Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) services include creating new budget groups and subaccounts, assigning budget groups to new units, and closing accounts. FAR does not update SPAA accounts (26 accounts) or Plant Funds accounts (36 accounts); questions regarding 26 accounts should be directed to the Office of Sponsored Projects and questions regarding 36 accounts should be directed to Plant Funds.
New Budget Group Creation
Business Service Detail - Service Portal (service-now.com).
New Subaccount Creation
Financial Accounting and Reporting creates all-new subaccounts in existing budget groups, except for SPAA accounts (26 accounts) or Plant Funds accounts (36 accounts); questions regarding 26 accounts should be directed to the Office of Sponsored Projects and questions regarding 36 accounts should be directed to Plant Funds.
Who may request
A request to create a new subaccount must come from someone with manual signature authority for the budget group. (The GBS command in *DEFINE lists signers for a budget group.)
How to request
Make a written request including:
- the budget group
- new subaccounts wanted
- desired budget pooling
- Dean's approval (if required by your C/S/U)
Send the request to Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR).
Email: oa.far@austin.utexas.edu
Time
FAR normally processes requests daily on business days. However, during peak periods processing may take up to a week or longer.
Assigning Budget Groups to Unit Codes
All assignments of existing budget groups to unit codes are done by Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR). When budget groups are transferred to a new unit code, they are blocked from certification in the expense certification system. Therefore, FAR requests that departments verify and state that all expense certifications are up to date before processing a unit code change. FAR does not update existing unit codes or create new unit codes. Requests to create or update unit codes (rather than budget groups) require completion of a Signature Desk Request Form.
Who may request
Requests to move a budget group from one unit to another must come from someone with manual signature authority for the budget group. (Note: The GBS command in *DEFINE lists signers for a budget group.)
How to request
Make a written request, including:
- the budget group
- the unit code the budget group should be moved to
- Dean's approval
- a statement confirming that the expense certifications are up to date
Send the request to Financial Accounting and Reporting.
Email: oa.far@austin.utexas.edu
Time
FAR normally processes requests daily on business days. However, during peak periods processing may take up to a week or longer.
Account Status Changes
Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) updates the status of accounts on all existing budget groups, except for SPAA accounts (26 accounts) or Plant Funds accounts (36 accounts); questions regarding 26 accounts should be directed to the Office of Sponsored Projects and questions regarding 36 accounts should be directed to Plant Funds.
Inactivation and closing of accounts
Available statuses are active and inactive. When an account is inactive, no entries can be processed against it. Inactive budget groups that have free balances of zero are closed and deleted by the accounting system at the end of the second fiscal year without account activity.
Procedure
Normally the accountant responsible for a budget group notifies FAR when an account is ready to be inactivated. However, departmental requests to inactivate an account can be submitted by a person who has manual signature authority for the budget group. (The GBS command in *DEFINE lists signers for a budget group.)
How to request
Make a written request.
Send information about the account(s) to Financial Accounting and Reporting:
Email: oa.far@austin.utexas.edu
Time
FAR normally processes requests daily on business days. However, during peak periods processing may take up to a week or longer.