Prior to reading the instructions on the Account Negative Balances Report, it is beneficial to review the following sections of the IU Accounting Standards Book to gain foundational information along with report requirements and best practices:
The Account Negative Balance Report was introduced to help locate and investigate negative asset and liability balances within financial statements. Negative balance is an important process because it helps fiscal officers and users of the financial statement pinpoint and isolate issues on the balance sheet and income statement. Without reviewing for negative balances, both the income statement and the balance sheet may include balances that misrepresent the overall financial position of the entity. Reviewing for negative balances also assists entities to identify potential issues such as negative cash flows, non-collection on receivables, etc. Negative balance(s) need to be investigated and adjusted to ensure assets and liabilities are properly and accurately reported on the balance sheet according to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).
An asset is expected to be a debit balance and a liability is expected to be a credit balance within financial statements unless it is an allowance code. Typically an allowance object code has a credit balance that offsets a corresponding asset or liability account. For example, an allowance for doubtful accounts acts to reduce the receivable balance for outstanding amounts that IU expects not to collect during the fiscal year. This balance is typically shown at net (the combination of both balances) within the University’s financial statements. See Accounting for Revenue Section – Write-offs and Collections for further details.
How does the Report Determine a Negative Balance
The Account Negative Balance Report is dependent on one condition:
The present balance (Year 0: Actual Thru Present) must be negative for either an asset or liability, as highlighted in the screenshot below.
Once this condition is met, the report generates a row showing the details related to the transaction. The report can display negative balance information going back 3, 5 or 10 years. By selecting 5 or 10 years of information, you can quickly pin-point the origin of the balances. The more often these balances are checked and corrected, the shorter the duration that needs to be selected.
The Account Negative Balance Report can be located at the top of this page - refer to the top right blue button labeled "Go to Report" which will automatically redirect users to the report within the Controller's Toolkit.
In addition, the report can be found in One.IU. To find the report, search for “Controller’s Office Reporting Tools” in the search bar, and select Controller’s Office Reporting Tools (Report Center) in the drop down menu. Mark this task as a favorite by clicking the heart icon near the start button and then select Start or click on the title.
Once in the Controller’s Tools, users will see all available reporting tiles. Navigate to the Audit Reports folder. A new tile opens which displays all of the available audit reports. Select the Account Negative Balances Report.
Running the Report
Define the search parameters to return results relevant to your organization or to a specific account. The search parameters available in the Account Negative Balance Report are divided into three parameter types: chart of account report parameters, report specific parameters and display parameters.
If there are questions related to running the report, requirements or reviewing results, please contact your (RC) fiscal officer or campus office. Each campus may have individual specific requirements related to the Account Negative Balance Report, so be sure to reach out to the related campus office or fiscal officer prior to quarter closings.
General Notes: Do not include any special characters other than approved wildcards in any of the below parameters. Additionally, do not run reports by campus as it will take up valuable computing services.
Click on a search parameter to review its definition in the Glossary.
Used to limit to a specific RC. Users are encouraged to use this parameter in conjunction with a chart of accounts code. For assistance determining your RC code, refer to KFS RC search.
In the example below, the search parameters will return negative balances in the ACAD organization, from account number 2347209 on the Bloomington chart. If done correctly, the report should generate no negative balances.
Report specific parameters are parameters specific to the generation of the report.
Parameters
Description
Run Level
Used to limit report to consolidated or detailed option
Choose between consolidated or detailed in the drop down menu. The lower the organizational level the report is being ran, the more details necessary.
Display parameters are parameters that define and restrict the visual presentation of the stale balance report. They are found on the lower part of the parameters.
Parameter
Description
Balance Sheet Classification
Used to limit report to a specific B/S classification; three options – assets & liabilities, assets and liabilities
Number of Years to Display
Used to limit report to specific period; three options:
3 years - By selecting 3 years, the report will show the current fiscal year and the two previous fiscal years in the report output. As old balances are resolved, the 3 year option will be adequate.
5 years - By selecting 5 years, the report will show the current fiscal year and the four previous fiscal years in the report output. Both the 5 year and 10 year options are helpful to identify the year (and potentially the transaction) when cleaning up stales balances.
10 years - By selecting 10 years, the report will show the current fiscal year and the nine previous fiscal years in the report output. Both the 5 year and 10 year options are helpful to identify the year (and potentially the transaction) when cleaning up stales balances.
Hide Fund Group
Check/Uncheck - If the user checks the Hide Fund Group, the fund group will not be displayed in the report output.
Hide Sub-Fund Group
Check/Uncheck - If the user checks the Hide Sub-Fund Group, the sub-fund group will not be displayed in the report output.
Hide Financial Object Level Code
Check/Uncheck - If the user checks the Hide Financial Object Level Code, the financial object level code will not be displayed in the report output.
Hide Balance Sheet Classification
Check/Uncheck - displays asset or liability
Include Excel Links
Check/Uncheck - If the user checks the Show Excel Links box, they will have the ability to navigate to additional detail
Select the Output Format
Check/Uncheck - Selects whether the report is generated in Excel or HTML format.
Select the Output Destination
Once the report has finished generating in the background, a pop-up box will appear on the screen allowing you to access it. If the report takes too long to generate, the system will automatically send it to your email.
The display parameter options below will show all negative asset and liability balances including the fund group, sub-fund group and B/S classification columns. It also allows the report to show the change in the balance for the last 10 years.
Click Save Parameter Settings to save your parameters for future use of this report. For instructions on how to save settings, review the Save Parameter Settings document on the Controller's Office Reporting Tools page.
