Accounting Policy Meeting
Thursday, July 18, 2024

General revenue consolidated agencies (GCAs) can expect the first auto-lapse reports in early September (with updates through the end of September). Full reporting agencies (FRAs) will begin receiving reports in late September/early October (and continuing through the end of October).
Each agency’s primary USAS contact will receive the report. Contact your agency’s assigned appropriation control officer if additional personnel need to be added to the distribution list.

No, this is not a change. The auto-lapse program only lapses unobligated budget and cash balances as of Aug. 31.
For example, if the agency has an Aug. 31 budget of $500K and cash of $200K after encumbrances and payables, the auto-lapse program does a collected lapse (TC039) of $300K followed by a committed lapse of $200K (TC039), resulting in no budget or cash balances. It does not differentiate between committed and collected, only available balances.
See Encumbrance Reporting and Lapsing of Appropriations (APS 018) (FPP A.019) (FPP A.019) for detailed instructions on reviewing appropriation balances prior to lapsing.

Email the Comptroller’s helpdesk@cpa.texas.gov to open a help desk ticket. In your email, include your need to find out who at your agency has security to access the daily HX file.

While the first cycle for fiscal 2025 occurs on 09/03/24, USAS processes transactions with effective dates of 09/01/24, 09/02/24 or 09/03/24 during that night’s cycle. Any of those dates will work, as they all indicate fiscal 2025.

Agencies may review control DAFRs (such as the Agency Batch Error Report [DAFR2151]) to determine the cause of the error. FMX’s USAS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) also includes topics (such as batch processing issues).

If you require further assistance, email your agency's assigned appropriation control officer. In the email, include specific information about the batch(es) for which you need assistance (such as your agency number and the batch date, type, number and error code for each batch in question). This information assists in researching your question and providing you with the best customer service.

The USAS Internal Transaction (IT) file is a temporary file used to store transactions while they are being processed. This includes transactions awaiting:

• Release
• Oversight approval
• Error correction
• Rebalancing
• Future dates

You can use the following USAS screens to view transactions on your agency’s IT file:

• 530 View Batch Headers —displays all batch headers that remain on the IT file for the specified batch agency. 
• 520 View a Batch — displays all transactions in a specified batch that remain on the IT file.

There are also several DAFRs that include information about the transactions pending on your agency’s IT file:

• Agency Batch Error Report (DAFR 2151) — displays transactions with funding and/or data-related errors detected during the nightly USAS cycle (including failed system-generated interest transactions).
• USAS Transaction Aging Report (DAFR2221) — displays outstanding batches and each batch’s processing status.
• USAS IT Status Report (DAFR3331) — displays chronological documents with errors detected by the nightly USAS cycles (including funding errors, data element errors and documents requiring approval).
• Payment Error Comparison Report (DAFR3521) — displays payment processing errors (such as payments not generated due to future payment due dates or fatal funding errors).
• Transactions Cancelled for Negative Balances (DAFR3601) — displays transactions that were not paid and remain on the IT file due to a negative payment balance.
• Fund Control Errors Occurring During Pmt Processing (DAFR3631) — displays transactions in which errors (such as funding, vendor and/or document errors) were detected during the payment processing cycle.

For more information about maintaining your agency’s IT file, see USAS Internal Transaction File Maintenance and Super Security Delete Process (FPP Q.001).

The History Extract (HX) is not a report but rather is a transaction-level file that contains financial, payment and liquidation data for the USAS transactions that were written to history during that night’s cycle. The HX file presents each transaction as a single record (row), with numerous fields containing the financial information for each transaction. For more information, see the USAS Interface Manual (FPP Q.011) (login required).

The Daily History Detail (DAFR2261) report presents the transactions that were written to history during the nightly USAS cycle. This report is included in each agency’s daily report files.

Yes.

If the STA field on the USAS View Batch Headers (530) screen for a given batch displays a value of H (hold), then the batch must be released so it can process through the nightly USAS cycle. For more information, see 530 View Batch Headers.  

The USAS Transaction Aging Report (DAFR2221) also displays the batch status for each batch remaining on your agency’s IT file.

1. Capitalization Threshold Increase:
   

   Effective as of Sept. 1, 2024 (for fiscal 2025), the federal government is increasing the threshold from $5,000 to $10,000 and Texas follows their lead. This impacts fiscal 2025 reporting of furniture, equipment, vehicles, boats and aircraft (SPA AFR categories 4 & 5). There are no changes/deletions of assets in SPA under the new threshold and the controlled asset list remains the same. SPA analysts will provide more information in the next Accounting Policy meeting on Aug. 15, 2024.

   Note: Reporting for fiscal 2024 continues to follow the existing $5,00 threshold for AFR categories 4 and 5, along with the threshold of $500–$4,999.99 for controlled class codes in SPA.

2. Leases/Subscriptions:
   

   Agencies should review and look for new leases/subscriptions in fiscal 2024 and identify changes and renewals of existing leases/subscriptions.

3. AFR Reporting Requirements on FMX:
   

   Agencies should review the following AFR Reporting Requirements:

   • AFR Deadlines for this reporting period
   • Agency Fiscal Year-End USAS Adjustments and AFR Checklist.