Accounting Services
General Accounting
General Accounting is responsible for recording, maintaining, and analyzing the University's financial transactions. A few primary responsibilities include the maintenance of the general ledger, preparing monthly, quarterly, and year-end financial reports, and reconciling various accounts and funds. General Accounting also acts as the liaison between auditors and the campus in various internal and external audits and provides accounting guidance to departments and auxiliaries within the University.
Financial Reporting is a significant part of the duties performed by our department. We assist with grant and financial aid reporting, prepare monthly financial submissions to the Chancellor’s Office, submit annual GAAP financial statements, as well as various tax filings such as Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT) and Non-Resident Alien Tax (NRAT).
Maintaining the accuracy of the University’s financial records is not just in the hands of our mighty team, it takes a village. General Accounting collaborates with many of the campus departments, providing training and coordinating efforts to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the University's financial reporting.
Contact Information
Mailing Address
5150 N. Maple Ave. M/S JA58
Fresno, CA 93740
Office Location
Joyal Administration Bldg, Room 148 MAP
Resources
A chart of accounts is stored in PeopleSoft. This information is used to categorize transactions and budget data. The University uses six (6) fields called chartfields. All six (6) fields together is called a chartstring. Program and class fields are usually not used by most departments. Note: Zeros are now invalid chartfield values for department, program, class and project codes. Do not enter zeros on forms.
Example chartstring: 660002-90000-41406-40602-0602-TS1508; In this example, the account is 660002, the fund is 90000, the department is 41406, the class is 40602, the program is 0602, and the project is TS1508. If there is no class, program, or project, the field can be left blank.
Account: A six (6) character alpha-numeric value which identifies the type of activity and is a required field on all transactions. List of Accounts.
- Asset accounts – Begin with the number “1"
- Liability accounts – Begin with the number “2"
- Equity accounts – Begin with the number “3”
- Revenue accounts – Begin with the number “5”
- Expense accounts – Begin with the number “6”
Fund: A five (5) character alpha-numeric value which identifies the source of funding and is a required field on all transactions. List of Funds.
Department: A five (5) character alpha-numeric value which identifies the campus department responsible for the transaction. This value is a required field on all revenue and expense transactions. List of Departments.
Class: A five (5) character alpha-numeric value used to track specific activity. List of Classes.
Program: A four (4) or five (5) character alpha-numeric value used to identify transactions of university-wide programs. List of Programs.
Project: A six (6) to fifteen (15) character alpha-numeric value used to capture additional information useful for project and grant accounting. Projects usually have specific beginning and ending dates. List of Projects.
Chartfield requests can be submitted to chart_change@mail.fresnostate.edu.
Contact Cherie Weber, cweber@csufresno.edu, (559) 278-4144 in General Accounting for questions regarding changes to or the establishment of new chartfields for Account, Fund, Class, Program or Project.
Contact Jeff Blanks, jeffblanks@mail.fresnostate.edu, (559) 278-6123 in Budget for questions regarding changes to or the establishment of Departments.
More information for establishing new funds can be found on the Trust Fund website.
The Data Warehouse is the best source for reports and reviewing budget, expenditure, and encumbrance balances and activity. The Data Warehouse reports also provide excellent support for TOE Journals. Items posted in the Data Warehouse are not posted in real time, so the amounts seen in the reports are a day old.
Data Warehouse instructions can be found at the following link: Data Warehouse Training
Transfer of Revenue/Expenditure journals are prepared and submitted to move revenue and/or expenses between different chartstrings. Signed and completed TOE journals are submitted to toe_journals@mail.fresnostate.edu.
TOE journals are used for actual expenses only. Budget balances, encumbrances, or payroll expenses cannot be transferred using a TOE form. Please include a legible Data Warehouse report with the TOE that includes the chartstring the expense was originally posted.
The TOE journal forms can be found at TOE Journal Form.
Transfer of Payroll (TOP) forms are prepared and submitted to move payroll related expenses between different chartstrings.
Transfers between different funds will include benefit expenditures.
The TOP forms can be found at TOP Form.
Interagency Financial Transaction (IFT) is a mechanism to facilitate the movement of funds between campuses, the Chancellor's Office, and other members within the Consolidate Investment Pool (CIP). This is the required method to collect and disburse funds between CSU members. This process cannot be used to move funds to or from auxiliaries. More information on IFTs can be found on the Chancellor's Office website.
The IFT form can be found on the CO's website at IFT Form