DESCRIPTION OF STATE FUNDS - 7400

Governmental accounting systems are organized and operated on a fund basis. A fund is a legal budgeting and accounting entity with a self-balancing set of accounts that segregates money or other resources in the State Treasury for obligations, subject to specific restrictions or limitations. Each fund has a separate set of accounts that show the fund’s revenues, expenditures, assets, liabilities, reserves, and fund balance.

Agencies/departments should carefully review the general ledger account descriptions, uses, and prohibitions in SAM chapter 7600-Structure of General Ledger Accounts, and SAM chapter 10400-General Ledger Accounts when selecting the general ledger accounts for the specific fund categories.

The administering agency/department of a fund usually maintains the general accounting records and related budgetary accounts for the fund and prepares the Fund Condition Statement displayed in the Governor’s Budget, where applicable. The State Controller’s Office (SCO) maintains summary records that display the revenues, expenditures, appropriations, and fund balance for each fund.

The Uniform Codes Manual and the Manual of State Funds provide detail information on the state’s funds. The Department of Finance, Fiscal Systems and Consulting Unit maintains both manuals, which contain information such as:

1. Uniform Codes Manual
• The Fund Codes section of the Uniform Codes Manual (UCM) provides a complete listing of all funds by numerical order, alphabetical order, budgetary/legal classification, and generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) classification.
• The UCM is updated as funds are created, amended, or abolished.
2. Manual of State Funds
• The Manual of State Funds provides a summary write-up on all the funds listed in the UCM.
• Each fund description provides the legal title, legal citation/authority that created the fund, fund classification, purpose, administering agency, organization code, major revenue source, disposition of funds (upon abolishment), appropriation authority, State Appropriations Limit code, historical information, and revision date.
• Refer to the legal citation or authority identified in the fund write-up for detail information about a specific fund.

The Manual of State Funds is updated as funds are created, amended or abolished.