Prior to reading the instructions on the Multi-Year Fund Balance Report instructions, 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 Multi-Year Fund Balance Report was introduced to help monitor and analyze fund balances within an entity. The Multi-Year Fund Balance Report provides users the ability to track fund balances for 3 or 5 years with an option to include or exclude current balances. The report is designed to allow comparative measurement and identification of fund balance on the account, department, responsibility center, and campus to the consolidated university level on a fiscal year basis. Poor management and review of a unit’s fund balance can result in a negative fund balance due to a unit’s liabilities being greater than the unit’s assets or net deficit. For more information on what makes up the fund balance from an accounting perspective, see balance sheet in the accounting standards book.
How the Multi-Year Fund Balance Report Works
The Multi-Year Fund Balance Report is designed to show comparative year-end fund balances for either 3 or 5 of the most recently closed fiscal years. Users also have the option to include the current year fund balance in addition to the 3 or 5 years. If current year is selected, users have the option to select fund balance amounts through any completed fiscal period in the current year. Users are encouraged to select 5 years for a more comprehensive and in-depth review and analysis. The Multi-Year Fund Balance report also comes with a graph for a visual representation of the fund balance changes throughout the 3 or 5 years within the unit.
The Multi-Year Fund Balance Report is made up of several essential transactions. It is important that users understand what each of these transactions represents. A brief description of each report line item is included below:
Beginning Fund Balance (July 1) – This represents the opening balance as of July 1 pulled directly from the balance sheet for the periods selected.
Net Income (Loss) – This represents the net of income earned and expense incurred for the period, pulled directly from the income statement for the periods selected.
Transfers In – This represents the total transfers in from the income statement to the balance sheet and typically represents revenue transfers. If users select the sum net transfers parameter, the net of total transfers will be shown as a single line in the report.
Transfers Out - This represents the total transfers in from the income statement to the balance sheet and typically represents expense transfers. If users select the sum net transfers parameter, the net of total transfers will be shown as a single line in the report.
Direct Transfers to 9899 on Asset Transfer Document – This is an entry done internally by UCO using an asset transfer (AT) document. Typically these entries are done at the campus level.
Direct Hits to 9899 on JV Document – This is an entry done internally by UCO using a journal voucher (JV) document. Typically these entries are done at the campus level.
Net Capital Purchased and FB Offset Mismatch – Due to the organizational structure of fund groups within IU, the offsetting entries used to make capital purchases are not recorded within the same fund group (typically the sale is recorded in a general or designated fund and the asset is recorded in the plant fund). This line represent the mismatch between the two fund groups to correctly record the entire purchase within one fund.
Below is an example of a Multi-Year Fund Balance Report representing 5 years and includes current year (FY 2020) fund balance amounts. In this example, transfer amounts are netted.
The Multi-Year Fund 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 Office Reporting Tools.
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 next to the start button and then select Start or click on the title.
Once in the Controller’s Office Reporting Tools, users will see all available reporting tiles. Navigate to the Fund Balance folder. A new tiles opens, which display all of the available fund balance reports. Select the Multi-Year Fund Balance 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 Multi-Year Fund 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 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.
A number of parameters are available to assist users. Users can enter the responsibility center (RC) code, organization code, and account for their respective organization. At this time, all of the parameters are optional; however, this may result in a long report run time.
If unsure, several of the parameters have a valid values function which displays the available codes and corresponding descriptions.
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.
The organizational hierarchy presents the financial data based on organization code and provides a high level review of the data at a more consolidated level.
In many cases an organization reports directly to another organization. By selecting the organization hierarchy, users will be able to see all data from the selected organization plus any organizations that report to the selected organization. For example, Bloomington off-site services (BA-SERV) reports directly to Bloomington Consolidated Auditorium (BA-AUTC) and when running the financial statement report for BA-AUTC and the organization hierarchy is selected, information for both organizations will be consolidated into the report.
A report specific parameter is a parameter that is limited to a single or small group of reports. For example, on the Multi-Year Fund Balance Report users would expect to see a parameter for include current year, but that is likely not going to be applicable on the majority of the other reports.
Parameter
Description
Sum Net Transfers
Check to net all transfers; uncheck to show transfers in and transfers out separately within the balance sheet.
Include Current Year
Allows users to include the current fiscal year fund balance amount in the report.
Thru University Fiscal Period (Current Year only)
Selected in addition to the “include current year” parameter; allows users to select the specific fiscal period for the current year.
Display parameters are parameters that define and restrict the visual presentation of the fund balance report. They are found on the lower part of the parameters.
Parameter
Description
Include Closed Accounts
Includes the accounts closed during the current and in prior periods. Users are encouraged to check this box especially for comparative periods.
Show Zero Balances
Shows fund balance transaction lines that have been used in the past but have had zero balances in the specific years the user has selected.
Number of Years to Display
Used to limit report to specific period; two options:
3 years- By selecting 3 years, the report will show the 3 most recent completed fiscal years in the report output. If users select “include current year” report parameter, the report will in addition, include data from the current fiscal year.
5 years- By selecting 5 years, the report will show the current fiscal year and the 5 most recent completed fiscal years. This is the recommended selection for this parameter.
If users select “include current year” report parameter, the report will in addition, include data from the current fiscal year.
Report Style
The report style parameter is used to limit the level of detail required in the report:
Consolidated - presents financial information in a consolidated format for the display level requested i.e. organization or account.
Detail by Account - higher level of detail showing the different accounts separately.
Detail by Account and Sub-Account - highest level of detail showing different sub accounts within an organization or account separately.
Note: users are not able to select detailed levels if the org hierarchy box has been checked - see chart of accounts. report parameters above for more detail.
Select the Output Format
Selects whether the report is generated in Excel or HTML format. If a user selects HTML format, the report will appear in a separate tab within the user’s browser and will look identical to the Excel version. Output format is based on personal preference.
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.
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.
