GLOSSARY

This document is intended for use by University staff as a tool to understand Financial
terminology.

ACCRUAL The method of recording income in the period in which it is earned

ACCOUNTING and expenses in the period in which they are incurred rather than
when they are paid or received.

ACCRUED Added on or owing at the end of the financial period. Accrued items
for a University include (in expenditure) unpaid invoices, salaries and
rentals paid beyond the end of the period and value of goods
received but not paid.

ACQUITTAL Statement of income and Expenditure on specific Grant/Project

activity to acquit external funds received.

ASSETS An Asset is an identifiable item of property with an economic life

greater than one year, which is valued at $10,000.00 or more.
Assets may be purchased, manufactured on site by the University, or
donated.

AUDIT A systematic investigation and report on the financial affairs of an

FINANCIAL organisation. Universities are required by law to conduct an audit
each year. The audit must be carried out by a registered auditor or
certified practising accountant and follows certain conventions

ANNUAL REPORT Publicly available information on the operations and financial position
of an organisation provided each year to interested parties by the
management committee or Board. The Annual report includes
Statement from the Chancellor, Non-Financial information, Statistics,
Financial Performance and Auditor Generals Report.

APPROPRIATION Appropriation relates to the recurrently funded operations of the

University - those funded through operating and related grants of the
Commonwealth and Territory governments. These are identified as
budget values. Appropriation accounts cannot receive income only
increases and decreases in budget.

ATTRACTIVE ITEMS Attractive Items are items which have all the attributes of an Asset
but whose value is more than $1,000 but less than $10,000.00.
These items are expensed at the time of purchase. These may be
recorded in the Oracle Fixed Assets Module.

BOARD OF SURVEY A group of University staff who make decisions in regard to

retirement of University assets.

BOOKBUD Original budget as per the Annual Budget Book at cost centre level.
BUDGET A summary of income and expenditure forecasts (plans and
expectations).
Cashflow budget is for planning and controlling the flow of cash.
Capital budget is for expenditure on physical assets, including
special projects and capital works programs for property purchase,
renovation and sales.
Operating budget is the income and expenditure on your
organisation's normal operations
Budget worksheet is the format used to calculate the budget

BUYER Person nominated to complete purchase orders on behalf of a cost

centre or a person nominated by the organisation to purchase
particular goods. (Eg Stationery-Joanne Stone)

CASH ADVANCE Money in advance for a specific purpose to be acquitted by receipts.

CHARGE ACCOUNT Terminology used in elVIS, which means cost code.

CHART OF A list of the accounts of a business and their numbers, arranged

ACCOUNTS according to their order in the ledger. Sometimes referred to as COA.
The Universitys accounts (cost codes) are made up of 15 digits
consisting of 5 sections Area (4 digits), Activity (4digits) Natural
Account (3 digits) Sub account (2 digits) and Entity (2 digits)

COST CENTRE A part of an organisation's operations for which you wish to record
and monitor income and expenditure separately to other areas of
your finances. For example, this could be recurrent funds
(Administration or Academic) with each area forming a cost centre, or
it could be related to specific projects undertaken within or across
programs (e.g. a restricted account for a particular purpose).

COST CODE An account from the Universitys Chart of Accounts. In elVIS referred
to as a charge account.

CREDIT NOTE Accounts Payable: A credit note is generally issued by a Supplier

when goods are returned or when goods have been invoiced at a
higher rate than was agreed on the Purchase Order.

Accounts Receivable: A credit note will be issued by accounts

receivable to reflect a reduction in the value of an invoice raised to a
debtor.

CREDITOR Someone you owe money to (for example, your stationery supplier
who has delivered an order to you on account). Creditors are also
referred to as Accounts Payable.

DEBTOR Someone who owes money to you (for example, a client who asked
you to undertake training work on their behalf and hasn't yet paid for
it). Debtors are also referred to as Accounts Receivable.
DELEGATION Financial authority over certain cost codes and types of business
transactions. Also referred to as coordinators.

DEPRECIATION The value assigned for the use of an asset over a period of time.
Does not affect actual funds availability in financial period. Method
used to gradually reduce value of an asset on estimated life
expectancy.

DISPOSAL OF ASSET Faculties can dispose of assets by transfer or sale, through the
Board of Survey (BOS). Lost and stolen assets require paperwork to
be processed through Board of Survey. Asset Officer must be
notified an any movement of assets.

DISTRIBUTION In elVIS the distribution is the area on the requisition form where you
type in the charge account (Cost Code).

elVIS electronic Varsity Information System

DISCOVERER Oracle Discoverer (Discoverer) is a data access tool that enables

business users to view information in their database. Discoverer is
easy to use and provides a logical, intuitive interface for data query,
analysis and reporting.

EXPENDBUD Actual Operation Budget at cost centre level. Source of information

for funds inquiries and all Appropriation Reports.

EXTERNAL CLIENTS Persons or companies (Suppliers) that provide goods and services to
the University that operate independently from the control of the
University.

FINANCIAL Includes balance sheet, profit and loss statement, income and
ACCOUNTS expenditure statement and any other formal accounting report.

FINANCIAL The control of your organisation's financial resources, by the

MANAGEMENT management of reporting, monitoring and planning processes.

FIS Free into Store. A freight term used when buying goods advising
creditors and staff that the University is not liable to pay freight on
goods being purchased.

FSG Financial Statement Generators a type of report in elVIS

GENERAL LEDGER The General Ledger is the central repository of accounting

information.

GST Goods and services tax.

INCOME AND A periodical financial statement that summarises the income and
EXPENDITURE expenditure and shows the resulting surplus or deficit. (This is called
STATEMENT a profit and loss statement in a for profit business)
INDIRECT COST A general cost, or overhead, that cannot be directly related to any
particular program or activity of the organisation.

IN KIND Goods or services, which benefit your organisation but do not cost
you anything. For example, rent free premises or the donation of
legal services. GST is generally attractable on in-kind transactions if
they have a monetary value. Approval should be gained for an in-
kind transaction as University infrastructure and exchange of
services/goods is usually involved.

INTERNAL CLIENTS Staff, faculties, divisions, sections that operate as part of the
University.
(i.e.NFIH, The Shed Caf, Printery etc..)

iPROCUREMENT Internet Procurement (iProcurement) allows requisitioners to source

goods and services in a user-friendly web based environment. The
environment looks like shopping on the web and is intended for
occasional users. This module is available as part of the Oracle
Financials suite (elVIS)

IP ADDRESS An IP address is a unique identifying number of each computer or

device on a network. Networks use these numbers as protocols to
route messages to their destination.

JINITIATOR A small Java program required by the system to allow elVIS to work.

JOURNAL An internal process used to transfer funds from one cost code to
another cost code. Journals can be used to enable errors to be
fixed, reimbursement of expenses to/from other University schools,
faculties/divisions, the charging of internal services and the transfer
of funds between cost centres. Request for Journal form must be
completed in full.

LINKS Links is the Universitys electronic document distribution system. The

University uses Links to distribute cheques, EFT remittances,
invoices, statements, RFQs and purchase orders, via e-mail, fax or
printed to paper.

LEDGER See General Ledger

LOADEDBUD A copy of EXPENDBUD reflecting all budget activity (ie. Original

plus variations). Designed to be compared with BOOKBUD

MATCH TO PO The University requires that invoices received by Accounts Payable

be matched to the Purchase Order.

NOTIFICATION Notifications can be received via email or from within elVIS. They
request Requisitioner, Requisition Approver, Buyer & Buyer
Approver to perform specific actions relating to the procure to pay
processing.

ON COSTS Additional costs associated with establishing an activity, usually

applied to salaries costs. Salary on costs includes superannuation,
workers' compensation and sick pay, holiday and long service leave
provisions.
ORACLE The Oracle Corporation is the worlds leading supplier of software for
enterprise information management. The University uses Oracle
software for its financial management. We currently use seven
modules iProcurement, Purchasing, Accounts Payable, Assets,
General Ledger, Receivables and Cash Management. As well as
these modules we use two management tools - Oracle Web Portal
and Oracle Discoverer.

PETTY CASH Petty Cash Funds are cash advances granted to cost centres by the
University to facilitate payment of minor expenditures not exceeding
$100 each. These funds are approved, established,
increased/decreased and withdrawn by the Chief Accountant of the
University.

PURCHASE ORDER A Purchase Order (PO) is created from a Requisition and when
accepted by the supplier, becomes a contract. Purchase orders
appear on the ledger as an encumbrance obligation.

PRE-PAYMENT Payment made for something before the goods or service are
received. This generally includes payments required by a contractual
arrangement such as advance rental, service agreements,
subscription, memberships or for supply of goods where the
University does not have an account with a creditor. Prepayments
are accounted for each month with an accrual journal under cost
code using entity 60.

PRICE VARIANCE A price variance occurs when the invoice price is more or less than
the Purchase Order price.

PROCURE TO PAY The cycle used by the University to order, receive and pay for goods
PROCESS and services.

REIMBURSEMENTS Payment made to repay person/s who have used their own funds to
obtain goods/services on behalf of the University. Reimbursements
can be made via cash (from Petty Cash) or via EFT/Cheque from
Accounts Payable using the Universitys procure to pay process.
Generally original documents/receipts are required for
reimbursement claims.

RECEIPT A receipt is proof that you have received goods and services.
Suppliers issue receipts when you pay for goods using cash.
On elVIS, requisitioners or receivers are required to receipt purchase
orders when goods are delivered.

RECONCILIATION A checking process which ensures that the balances of two or more
related accounts are in agreement and accurate in value.

REQUISITION-REQ A Requisition is an Oracle Financials form completed electronically

by the requisitioner on elVIS. The form is used to request the supply
of goods and services on behalf of the cost centre. Requisitions
appear on the ledger as an encumbrance commitment.
REQUISITIONER Requisitioner is the name given to the person completing a
requisition.

RESPONSIBILITY The name of the role that defines the functions you can perform and
the financial delegations you have in elVIS.

RESTRICTED Restricted Account relates to those activities funded for a specific

ACCOUNT purpose (eg research, contract etc) and the university uses them for
self funded and project related activities.

REVENUEBUD Corporate Source of Funds Information

SUPPLIER An individual or firm outside the University that sells goods or

services. Sometimes called vendors.

TAX INVOICE A tax invoice is a document from a supplier (vendor) requesting

payment for goods or services rendered. For all transactions
between $75 and $1,000 (including GST), the following information
must be included on an invoice to meet the requirements of a Tax
Invoice:
The words "Tax Invoice" stated prominently;
Suppliers Australian Business Number (ABN);
Supplier Name and Address;
Date of issue of invoice;
Itemised description of the supplies;
Price of the supply; and
Either the total amount of GST or a statement that the price is
th
GST inclusive, if the amount of GST payable is exactly 1/11 of
the total price.

For all transactions over $1,000 the tax invoice must include the
following additional information:
Quantities of each item or extent of services supplied;
Customer name; and
Customer address or ABN if address not supplied.

TRAVEL Travel Allowance (TA) can be for kilometre allowance,

ALLOWANCE course/convention/workshop fees, accommodation, meals, food, cab
hire, airport taxes, bus fares, phone calls, fax machine and
secretarial expenses.

VARIANCE The difference between a budgeted amount and the actual amount
for a given period. Significant variances should be explained and
corrective action taken if necessary.

WEB PORTAL Oracle Web Portal is a tool that provides a birds eye view of the
financial position of cost centres. Web Portal displays the value of
the transactions as at close of business the previous day. At the end
of month portal does not roll into the next month until two to three
days after Ledgers close off the month. An email is sent to all users
advising them that this will occur.

WORKFLOW Workflow Notifications can be received via email or from within elVIS.
NOTIFICATION They request Requisitioner, Requisition Approver, Buyer & Buyer
Approver to perform specific actions relating to the procure to pay
processing.