U.S. Government Standard General Ledger
Issues Resolution Committee (IRC) Meeting Minutes

April 29, 2010

GENERAL ITEMS:

This meeting was held at the White House Conference Center (Lincoln Room), 726 Jackson Place, NW., Washington, D.C.

Karen Metler (FMS) opened the meeting, and introductions were made. She provided an overview of the agenda and stated that this would be the last IRC meeting before the USSGL Board meeting on May 20, 2010.

HANDOUTS:

• Proposed New USSGL Account 4390, "Reappropriations – Transfers-Out," Effective Fiscal 2011, dated 04/29/2010
• Proposed New USSGL Account 4193, "Balance Transfers – Unobligated Balances – Legislative Change of Purpose," Effective Fiscal 2011, dated 04/29/2010
• USSGL Proprietary Account Attributes Required for Reporting of Detailed Financial Information, Fiscal 2011, dated 04/29/2010
• Proposed USSGL Accounts, Troubled Assets Relief Program/Government Sponsored Enterprise/Beneficial Interest Trust/Exchange Stabilization Fund, dated 04/29/2010
• Updates to Capital Transfers, dated 04/29/2010
• Draft U.S. Government Standard General Ledger (USSGL) Voting Ballot #10-01
• Draft GWA System NET Application, USSGL Accounts by Transfer Type, dated 04/29/2010

AGENDA ITEMS:

Capital Transfers Scenario

Christine Chang (FMS) presented the Capital Transfers scenario and discussed the transactions involved through a revolving fund. In addition, Christine proposed the following new USSGL accounts pertaining to capital transfers:

• 1923, "Contingent Receivable for Capital Transfers";
• 1925, "Capital Transfers Receivable";
  
  AND
• 2923, "Contingent Liability for Capital Transfers."

For Year 1, Transaction 2, the group discussed issues regarding the elimination of USSGL accounts 5766, "Nonexpenditure Financing Sources – Transfers-Out – Capital Transfers," and 5792, "Financing Sources To Be Transferred Out – Contingent Liability." They determined that these USSGL accounts should not be eliminated and that they should be presented on two separate lines.

For Year 2, Transaction 17, the group discussed changing "contingent liability" to "real liability" in the definitions. Also, a proposal was made to use "will make" instead of "anticipate making."

Other items that were discussed included minor changes to the definitions listed on page 6 of the capital transfers packet. Some of these changes consisted of adding the word "Treasury" to the justification of the General Fund Receipt Account so it would read, the "Treasury General Fund Receipt Account." Other changes discussed included deleting the word "unavailable" from the definitions of USSGL accounts 1923 and 1925. Christine said she will add the consolidated SF 133, "Report on Budget Execution and Budgetary Resources," and the P&F to the scenario for Year 1 and Year 2.

The last change that was discussed was the deletion of USSGL account 2920, "Contingent Liabilities," from the tables on page 9 because it was not included in the scenario.

Nonexpenditure Transfers

Karen stated that nonexpenditure transfers record the movement of fund balance and authority between two Treasury Appropriation Fund Symbol expenditure accounts. She commented that the Background (page 1), third paragraph, will be changed to read "Beginning November 2010, Fiscal 2011." She then presented proposed USSGL account 4193, "Balance Transfers – Unobligated Balances – Legislative Change of Purpose," to the group.

Karen also discussed the GWA NET application and stated that beginning November 2010, the transfer-out agency must select the applicable budgetary USSGL account along with the appropriate transfer type. USSGL account 4170, "Transfers – Current-Year Authority," is used to track this activity, but a change was requested because of issues with the Treasury Combined Statement. It was proposed to change the current definition of USSGL account 4170 to include "current-year authority" instead of "unobligated balance." The updated definition would read as follows:

The amount of realized nonexpenditure transfers between two Treasury Appropriation Fund Symbols during the fiscal year of current-year unobligated authority. This amount includes transfers of current-year unobligated authority resulting from legislation that changes the purpose for which the balances are available for obligation. This amount excludes transfers of amounts from invested balances. Although the normal balance for this account is debit, it is acceptable in certain instances for this account to have a credit balance.

Bruce Henshel (DOC) questioned which anticipated accounts would be used by these transactions. One of the options discussed was to use USSGL account 4160, "Anticipated Transfers – Current-Year Authority," with modifications to the definition. After the original idea of modifications to USSGL account 4160 was rejected, a vote approved new USSGL account 4163, for which a title and definition would be created. The USSGL staff will include the new account in a revised ballot on the USSGL Web site.

Reappropriations – Transfers-Out

Karen stated that the Issue and Proposal (page 1), third paragraph, will be changed to read "Second, beginning November 2010, Fiscal 2011." She proposed creating a new account to represent the amount of budgetary resources transferred out because of a reappropriation. Currently, USSGL account 4393, "Permanent Reduction – Prior-Year Balances," maps to two transfer types. The creation of USSGL account 4390, "Reappropriations – Transfers-Out," and the modification of USSGL account 4393 will eliminate this issue. The "Impact on FACTS II Attribute Table," page 3, was corrected by changing "FY 2010" to "FY 2011" and deleting "Auth Type," and "Borrowing Source." In addition, the "Impact on USSGL Crosswalks" was corrected by changing "FY 2010" to "FY 2011" and deleting "FMS 2108."

Draft Ballot

Gwen Marshman (FMS) discussed the list of proposed accounts to be presented on the ballot. The new account, USSGL account 4163 (proposed by Karen) will be added to the ballot. Gwen stated that on page 1, the account numbers show page numbers out of sequence because there are 2 separate years in this ballot. There are fiscal 2010 proposed new accounts and changes to current USSGL accounts because of the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) that will only affect the Department of the Treasury's reporting. Gwen mentioned that on the handout, "USSGL Proprietary Table, Fiscal 2010," USSGL accounts 1643, "Allowance for Subsidy – Preferred Stock Accounted for Under the Provisions of the Federal Credit Reform Act," and 1645, "Allowance for Subsidy – Common Stock Accounted for Under the Provisions of the Federal Credit Reform Act," should have domain value "C" in the Normal Balance Indicator column.

Marilyn Evans (Treasury) stated that USSGL accounts 1621, "Discount on Securities Other Than the Bureau of the Public Debt Securities," and 1622, "Premium on Securities Other Than the Bureau of the Public Debt Securities," should exclude TARP because new accounts were created to include that information. Marilyn also informed the IRC that the title for USSGL account 1193 should be changed to "International Monetary Fund – Reserve Position" instead of "Exchange Stabilization Fund – Reserve Position" because the IMF handles the Federal Reserve Position and ESF handles the Holdings of Special Drawing Rights.

ATTENDEES:

Christine Chang, FMS
Mai Ly Chi, GAO
Michele Crisman, FMS
Marilyn Evans, Treasury
Karl Foltz, FMS
Carol Gower, DOS
Jena Gruby, FMS
Bruce Henshel, DOC
Gwendolen Marshman, FMS
Drena McDaniel, DOT
Karen Metler, FMS
Melinda Pope, FMS
James Shea, DOVA
Daniel Smith, USPTO
Jenny Smith, HHS
David Surti, DHS
Teresa Tancre, OMB
George Ward, GSA
Lisa Trumbull, GSA
Ellen Brown, USNRC
Robert Holliday, BPD
Carol Berg, BPD
Letha Holliday, SSA
Junghee Gogue, SSA
Mark Graham, SSA
Paul Webster, SSA
DeGloria Hall, SSA
Barbara Ricks, SSA
Wendy Weber, SSA
Ana Labador, SSA