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Accounting Services

Trust Funds

Context

  1. General
  2. Authorization
  3. Duties of the University and Cost Recovery
  4. Establishment of a Trust Fund
    1. Submittal
    2. Approval
    3. Balances
  5. Duties and Responsibilities of Trust Administrators

Exhibits

  1. General The Education Code provides for the establishment of various local trust funds when limited fund control or accounting are required. Once a "Special Trust Fund Account" is established, it is conducted through the State University and Colleges Trust Fund. The University reserves the right to conduct business through these "Special Trust Fund" without the restraints placed on normal University purchases, etc. This does not obviate the need for sound business practices such as bidding in conformance with campus policy, acquiring services or materials from sole sources without sufficient evidence to support the course of action, or taking advantage of items on State contracts where these are advantageous to the project.

  2. Authorization The following sections are direct quotes from the Education Code: 89720. The trustees may accept on behalf of the state any gift, bequest, devise or donation of real or personal property whenever such gift and the terms and conditions thereof will aid in carrying out the primary functions of the state colleges as specified in Section 66608. Neither Section 11005 of the Government Code nor any other provision of law requiring approval by a state officer of gifts, bequests, devises, or donations shall apply to such gifts, bequests, devises or donations. Such gifts, bequests, devises, or donations and the disposition thereof shall be annually reported to the California Postsecondary Education Commission, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the Department of Finance by January 5 of each year. 89721. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the chief fiscal officer of each campus of the California State University shall deposit into and maintain in local trust accounts or in trust accounts in accordance with the provisions of Section 16305 to 16305.7, inclusive, of the Government code, or in the California State University Trust Fund, moneys received in connection with the following sources or purposes:
    1. Gifts, bequests, devises, and donations received under Section 89720.
    2. Any student loan or scholarship fund program, including but not limited to student loan programs of the state, federal government (including programs referred to in Section 89723), local government, or private sources.
    3. Advance payment for anticipated expenditures or encumbrances in connection with federal grants or contracts.
    4. Room, board, and similar expenses of students enrolled in the international program of the California State University.
    5. Cafeteria replacement funds.
    6. Miscellaneous receipts in the nature of deposits subject to return upon approval of a proper application.
    7. Fees and charges for services, materials, and facilities authorized by Section 89700 where such fees or charges are required of those who, at their option, use the services or facilities, or are provided the materials, for which the fees or charges are made. Fees and charges so received and deposited shall be used solely to meet the costs of providing such services, materials, and facilities.
    8. Fees for instructionally related activities as defined by the trustees and as authorized by Section 89700 and revenues derived from the conduct of such instructionally related activities. The trustees shall have all authority necessary to administer and use the fees and revenues received and deposited to support such instructionally related activities.
    Examples of the kinds of activities that fall into category (g) above, are:
    • Copying service fees where the income is used to pay for equipment rental, copying supplies, and maintenance if the equipment is administered via the trust fund.
    • Fees authorized by Executive Order 661 (Miscellaneous Instructional course Charges) if the definition allows their administration via the trust fund.
    • Health Fees - Class II service, such as birth control clinic, prescriptions.
    • Fees from vending machines, where the income defrays the cost of servicing.
    • Public telephone commissions.
    • Recreational Facilities fee.

  3. Duties of the University and Cost Recovery The University will provide accounting and financial services for approved trust funds. Included as part of the financial services are on-line access to ledgers or hard copy printouts of the ledgers containing sufficient information for a manager to have reasonable, timely information on which to base decisions involving the trust fund. Separate General Ledgers and separate Subsidiary Ledgers will be maintained for each trust fund. The cost of providing services may include charges for the recovery of Personal services, Operating expense and equipment, and capital outlay. Recovery for the cost of support shall be governed by existing specific CSU policies. In the absence of specific policy, recovery for the cost of such support shall include the incremental costs (direct, indirect) of providing the support for all ancillary activities (reference BA 83-30). The basis or method shall be: Simple but equitable; Cost effective when compared to the cost of the services. 

  4. Establishment of a Trust Fund
    1. Submittal

      All Trust Funds must have a new Trust Fund Approval form submitted electronically to Accounting Services to be able to process any financial transactions (purchase requisition, alteration, direct pay, travel, budget transactions, etc.). 

      Each trust fund established shall be supported by documentation as to the source of funding, the purpose, the name of the person authorized to expend the funds, and any other requirements that govern its usage and disposition.

      All Department ID’s listed on the Trust Fund Approval Form will allow all those individuals listed on the Financial Signature Approval Form for each of those Department ID’s as being approved to sign for all financial transactions for that particular Trust Fund.

      Anyone can create the initial Trust Fund Approval form for their Department ID(s), but only those listed on the Financial Signature Approval Form will be able to make any updates or changes to the form in the future.

      Instructions for filling out the Trust Fund Approval form 

    2. Approval The form will be submitted into Bizflow. It will then be sent to the Dean/Director and VP for the Department responsible for this fund for approvals. Once approvals are completed, it will be sent to Accounting Services for setup in CFS. You will receive an email notifying you that the form has been fully approved and processed. If there are any changes or questions, the form may be returned to you for corrections. If that happens, you will receive an email and the form will appear in My Worklist in the My Fresno State/Forms Portfolio. You may see the status of this form at any time by locating it in your My Forms list in the My Fresno State/Forms Portfolio.

      A request will be approved only if it meets the criteria for establishment of a trust fund. When a request has been found to meet the criteria for establishment of a trust fund, and the request approved by the Associate Controller, an e-mail notification will be sent to the requesting administrator (see Exhibit 2).

    3.  Balances left at year-end carry forward into the new fiscal year.

  5. Duties and Responsibilities of Trust Administrators

    1. The trust administrator will comply with all regulations and procedures for deposit and withdrawal of trust funds, and execution of required documents authorizing purchase of and payment for required supplies, services and equipment.
    2. The trust administrator will secure prior approval from appropriate university authorities for expenditures involving employment of personnel, travel, or purchase of items of equipment, space modification, or operating and maintenance costs
      1. For questions related to Employment of personnel, contact the Human Resources at telephone (559) 278-2032
      2. For questions related to Travel, contact the travel technician in Accounting Services at telephone (559) 278-2911.
      3. For questions related to purchase of equipment, contact Purchasing at telephone (559) 278-2111.
      4. For questions related to space modification, contact the Facilities Planning at telephone (559) 278-2373.

    3. Expenditure requests are to be submitted following the procedures and forms established for state-side requisitions, using the appropriate trust coding.

    4. The trust fund will be expended only for the purposes for which it was established and only to the extent that balances are available.  

Procedures