Tracking Expenditures and Revenues Related to Disaster or Disaster-Related Economic Relief Efforts

Overview

Applicable to

State agencies and institutions of higher education with funds in the state treasury related to significant disaster or disaster-related economic relief efforts.

Policy

The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, under the authority of Texas Government Code 403.011 and the General Appropriations Act (GAA), requires state agencies and institutions of higher education to use additional Uniform Statewide Accounting System (USAS) coding requirements to ensure proper tracking of expenditures and revenues directly related to significant disaster or disaster-related economic relief efforts.

Legal citation

Texas Government Code, Section 403.011; General Appropriations Act (GAA), Article IX, Section 13.03, 87th Legislature, Regular Session.

Legend

Calendar

Effective Jan. 1, 2018

Policy Overview

Introduction

The Comptroller’s office, as the sole accounting officer of the state per Texas Government Code 403.011, oversees and manages the state’s fiscal concerns as required by law.

In addition, the GAA, Article IX, Section 13.03 states:

It is the intent of the legislature, that in the event 10 or more state agencies are awarded, by the United States government, a combined amount greater than or equal to $1 billion in federal stimulus funds or other one-time allocations appropriated through legislation separate from the annual federal appropriations bills, the Comptroller shall set state reporting standards and timelines, including performance benchmarks, for all affected agencies, including institutions of higher education, that align with any related federal reporting requirements.

To facilitate the accountability and transparency for expenditure and revenue activity related to disaster or disaster-related economic relief efforts, an additional coding element must be recorded in USAS for this activity.

Under the provisions noted above, the Comptroller’s office may initiate a requirement to track and report certain financial activity.

See Accounting for Disaster Relief Efforts (FPP K.011) for more information on managing activity related to disaster relief.

Definitions

Introduction

This section includes definitions for this Fiscal Policy and Procedure.

Definitions

Disaster Relief Funds

Disaster relief funds are any monies received or expended by an agency or institution related to disaster relief efforts. Disaster relief funds are not limited to reimbursements received from the federal government. The method of finance for these funds may be general revenue, general revenue dedicated accounts, federal funds, or other funds.

Direct Expenses of Disaster Relief Funds

The expenditures to be tracked include direct costs associated with your agency or institution’s disaster response. Direct expenses may include the purchase of additional goods or services required to respond to the disaster and monies distributed to individuals or local governments whether from state appropriations or in partnership with the federal government. Direct expenses do not include regular agency or institution operating costs or regular salary costs.

However, certain salary, benefit and overtime salary costs directly associated with your agency or institution’s disaster response, if eligible for federal reimbursement (see note below), are considered a direct expense and subject to tracking. Salaries, wages and other personnel costs tracked in USAS must be consistent with any additional external reporting an agency or institution is providing.

Note: The Stafford Act constitutes the statutory authority for most federal disaster response activities, especially those pertaining to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and FEMA programs. Pay and benefit reimbursement information are detailed in the act.

Direct Revenues of Disaster Relief Funds

The revenues to be tracked include direct receipts associated with your agency or institution’s disaster response. Direct revenue may include federal revenue, insurance policies associated with the disaster relief efforts or state grant pass-through revenues your agency or institution received from another state agency or institution (for example, disaster grants received from the governor’s office). Direct revenue does not include regular agency receipts that were impacted (for example, expedited or delayed due to the disaster).

Disaster-Related Economic Relief Funds

Disaster-related economic relief funds are any federal monies received or expended by an agency or institution that the Comptroller requires special tracking for. Tracking is typically required for federal funding intended to alleviate the economic impact of a disaster and may include investment in infrastructure, tax relief and other economic development programs. An agency or institution receiving Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funds should follow the tracking requirements outlined below.

Agency Requirements

Introduction

To track the direct costs associated with your agency’s or institution’s disaster response, or to account for activity associated with disaster-related economic relief funds, agencies and institutions must use the USAS PCA GROUP field on the USAS 26 Program Cost Account Profile. If your agency or institution already segregates such activity at the PCA level, then no revenue or expenditure transfers will be required. However, your agency or institution must add a PCA group to your existing Program Cost Account Profile(s). If your agency or institution has multiple PCAs that are uniquely tracking such financial activity due to multiple appropriations, methods of finance or other agency-defined requirements, the PCA group must be added to all of these identified PCAs.

If your agency or institution does not segregate this financial activity at the PCA level in USAS, then revenue and expenditure transfers will require a new PCA(s) unique to disaster response tracking that contains a PCA group to identify the appropriate costs and receipts.

Establish and Update Required USAS Profiles

Agencies tracking financial activity associated with disaster response, or accounting for disaster-related economic relief funds, must establish a USAS D19 PCA group profile. The coding scheme used to track significant disaster or disaster-related economic relief will be the four-digit fiscal year of the event plus the sequential occurrence of the event. Consult your appropriation control officer before establishing a PCA group for disaster or disaster-related economic relief fund tracking. As a result of the Comptroller-defined USAS D19 PCA group schema to track an agency or institution’s disaster response, agencies and institutions must not establish D19 profiles whose first four digits are a fiscal year.

Existing Disaster Response or Disaster-Related Economic Relief PCAs

Agencies and institutions must associate the newly defined D19 PCA group code on existing USAS 26 Program Cost Account Profiles that were previously established to track financial activity associated with disaster response or disaster-related economic relief funding. To associate the new PCA group code to USAS 26 Program Cost Account profiles:

• Recall the existing profile(s)
• Enter C in the ACTION field
• Add the Comptroller-defined five-digit PCA group code
• Press F6 to process

No additional actions are required from your agency or institution. Agencies or institutions should continue processing expenditure and revenue activity under your existing policies and processes using the previously established PCA(s), which now infer a PCA group.

New Disaster Response or Disaster-Related Economic Relief PCAs

If your agency or institution is establishing a new USAS 26 Program Cost Account Profile(s) to track financial activity associated with disaster response or disaster-related economic relief funding, ensure the newly defined D19 PCA group code is added to the new record(s). All other USAS 26 Program Cost Account Profile elements must be added using USAS Coding Instruction guidelines.

Record Current Expenditure and Revenue Activity Directly in Unique Disaster Response or Disaster-Related Economic Relief PCA(s)

All financial activity associated with disaster response or disaster-related economic relief funding that flows through the state treasury must process in USAS with a PCA that has an associated PCA group.

Direct revenues your agency or institution received as state grant pass-through revenue from another state agency or institution must be recorded in the same appropriated fund as the appropriated fund the grants were made from.

Prior Period Expenditure Activity Adjustments

If your agency or institution processed direct expenses and did not segregate your disaster response or disaster-related economic relief financial activity at the PCA level, then expenditure transfers will require one or more new PCAs unique to disaster response tracking.

The Comptroller’s office will allow the expenditure transfer process to be summarized at the unique vendor number and comptroller object code level. Maintaining the vendor number in the expenditure transfer process is important to ensure the integrity of the data that may be subsequently reported to interested parties. Expenditure transfers must be done as soon as administratively possible. The Comptroller’s office may determine the due date for expenditure transfers. Refer to the transfer steps below for the processing sequence.

Transfer out from Original Expenditure PCA*

Doc Type	Batch Type	T-Code/Title	Appropriation	Comptroller Object	PCA	Appd Fund	Fund
K	4, 8	407/Expenditure Transfer-Out	Original Appropriation	Original Comptroller Object	Original PCA	Original Fund	Original Fund

Transfer into Disaster Tracking PCA*

Doc Type	Batch Type	T-Code/Title	Appropriation	Comptroller Object	PCA	Appd Fund	Fund
K	4, 8	408/Expenditure Transfer-In	Same	Same	Determined by Agency**	Same	Same
* Expenditure transfers must be at the unique vendor number and comptroller object code level. ** The PCA group must be inferred by the PCA.

Prior Period Revenue Activity Adjustments

If your agency or institution received direct revenues and did not segregate your disaster response or disaster-related economic relief financial activity at the PCA level, then revenue transfers will require one or more new PCAs unique to disaster or disaster-related economic relief tracking. Refer to the transfer steps below for the processing sequence.

Transfer out from Original Deposit PCA

Doc Type	Batch Type	T-Code/Title	Appropriation	Comptroller Object	PCA	Appd Fund	Fund
J	2, 8	195R/Record Deposit of Revenue in Treasury	Original Appropriation	Original Comptroller Object	Original PCA	Original Fund	Original Fund

Transfer into Disaster Response Tracking PCA

Doc Type	Batch Type	T-Code/Title	Appropriation	Comptroller Object	PCA	Appd Fund	Fund
J	2, 8	195/Record Deposit of Revenue in Treasury	Same	Same	Determined by Agency*	Same	Same
* The PCA Group must be inferred by the PCA.

Note: The example above shows T-code 195/195R, but if another T-code was used to make the original deposit, reverse the original T-code and use the same T-code to transfer to the disaster tracking PCA. Consult with your appropriation control officer if operating transfers are used to finance a collected appropriation.