Finance Terms and Acronyms

Overview

This page is a list of finance terms and acronyms in alphabetical order. Click a letter to navigate to that section of the list.

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, L, M, N, O, P, R, S, T, U, V

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A

A&E

Architects and Engineers refers to either a line item in a capital project budget, or the A&E Building on campus, located near Sproul Hall.

Administrative Full Costing (AFC)

Administrative Full Costing is a fee assessed on external revenue from sales and services and other operating revenue. It is intended to reimburse the central campus for a portion of the additional administrative workload incurred by central campus funded units as a result of the activity related to these funds (central payroll, disbursements, purchasing, etc.).

AP

Accounts Payable

AR

Accounts Receivable

ASE

Academic Student Employee

AVC

Assistant Vice Chancellor or Associate Vice Chancellor

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B

BAM/PFA

Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archives

BearBUY

BearBUY is our procure-to-pay system.

BELI code

Benefits Eligibility Level Indicator code. BELI codes are included in HCM and impact data loaded to HCP.

Berkeley Reimbursement System

Berkeley’s Reimbursement System is used for reporting and requesting reimbursement for travel and entertainment expenses.

BFS

Berkeley Financial System is an integrated PeopleSoft General Ledger system initially implemented in July 2000.

BIBS

Berkeley Integrated Budget System is a campus designed PeopleSoft 'bolt-on' module created to manage the Permanent Budget and PRT.

Block grants

Program of the Chancellor and EVCP whereby funds are allocated to divisions including schools, colleges and administrative units at the beginning of the fiscal year, to be spent at the discretion of the respective VC or Dean.

bluCard

The bluCard is our basic pro-card that enables the timely purchase of low-value goods or services up to $4,999 per transaction

BRS

Berkeley Regional Services

BS

Balance sheet

BSAS

Be Smart About Safety is a program offered each year by the Office of the President-Risk Services to provide campuses with funding to prevent losses.

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C

CACSSF

Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Student Services and Fees coordinates and advises on fees and fee referenda, in accordance with Regent and campus policies.

CADS

Cal Advancement Data System is a campus-wide gift and pledge tracking system, managed by University Relations.

Cal Answers

Cal Answers is a business intelligence application that makes it easy to access curated data from the campus data warehouse. Subject areas include: finance, human resources, student data, gifts, and PI portfolio.

CalPlanning

CalPlanning is our campus application used to maintain the current year forecast and plan the operating budget for the following year.

Cal Time

Cal Time is our timekeeping system. You’ll enter time and approve for your direct reports.

CAO

Chief Academic Officer or Chief Administrative Officer

CARS

Campus Accounts Receivable System 

CBR

Composite Benefit Rates are developed in order to cover the costs of fringe benefits offered by the university. The rates are negotiated by UCOP with the federal government one fiscal year at a time.

CCN

Course Control Number is a 5-digit number found in the Schedule of Classes that corresponds to the course lecture a student enrolls in.

CDS

Campus Deposit System

CFO

Chief Financial Officer

CGA

Contracts and Grants Accounting is the unit in the Controller's office that manages the budgeting and accounting for sponsored awards.

Chartfield

The chart of accounts is made up of chartfields including business unit, account, fund, Dept ID (the lowest level of the entity hierarchy), function code, chartfield1, and chartfield 2.

Chartstring

The combination of chartfield values is called a chartstring. The complete accounting code with all segments used to book a transaction (X-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XX-XXXXXX-XXXXX; Business Unit-Acct-Fund-DeptID-Program-Chartfield1-Chartfield2)

CMF / CMSF

Course Materials Fee / Course Materials & Services Fee

COA

Chart of Accounts

Contracts & Grants Accounting

Contracts & Grants Accounting provides financial and accounting services for awards set up in UC Berkeley's Financial Systems, financial reporting and analysis, invoicing, accounts receivable collections, cash management, audit coordination, effort report coordination, campuswide training and technical assistance.

COD

Council of Deans

Commitments

Commitments are the end product of past leadership decisions as well as Finance Committee and Budget decisions.

ConnexUC

Faculty and staff use the ConnexUC travel portal to book air, hotel, and car reservations.

COO

Chief Operating Officer

Course Materials Fee

Course-specific fees which cover the cost of student-used materials, supplies, university-owned equipment and/or educationally beneficial services. Fees are noted in the class listings and assessed when students register. Financial aid may be available to help pay fees

Course Materials and Services Fee

Course Materials and Services Fee is a fee charged to students to participate in the instructional activities of a course, including: the cost of providing course materials to be consumed, retained or used by the student; the special costs associated with use of University-owned tools, musical instruments, or other equipment; or the cost of other materials or services necessary to provide a special supplemental educational experience of direct benefit to the student.

CSF

Committee on Student Fees is a Chancellor's Advisory Committee that reports to the Chancellor and their designated representative. Provides oversight on all referenda advisory committees on campus including CACSSF.

CSS

Campus Shared Services

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D

Deficit

A deficit occurs when expenses exceed revenues.

Deficit resolution process

Units are expected to resolve operating deficits on their own throughout the year. When a deficit remains, the campus implements a technical Deficit Clearing Process (DCP), which will force a resolution of an operating deficit.

DFL

Divisional Finance Leader

Direct Retro

A direct retro entry in UCPath moves distributions for employee pay from a previous pay cycle from one chartstring to another

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E

EAP

Education Abroad Program (e.g. study abroad)

EDW

Enterprise Data Warehouse. Contains data from BFS, HR and other systems. Feeds CalPlanning and Cal Answers.

EFA

Extramural Funds Accounting is the unit in the Controller's office that manages the budgeting and accounting for sponsored awards.  Was previously known as Contracts and Grants Accounting (CGA).

Encumbrance

An encumbrance is a financial obligation or commitment of funds, also called a lien. Encumbrances are generated in the purchase order system. 

ERIT

The Employee-initiated Reduction In Time (ERIT) Program is an optional tool that locations and organizational units may choose to implement as a cost savings resource. 

EVCP

Executive Vice Chancellor & Provost

Extramural Funds Accounting

The Extramural Funds Accounting unit provides financial and accounting services for Contracts and Grants and Private Gifts & Endowments. Was previously known as Contracts and Grants Accounting (CGA).

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F

F&A

Facilities and Administrative costs = indirect costs = overhead costs

FFE

Funds functioning as endowment (can invade principal)

Financial statements

Financial statements are responsible for the analysis and reporting of the financial activities of the university.

First dollar principle

Practice of spending restricted funds before general funds to maximize unrestricted balances

Fiscal Close

Fiscal Close is a process that allows for a cut-off of financial activity so the university can generate annual financial reports for stakeholders. At UC Berkeley, Fiscal Close is June 30th of every year.

Fiscal Year

A year as reckoned for taxing or accounting purposes

Form A

Form A accompanies a division’s budget submission and is used to collect faculty appointment information including new hires, separations, merits, promotions and range adjustments.

FP&A

Financial Planning and Analysis

Full-Time Equivalent (FTE)

Full-time equivalent (FTE) is a term that describes the conversion of the work of multiple part-time employees into what their equivalent would be in terms of full-time employees. Full-time is considered 2,080 hours per year. Calculated by dividing the number of hours worked by part-time students by the number of working hours in a certain time frame.

Fund accounting

Fund accounting is a system for recording resources whose use has been limited by the donor, grant authority, governing agency, or other individuals or organizations or by law. In this method, a fund consists of a self-balancing set of accounts and each are reported as either unrestricted, temporarily restricted or permanently restricted based on the provider-imposed restrictions.

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G

GAAP

Generally Accepted Accounting Practices

GAEL

General, Automobile, and Employment Liability was instituted in 1998 to fund the campus's share of expenses associated with claims and lawsuits defended by the University. It is essentially a payroll tax.

GASB

Governmental Accounting Standards Board

General fund allocation

Amount set as PERMBUDG every year; amount of resources distributed out of the Chancellor's "wallet" to the departments.

GEP

Regents General Endowment Pool

GL

General Ledger

GLOW

Gradlink-on-the-Web

Graduated Payment Mortgage Origination Program

The Graduated Payment Mortgage Origination Program provides a first deed of trust loan with a reduced interest rate (Borrower Rate) during the initial years of the loan (Rate Differential Period).

GSI

Graduate Student Instructor

GSR

Graduate Student Researcher

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H

HCM

Human Capital Management

HCP

Human Capital Planning is the part of the CalPlanning system used to plan compensation expenses

HR

Human Resources

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I

IAP

Incentive Awards Programs is an employer-paid payroll assessment charged to units. HR uses the funds to manage two incentive-pay programs, STAR awards and SPOT awards, and also distributes monies from this fund for departmental training.

ICR

Indirect cost recovery (ICR) funding reimburses universities for costs of the facilities and administration (F&A) that support research.

Indirect Cost

The costs of conducting business that are incurred for common or joint objectives and therefore cannot be identified readily and specifically with specific projects (such as individual grants or contracts) or with specific activities (such as instruction, research, public service).

ITOF

Interlocation Transfer of Funds. For non-Contract/Grant funds, budgetary transfers of resources between UC campuses (or locations) are processed on an Interlocation Transfer of Funds form.

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L

LOA

Leave of Absence

LWOP

Leave without pay. Personal Leave or Work-Incurred Disability Leave.

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M

MCB

Medical Contribution Base is an employee's full-time salary rate. It is used to determine employee contributions toward medical plan premiums.

MD&A

Management discussion and analysis: unaudited financial statements/reports

MOU

Memorandum of Understanding

Mortgage Origination Program

Mortgage Origination Program is a program that provides first deed of trust variable rate loans with up to 30-year terms at maximum amounts of 80 percent to 90 percent of value, depending upon loan size.

MSF

Miscellaneous Student Fee

MTDC

Modified Total Direct Cost

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N

NACUBO

National Association of College and University Business Officers

NAV-B

New Academic Ventures - Berkeley

NRT

Non-resident tuition

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O

OCFO

Office of the CFO of UC Berkeley

OE

Operational Excellence - a UC Berkeley office working to reduce costs and operate the campus more effectively (for example: Campus Shared Services)

OP

Office of the President; Also see UCOP.

OPA

Office of Planning and Analysis

ORUs

Organized Research Units are organized around broad substantive research topics (for example: international affairs, information technology, the environment). Berkeley has more than 100 such research units.

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P

Payroll in suspense

Payroll expense which had an error in the chartstring and has failed the journal edit process is kicked to a default suspense chartstring and will remain there “in suspense” until corrected. 

P&C

People and Culture, formerly Human Resources (HR)

PDF

Professional Degree Fee

PDST

Professional Degree Supplemental Tuition

PermBudg

Abbreviation for Permanent Budget, the ongoing "permanent" budget from state funds, tuition, registration fees, overhead derived dollars, auxiliary enterprises, endowment income, etc. The Permanent Budget includes authorized (budgeted) faculty/staff positions and salaries.

PI

Principal Investigator; An individual who has primary responsibility for the design, execution, and management of a research project and who will be involved in the project in a significant manner.

PO

Purchase Order. A legal document sent to a vendor that authorizes the vendor to deliver requested goods or services.

POV

In CalPlanning, Point of View is a unique set of dimension members that defines specific intersections of data. 

PPS

Payroll/Personnel System

PRA

Public Records Act, e.g. budget hearings and mandatory open sessions.

Pre-Encumbrance

Generated in the purchase order system. An advance notice of intent to commit funds created when a requisition has been reviewed and nightly processing has taken place. When a purchase order is built from the requisition and posted, the pre-encumbrance is reversed, and an encumbrance is created.

PRT

Position Resource Tracking; used in context of budgeting positions in PERMBUDG; faculty positions are managed by the budget office.

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R

RCM Budgeting

Responsibility Centered Management budgeting is a decentralized approach to budgeting; it focuses on revenues.

Recharge

Recharge is a process for units that provide specific goods or services to a number of campus departments on an ongoing basis to recover costs.

Regents

The Regents of the University of California (also referred to as the Board of Regents) is the governing board of the University of California (UC).

Regents General Endowment Pool

A balanced portfolio of equities, fixed-income securities, and alternative investments that provides diversification and economies of scale in the investment process to participants.

RES

Research Enterprise Services. Part of CSS (CSS Team 9), provides administrative services to research units on campus.

RRR

Reading, Review, Recitation week aka "Dead Week" - week for students to prepare for finals

RSO

Registered Student Organization

RTA

Return to Aid is a portion of student fees that are contributed to financial aid.

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S

SAR

System Access Review

SARA

Enterprise System Access Request

SDMF

Summer Document Management Fee

SIS

Student Information System

Smart View

Smart View is an Excel interface to the CalPlanning system that can be used for planning and reporting.

SOW

Statement of Work

SPA

Salary Provision Administrator is the person responsible for managing the Control Unit’s provisions for actions such as merits, reclassifications, linking/unlinking.

Special Condition Budget Journal

Journal entries requiring Budget Office review before they are posted because the unit is doing one of the following: 

  • Moving money in fund 19900 between program code 40 or 43 and any other program codes

  • Using a fund balance, asset or liability account within the journal

  • Using a plant fund within the journal

  • Requesting an exchange of funds

SPM

Strategy Planning & Monitoring System

SPO

The Sponsored Projects Office (SPO) at UC Berkeley is responsible for reviewing and authorizing proposals for submission and for interpreting, negotiating, and accepting contracts and grants for sponsored projects funded by federal and state agencies, foundations, and other public and private sources.

Sponsored funds

Contracts and grants

SPOT Award

Spot Awards are designed to recognize special contributions by an employee, as they occur, for a specific project or task.

SRECNA

Statement of Revenues, Expenses, and Changes in Net Assets

SSDP

Self-Supporting Degree Programs. Has been renamed Self-Supporting Graduate Professional Degree Program (SSGPDP)

SSGPDP

Self-Supporting Graduate Professional Degree Programs

STAR Award

Staff Appreciation and Recognition (STAR) Plan Awards: A system-wide recognition program to acknowledge and reward exemplary performance and contributions by employees in the UC system.

STIP

Short Term Investment Pool. The Office of the President distributes interest income from The Regents' Short Term Investment Pool (STIP) to the Berkeley campus on a quarterly basis.

Student Fees

In addition to tuition, UC Berkeley students pay several types of fees, including a campus fee, tuition fees, student services fee, and others.

Surplus

A surplus occurs when revenues exceed expenses.

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T

TAS

Temporary Academic Support is determined by the Provost.

TempBudg

Abbreviation for Temporary Budget, a historical tool that represented the working budget for a specific department, unit, or activity. Represented the allocated dollars available to spend.

TRIP

Total Return Investment Pool is an investment pool established by the regents available to UC campuses and the UC Office of the President. TRIP allows Campuses to maximize return on their long-term working capital, subject to an acceptable level of risk, by taking advantage of the economies of scale of investing in a larger pool and investing across a broad range of asset classes.

TSS

Transformation Support Services. An Operational Excellence project.

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U

UAT

User Acceptance Testing

UCB Finance Committee

The Finance Committee exercises authority over the university’s core operating budget and ensures that financial decisions are integrated with the long-term strategic plans and mission of the university.

UCOP

University of California Office of the President

UCPath

UCPath is the University of California’s payroll, benefits, human resources and academic personnel system for all UC employees.

UDAR

University Development and Alumni Relations

UNEX

University Extension

UREL

University Relations

USAP

University Student Aid Program is a need-based student financial assistance program.

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V

VC

Vice Chancellor

VCAF

Vice Chancellor of Administration and Finance

VP

Vice Provost


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