Administrative Allowance Funds
As outlined within the Banner Fund Codes webpage, the fund code is an important segment of the Banner accounting string which helps properly classify the University of Illinois’ financial resources for financial reporting purposes. Classifying these financial resources into separate fund types also helps monitor compliance with applicable guidelines and restrictions to ensure proper stewardship of these funds.
What Are Administrative Allowance Funds?
Administrative allowance funds (which reside in fund type 2A) are funds which account for financial resources generated from overhead assessments charged primarily to self-supporting, loan, and certain types of grant funds. These administrative allowance assessments help cover the University of Illinois System’s overhead costs and administrative services which are provided by administrative personnel within the department, the universities, and/or the System Office.
How Are Administrative Allowance Funds Identified in Banner?
Administrative allowance funds can be identified by examining the fund code segment of the Banner C-FOP. There are several different administrative allowance fund codes used across the University of Illinois System. These funds are managed centrally (as opposed to within the departments), and they all have a 2A fund type, as mentioned earlier. These administrative allowance funds fall within the 200200 – 200210 fund code range.
Administrative allowance funds are shared by all units across the entire University of Illinois System. Thus, each unit must use their applicable organization code and department-specific program code along with the applicable administrative allowance fund code in order to distinguish their allocation of this administrative allowance funding.
How Are Administrative Allowance Funds Budgeted to Units?
The applicable budget offices are responsible for allocating administrative allowance budget across the University of Illinois System. They will assign an expense budget to your unit’s specific organization and program code combination, using the applicable administrative allowance fund code which is shared across the University of Illinois System.
See below for further details on how this process works:
- When a fund is assessed for an administrative allowance, it will be charged to an expense account code in the 1985nn – 1987nn expense account code range. The offsetting side of this entry will be a credit to a 3089nn revenue account code within the related administrative allowance fund.
- If the administrative allowance assessment relates to a department assessment, then this administrative allowance revenue is allocated to the applicable units as expense budget by the applicable budget office.
For example, some units may charge an administrative allowance assessment to their self-supporting activities within their department to help pay for the indirect administrative costs that the self-supporting activities add to their department. In these scenarios, the administrative allowance revenue would be credited to a centrally held administrative allowance fund, and the campus budget office would then allocate out budget to the unit using the centrally held administrative allowance fund along with the unit’s applicable organization and program code.
If you have any questions on this process, contact your applicable budget office.
What Will My Administrative Allowance C-FOP Look Like?
Administrative allowance fund codes are used across the entire University of Illinois System. In order to segregate your unit’s portion of the overall administrative allowance fund budget allocations, you will need to use this shared administrative allowance fund along with your unit’s applicable chart, organization, and program code.
For example, if a UIUC unit (which has an assigned organization code of 123000) assesses their self-supporting activities for an administrative allowance, then the campus budget office would need to know the organization and program code that the unit would want to use to receive their administrative allowance budget. If the unit wanted to use program code 123001 (which is their administrative services program code) along with their organization code, then the budget office would allocate this budget to 1-2002nn-123000-123001.
Given these intricacies, units will typically need to request a new program code (not a new fund code, as everyone shares the same fund code) when requesting a new C-FOP string to use for their administrative allowance activities.
How Do I Find the Budget Balance Available (BBA) For My Administrative Allowance C-FOP?
- To find the available budget balance for an administrative allowance C-FOP string, go to Banner page FGIBDST and enter the applicable C-FOP string.
- Uncheck the Include Revenue Accounts box within this page and hit the Go button.
- Your available budget balance will then appear in the lower right-hand corner of the page, on the Net Total row of the Available Balance column.
For further details, refer Finding Your C-FOP Balance.
What Types of Transactions Are Allowed on Administrative Allowance Funds?
The primary purpose of administrative allowance funds is to provide unrestricted support for a unit's administrative costs and services provided to the activities which were assessed.
For example, if a department assesses their self-supporting activities for an administrative allowance, then the resulting budget received from those assessments should most likely be used to help pay for those indirect and administrative costs which supported the self-supporting activities, but which were not directly charged to the self-supporting fund.
If you have further questions on the allowability of certain types of expenditures on your administrative allowance C-FOP, reach out to your applicable budget office.
Am I Allowed to Deposit Cash or Checks to My Administrative Allowance C-FOP?
Typically, the only times where it is allowable to make a deposit (such as cash or a check) into an administrative allowance fund are the following:
- Your unit received a vendor refund or rebate from a past purchase which posted to your administrative allowance C-FOP string.
- Your unit received reimbursement from an employee who erroneously charged the administrative allowance fund for a personal expense (such as a movie rental in a hotel during a business trip that was charged to the administrative allowance fund).
How Do I Transfer Administrative Allowance Budget from One C-FOP to Another?
If you ever need to transfer budget from one administrative allowance C-FOP to another (e.g., to move the expense budget to a different organization or program code), always work with your applicable campus budget office for guidance. See Section 3.1, Adjust a Budget for further details.
There are also limitations on where you can transfer your administrative allowance budget to. For example, it is unallowable to transfer administrative allowance budget to a self-supporting or gift fund. However, you may be able to transfer administrative allowance budget to state C-FOPs or other types of institutional C-FOPs (such as ICR) – but this type of request would need to be reviewed, approved, and processed by the applicable budget office.
What Rule Code Should I Use When Posting Journal Vouchers Involving Administrative Allowance Funds?
When processing journal vouchers (JVs) on administrative allowance funds, you are required to use either a 100 or 125 rule code (also referred to as a Journal Type within Banner) on the JV sequence, which contains the administrative allowance fund. See below for a breakdown:
- If your JV includes only one debit and one credit, then you would use the 100 rule code on the JV sequence which contains the administrative allowance fund.
- If your JV includes one debit and multiple credits (or vice versa), then you would use the 100 rule code on the JV sequences which contain the administrative allowance fund.
- However, if you are completing a JV which has multiple debits and multiple credits, then you would be required to use the 125 rule code on any of the sequences containing the administrative allowance fund.
Why Is It Important to Use Accurate Expense Account Codes on Administrative Allowance Funds?
To ensure compliance with financial reporting requirements, as well as to prevent state compliance audit findings, it is very important to use accurate expense account codes when posting expenses to administrative allowance funds. The expense account code should accurately reflect the goods, services, or personnel expenses which are being paid for.
Do Unspent Funds Within an Administrative Allowance C-FOP Carry Forward to the Following Fiscal Year?
Yes. Any unspent funds within your Banner administrative allowance fund simply carry forward to the following fiscal year. This unspent balance from the prior fiscal year can be found within the 109910 budget carryforward account code within Banner page FGIBDST.
For example, if a department received a $5,000 expense budget in an administrative allowance C-FOP string from assessments to their self-supporting activities, and if that department only spends $1,500 within the first fiscal year, then the remaining $3,500 of unspent funds would carry forward to the 109910 budget account code in that same administrative allowance C-FOP the following fiscal year.