In FAMIS, General Ledger (GL) accounts are six-digit numbers that represent and contain accounts in a self-balancing fund. Each GL account (or fund) has its own balanced set of accounts consisting of assets, liabilities, fund balances, revenues/additions and expenses/deductions.
The self-balancing accounts are represented by four-character codes referred to as account controls or subcodes.
Each GL account in FAMIS:
- Belongs to a single system member (two character campus code),
- Is associated with a fiscal year,
- Is composed of balanced accounts in at least two subcodes, and
- May have from zero to many Subsidiary Ledger (SL) accounts mapped to it.
Example
17-030500 – Athletics
This is a GL account fund for the athletic department at system member 17.
- GL accounts always begin with 0.
- The second digit of the GL account number associates the account to a fund group. Sometimes this character is referred to as a “ledger.”
- 1 – Education and General
- 2 – Designated
- 3 – Auxiliary
- 4, 5 or 6 – Restricted
- 7 – Loan and Endowments
- 8 – Plant funds
- 9 – Agency Funds
- Internally, FAMIS keeps ledger balances separate by fiscal year. Prior fiscal year ledger balances are always available.
Since GL accounts are funds, they must be combined with an account control in order to be referenced in an accounting transaction. For example, you may not simply debit 17-030500; you must debit a GL account along with a subcode such as 17-030500-1310 (1310 is the subcode for Accounts Receivable).
GL accounts most often contain one or more SL accounts. Most revenue and expenditure activity occurs in the SL accounts. GL accounts always contain activity for assets, liability and fund balance.
GL accounts may also contain activity for revenue and expenditures, most often used when a GL account does not contain any SL accounts.