Management Reporting and Analysis
The Accounting Department provides three standardized reports, and many customized reports tailored to individual managers' unique needs, on a monthly basis:
- Final General Ledger
- General Ledger Summary
- Cost Centre Summary
Final General Ledger
A monthly report listing all of the accounts in your cost centre and detailing each transaction charged to that account. The detailed information will include a brief description, purchase order number, invoice number, vendor name (if applicable) and a reference number. This information allows us to easily trace each charge-back to an original source document.
Should you require a detailed analysis of the charges to an account over a period of time, please request an "account analysis." This is much easier than attempting to consolidate numerous monthly reports.
- Strengths
- - provides detailed information of each and every transaction charged to your account (reference document)
- Weaknesses
- - no budget information is provided
- - report layout is cumbersome
In an environmentally conscious environment, electronic access to this same level of detail, in a timely fashion, would replace the need for hard copies in most situations. Refer the bottom of this document regarding electronic access.
General Ledger Summary
A comprehensive monthly report listing all of the accounts in your cost centre and summarizing their status. This report identifies the total amount of outstanding purchase orders (this amount is supported monthly by a detailed schedule of outstanding purchase orders), the total of expenditures for the current month, an accumulated year-to-date (YTD) total of expenditures, and the annual budget.
For your convenience, the final two columns calculate the balance remaining (YTD expenditures plus outstanding commitments: this sum is subtracted from the annual budget) and the percentage of funds remaining.
- Strengths
- - provides operational summary with a comparison of expenditures to budget plan
- Weaknesses
- - no detail
Cost Centre Summary
This summary monthly management report consolidates all functional activities (both descriptor and activity codes) by funding classification. Base funded operations, Function 3 programs (RAC's), specific purpose trust (all contracts and trust accounts) and capital are the major categories. This report identifies each expenditure classification providing outstanding commitment, current month expenditures, YTD expenditures, annual budget, and calculated account balance.
Due to the fact that programs and contracts have varying start dates, program durations and irregular expenditure cycles, one must be careful when using this report.
- Strengths
- - provides "bottom line" management summary by funding type, combining functional units and activity classification
- Weaknesses
- - must exercise caution when accumulating information to ensure correct understanding of the picture portrayed, i.e. irregular expenditure patterns; individual variances may be hidden
Reports may be tailored to accommodate the unique needs of any manager at TRU.
General Ledger Account Electronic Inquiry
Electronic G/L account inquiry enables you to obtain timely and detailed information on your account balances, including budgets, transaction details, and previous years' history directly from your terminal.
Upon entering the account code, the following information is provided on your screen:
Enter 'J' and the period number for a detailed listing of all transactions.Enter 'B' to display a summary of the monthly budget and expenditures.
Enter 'H' to display a summary of the account's annual history for previous years. Information back to 1986 is accessible.
