies can use a credit card to pay for certain procurements, and efforts to expand the use of Electronic Data Interchange by utility vendors so that monthly utility invoices and energy consumption information can be submitted, processed and paid electronically.  The FMD is also responsible for preparing and negotiating the Statewide Indirect Cost Allocation Plan which is required to allocate central services costs to federal programs administered by commonwealth agencies.
   
• The Financial Reporting Division (FRD) oversees the preparation, audit and issuance of the commonwealths’ Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.  The FRD also monitors developments in government accounting and responds to preliminary documents on new standards.  As new standards are issued, the FRD analyzes each standard and its impact on the commonwealth’s accounting and reporting practices, and develops and implements an action plan to enable conformance with the new standard.  It also coordinates the preparation, audit and issuance of the annual Single Audit Report and monitors the resolution of auditors findings contained in the Single Audit Report.  This division also manages compliance with the federal Cash Management Financial Integrity Act and provides consultative services to other agencies and commonwealth entities regarding the application of accounting standards.

Accounting

Our Goal...

is to provide a variety of timely, accurate and efficient government financial accounting and reporting services to commonwealth agencies to enable them to better monitor and manage their diverse financial operations.

 We Achieve Our Goal...

by ensuring that the commonwealth’s accounting system properly reflects each agency’s financial activities, that those financial activities are in accordance with the approved budget and commonwealth policy, that funds are drawn or recorded in a timely and effective manner, and that meaningful, accurate, timely and complete agency financial reports are prepared and issued.

About Us

The Bureau of Commonwealth Accounting (BCA), within the Office of the Budget, provides a full range of governmental financial accounting and reporting services to state agencies under the Governor’s jurisdiction for all state and federally funded programs.  The magnitude and diversity of state activities mandates a broad range of governmental accounting skills and expertise to effectively capture the financial impact of each activity and to ensure that agency programs are in accordance with the enacted budget and in the best interest of the Pennsylvania taxpayer.  The bureau strives to provide effective and efficient services by standardizing and streamlining its processes and by empowering its employees to perform at their fullest potential. The bureau is organized in the following units to best achieve its goal:

The General Accounting Division consists of two units - Financial and Budgetary Accounting and Revenue Accounting:

• The Financial and Budgetary Accounting Unit (FBA) is responsible for commitment, expenditure and revenue analysis, and cash management functions for over 40 commonwealth agencies.  The FBA maintains budgetary and cash controls necessary to ensure agency adherence to authorized budgets and cash availability, and posts transactions to the general and subsidiary ledgers in adherence to proper accounting practices. The FBA also ensures adherence to budgetary plans through analysis of each department’s budget requests, the Governor’s Executive Budget and enacted House and Senate Bills.  The FBA reviews budget adjustments and maintains appropriation and budgetary controls to ensure concurrence with administrative policies and requirements.  This unit offers accounting expertise in the interpretation of Management Directives, Administrative Circulars, Comptroller Bulletins and other revised or newly implemented accounting policies.  On a monthly basis, the FBA reconciles the SAP funds management (FM) transaction records with the State Treasury Account Bookkeeping System (TABS) records for each SAP Fund and reconciles all SAP advancement account balances to bank statement balances.  The unit prepares financial statements for most Special Funds.  Where potential shortfalls exist, the FBA provides budgetary and cash forecasting, often planning and scheduling financial transactions.   In addition, at the closing of each fiscal year, the FBA conducts a thorough review of commonwealth financial records to ensure accounting transactions are in compliance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and to verify that fiscal year end closing activities are completed successfully and include accurate lapsing of all applicable available balances.  The unit also supports the preparation of the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) by preparing schedules of actual and estimated expenditures, accruals and other balance sheet reclassifications after fiscal year end.
   
• The Revenue Accounting Unit (RA) performs receipts, receivables, revenue and cash management functions across the commonwealth.  Receipts in the form of cash, checks, money orders, Electronic Funds Transfers (EFT) and Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfers are received by agency or RA employees who must record a revenue journal entry in SAP and forward the monies to the Department of Revenue Central Depository facility for deposit.  RA staff monitors the timeliness of deposits and correct any deposit errors related to amount, category or account and bank codes to ensure that timely information is forwarded to Treasury.  Refunds of Expenditure, including cancelled payments (Treasury redlines) and failed ACH payments are processed by the Revenue and Cash Management section.  Accounting records are updated by posting a vendor credit memo in SAP to ensure correct 1099 reporting.  Also, since Treasury requires a paper revenue document to record receipt of the deposit, the RA is responsible for handling the review and preparation of a revenue transmittal to send the receipt and required information to Treasury.  The RA performs a number of reconciliations to ensure accurate revenue reporting and serves as a central revenue support point (Help Desk) for all agency trained revenue processors as well as assists them in select areas in support of the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR).    

The Federal Accounting Division manages the grant and federal accounting functions across the enterprise through specialized staff serving specific customer groups. This division is responsible for the accounting, monitoring, cash management and reporting for federal grants, contracts and agreements awarded to state agencies. The division receives award documents from federal agencies, draws down federal funds for each award and reports expenditures under each award to the appropriate federal agency.  The division monitors program activities for compliance with a variety of federal programmatic and financial management requirements.  The division also reviews and verifies the information reported under Section 1512 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).  Specific customer groups are served by the following units:

• Central, Recreation and Protection Unit
• Employment Security Unit
• Health and Medical Assistance Unit
• Education Unit
• Social Services Unit

The Special Accounting Division is organized by customer groups and supports standard accounting functions across the commonwealth.
 

• The Central Agencies and School Finance Unit is responsible for developing and maintaining a uniform and professional accounting and financial reporting system for over 700 Local Educational Agencies (LEAs), as well as maintaining the PA Public School Accounting Manual in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).  This unit also provides guidance to LEAs and their auditors on accounting and financial reporting questions.  This is necessary to ensure the accuracy, comparability and equitability of over $9 billion in state subsidy entitlements.  This unit also maintains the accounting records and cash accounts for Pennsylvania insurance companies in liquidation, including processing payments to vendors and claimants and completing various reporting requirements.  This unit also provides accounting support services to the State Workers’ Insurance Fund in Scranton, the Hiram G. Andrews Center in Johnstown as well as the apple, wine, vegetable, potato, and peach commodity boards.
   
• The Economic and Environmental Support Unit provides accounting and reporting services for more than 15 commonwealth loan programs including those administered by Pennvest, the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority, the Pennsylvania Minority Business Development Authority and Small Business First Fund.  This team ensures that funds are disbursed in a timely manner to approved borrowers and that repayments are processed and applied correctly to borrower records; current accounting practice lends itself to accurate reporting throughout the fiscal year; processes and procedures are streamlined to be efficient and effective in the delivery of financial reports and information; timely and reliable financial statements are issued to the agency; federal reporting requirements are adhered to; and commonwealth loan funds activities and balances are properly reported in the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.
   
• The Transportation Unit provides accounting and reporting services for PennDOT projects throughout Pennsylvania.  This unit processes the weekly billing to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the final close-out of federal projects.  The unit also provides accounting and reporting services for the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Bank loan program and provides grant accounting and reporting services to ensure consistency and accurate reporting throughout the fiscal year in order to ensure adherence to federal reporting requirements.