Statewide Accounting glossary
This is a list of terms used within the Washington Administrative and Accounting Manual (WAAM) and within Workday. To find a term, enter it in in the search box, and select 'Apply'.
Term |
Category | Definition | |
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| Account |
A fiscal and accounting entity with a self-balancing set of general ledger codes in which cash and other financial resources, together with all related liabilities and residual equities or balances, and changes therein, are recorded and segregated for the purpose of carrying on specific activities or attaining certain objectives in accordance with special regulations, restrictions, or limitations. For reporting purposes, the state identifies major accounts, and administratively combines all remaining accounts into roll-up funds. Most accounts are set up in state law to isolate specific activities. |
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| Account code |
The three-character alpha/numeric code assigned by OFM to identify each account. (See the Fund Reference Manual.) |
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| Account Summary (Ledger Account Summary) | Financial |
A grouping of ledger accounts. For example, you can group all assets that are considered current assets to easily reference them. Individual accounts can appear in multiple account summaries. |
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| Account Translation Rule Set | Financial |
A set of rules that dictate how monetary amounts in individual accounts are translated into a different currency. Translation rule sets are defined at an account-set level and apply to each account in that account set. |
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| Accounting Financial Reporting System (AFRS) |
The state's current general ledger accounting system, which will be replaced by the new, cloud-based Workday ERP system. |
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| Accrual basis |
The basis of accounting whereby revenues are recognized when they are earned and measurable regardless of when collected, and expenses are recorded on a matching basis when incurred. All proprietary and fiduciary funds use the accrual basis of accounting. |
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| Accrued expenditures |
Expenditures that meet the appropriate recognition criteria of the account type involved but have not been paid. Accrued expenditures are expected to be paid in a subsequent accounting period. |
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| Accrued liabilities |
Liabilities reflecting the obligation to pay for goods or services that have been incurred or received but not paid for by the end of the accounting period. Accrued liabilities related to refunds of revenue are offset to the revenue originally recorded. |
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| Accrued revenues |
Revenues that meet the appropriate recognition criteria of the fund type involved, but are not realized until a subsequent accounting period. Also refers to Accrual Basis and Modified Accrual Basis. |
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| Acquisition |
See: Purchase |
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| Advanced Report | Cross Application |
You can create 3 types of custom reports: simple, advanced, and matrix. An advanced report provides all the features of a simple report, plus more advanced ones such as accessing related business objects and producing multiple levels of headings and subtotals. Advanced reports also enable the use of sub-filters, run time prompts, charts, worklets, and report sharing, and provide the ability to expose the report as a web service. |
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| Agency |
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| Agency Consultants (AC) |
The dynamic change readiness team, tasked with empowering agencies to navigate the transformation. They keep agencies informed, build their understanding, coach to develop their change competence, plan for the future with change management toolkits, and gather invaluable feedback. |
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| Allocation |
Spending authority assigned to an agency from a lump-sum appropriation that is designated for expenditure by specific governmental units and/or for specific purposes, activities, or objects. For example, the Legislature may provide a lump-sum appropriation to OFM for allocation to agencies on an as-needed basis, or according to specified criteria. |
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| Allotment |
An agency's plan of estimated expenditures, revenues, cash disbursements, and cash receipts for each month of the biennium. |
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| Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) |
The ACFR differs from a standard financial report by offering a more comprehensive, transparent, and contextually rich financial narrative that goes beyond basic financial reporting requirements. |
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| Application Programming Interface |
A set of defined rules that enable different applications to communicate with each other. It acts as an intermediary of the layer that processes data transfers between systems. |
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| Appropriation |
A legal authorization to make expenditures and incur obligations for specific purposes from a specific account over a specific time period. Appropriations typically limit expenditures to a specific amount and purpose within a fiscal year or biennial timeframe. Only the Legislature can make appropriations in Washington State. |
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| Assignable Roles | Cross Application |
You can assign positions to organization roles. Depending on your staffing model, a position may or may not necessarily have a worker specified. |
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| Assignee |
Allows for identifying and reporting on financial activity and balances for which the individual is responsible. Defaults from another element such as the Grant (referred to below). |
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| Automated Clearing House (ACH) |
Electronic payments commonly referred to as direct deposit and automatic debit. ACH is a low cost, safe and green payment method utilized by most state agencies to take advantage of economies of scale by processing transactions in batches rather than sending each payment separately. |
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| Base Currency | Financial |
Also know as default currency. The primary currency in which a company does business and reporting. For financial accounting, a company must have a base currency defined. |
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| Biennium |
A two-year fiscal period. The Washington state biennium runs from July 1 of an odd-numbered year to June 30 of the next oddnumbered year |
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| Bond |
A debt instrument issued through a formal legal procedure and secured either by the pledge of specific properties or revenues or by the general credit of the state. Examples include bid bond, performance and payment bond. See: Form C-100 (2014) Section G. |
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| Budget |
A plan of financial operation embodying an estimate of proposed expenditures for a given period of time or purpose and the proposed means of financing them. |
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| Budget Structure | Financial |
Criteria for building budget or forecast budgets. Types of budget structures include financial, staffing and position. Budget structures can be configured to require approval, organized by dimension type (such as cost center or region), and updated with amendments. |
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| Budgetary control |
The establishment of budgets and the continuous comparison between actual and budgeted results. |
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| Budgeted accounts |
Accounts that are subject to the appropriation and/or allotment process. |
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| Budgeted fund |
A fund whose expenditures are subject to appropriation if held in the state treasury or subject to allotment if held outside the state treasury. |
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| Business Intelligence (BI) |
A tool to transform business data into meaningful and useful information. |
