Cost Allocation From Temporary Administrative and Support Appropriations (APS 025)

Background

What are A/S Costs?

Administrative and support (A/S) costs are those administrative and support costs that are not directly attributable to a specific strategy.

Without “Indirect Administration”

State agencies can account for their A/S costs separately from their direct strategies, even if they do not have a goal or strategy item called “Indirect Administration.”

Some agencies do not have a goal or strategy item called “Indirect Administration” in the General Appropriations Act (GAA). In this case, the agency must decide whether to charge administrative and support costs to a direct strategy or to a temporary A/S appropriation(s).

State agencies are not required to perform a separate cost allocation (CA) if the costs are posted to a direct strategy appropriation(s).

With “Indirect Administration”

State agencies that have a goal or strategy item styled “Indirect Administration” or similar language in the GAA must charge all A/S costs to that structure and must not allocate these costs back to the direct strategies. No temporary A/S appropriations can be used.

Rules of Allocation

Allocating expenditures can be done within the Uniform Statewide Accounting System (USAS) via expenditure transfers or via an automated cost allocation system. Allocating encumbrances must be performed manually by the agency.

Note: Agencies can also temporarily charge expenses to any appropriation, then perform expenditure transfers to allocate the costs accordingly, rather than setting up temporary A/S appropriations. See For More Information in this accounting policy statement (APS) and Correcting Bookkeeping and Cost Allocation Entries (APS 021) for more details.

Important Processing Dates

Agencies must allocate these expenditures within the 30 days after each of the first three fiscal quarters, and within the 60 days after the fiscal year’s end. (The recommended allocation time frame for GR consolidated agencies is 30 days.) The 60-day year-end requirement is consistent with the 60-day requirement for inputting all payable and encumbrance activity for full reporting agencies. See Encumbrance Reporting and Lapsing of Appropriations (APS 018) for more information.

Any encumbrance or payable not able to be allocated by the end of the 60-day period should be processed against a direct strategy(s). (The recommended allocation time frame for GR consolidated agencies is 30 days.)

Unobligated budget in the A/S appropriation(s) must be returned to the direct strategy(s) within the 60 days following the end of the fiscal year. (The recommended A/S budget return time frame for GR consolidated agencies is 30 days.) The budget amounts returned to the direct strategy(s) will be subject to lapse.

The effective date of allocated transactions will be the last day of the last month being allocated. The generated reversals and liquidations of allocation transactions will have an effective date of the current system date.

ABEST

Unallocated amounts remaining in the A/S program codes will not be included for the Automated Budget and Evaluation System for Texas (ABEST)/USAS reconciliation. ABEST data is based on expenditure-related activity in the direct strategies, excluding the temporary A/S structure.