State Revenue and Expenditure Tools Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The State Revenue and Expenditure database contains information about a payment at the time it was made. It does not consider the accounting treatment of expenditure information in preparation for official presentation. The ACFR is shown on an accrual rather than cash basis and includes adjustments to reflect generally accepted accounting principles reporting requirements. In the case of the Cash Report, the database does not reflect all the correcting transactions that are included in that publication.

That is not possible. HB 3430 was written from the perspective of a public view of the state’s check register. The legislation sought to make the state’s daily expenditures transparent down to the ultimate payee. As a result, the database reflects entries one would record in a checkbook register at the time they occur, and not what a financial report would ultimately contain.

The database includes:

• Direct payments from the Uniform Statewide Accounting System (USAS).
• USAS payment cancellations.
• Expenditure refunds (like refunds sent back from a vendor and deposited back into the state treasury).
• Reimbursement payments (like purchasing card payments shown under the credit card vendor — the payee who was paid).
• Fiduciary fund expenditures that might not be considered state expenditures under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) or Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) guidelines.

It does not include:

• Journal corrections or adjustments.
• Expenditure transfers.
• Asset liquidations that offset the purchase of securities.
• Revenues of any kind.
• Payee details for confidential payments.

No. The database is a snapshot of the state’s payment register as of the time the payment was made. Subsequent corrections that do not result in an additional payment or payment cancellation do not appear.

Payment cancellations and expenditure refunds show as negatives. When a payment is canceled before clearing the state treasury, the cancellation shows as a negative. Expenditure refunds received from vendors also appear as negatives.

Yes. A refund of expenditure received from a payee will be displayed as a negative amount on the date the agency deposited the refund.

Yes, Texas has fiduciary or custodial responsibilities for many client groups. Payments made on their behalf are shown in the database, but may not be included in the ACFR or Cash Report as part of the state’s own financial activity.

No. Payments that are refunds of state revenue are not displayed.

Only payments made from the state treasury are displayed. Institutions of higher education frequently make payments from funds held outside the state treasury.

No. Payments made for employee payroll are displayed at a summary level with "Employee" displayed as the payee name.

Under state and federal law, some payees must be kept confidential. Payments made under certain objects of expense are considered confidential for general public disclosure based on the high number of confidential payees paid under that object. In addition, state agencies may determine and mark other transactions as confidential.

Contact the agency issuing the payment to discuss any confidentiality concerns.