Accounting

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
Fund type		One of 11 classifications into which all individual accounts can be categorized. Governmental fund types include the general fund, special revenue funds, debt service funds, capital projects funds, and permanent funds. Proprietary fund types include enterprise funds and internal service funds. Fiduciary fund types include pension (and other employee benefit) trust funds, investment trust funds, private-purpose trust funds and agency funds. See also: Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
General Fund		Used to account for all financial resources of the state not required to be accounted for in some other fund. Refer to Governmental Funds.
General obligation bonds		Statewide bond issues whose repayment is guaranteed by the full faith, credit, and taxing power of the state and that are subject to the state's debt limit. General obligations bonds are the traditional form of government debt financing for major construction projects.
Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)		Uniform minimum standards for financial accounting and reporting. They govern the form and content of the financial statements of an entity. GAAP encompass the conventions, rules, and procedures necessary to define accepted accounting practice at a particular time. They include not only broad guidelines of general application but also detailed practices and procedures.
Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards		These standards are for the conduct and reporting of financial audits, attestation engagements, and performance audits in the public sector. The basic GAGAS (commonly known as the Yellow Book) standards are classed into three broad categories: general standards, fieldwork standards, and reporting standards.
Gift card		Gift cards are typically single-use cards, loaded with a specific amount of money for purchases from a particular store or brand. These cards are not linked to a bank account. You can't spend more money than has been loaded onto the gift card. Gift cards can be disposable or reloadable, but are most often disposable. Gift cards have a limited usage compared to prepaid cards.
Governmental Funds		Used to account for most typical governmental functions. The acquisition, use, and balances of the state’s expendable financial resources and the related current liabilities (except those accounted for in proprietary funds), are accounted for through governmental funds. Governmental funds have a budget orientation using the current financial resources measurement focus and the modified accrual basis of accounting. There are five types of governmental funds: general fund, special revenue funds, debt service funds, capital projects funds, and permanent funds.
Grant		Awards of financial assistance, including cooperative agreements, in the form of money or property in lieu of money to an eligible grantee. Capital grants are restricted for the acquisition, constructions, or renovation of capital assets associated with a specific program. Operating grants support all or a portion of current operating expenses within a certain program.
Handling Code		The payment Handling Code in Workday determines how Workday warrants will be distributed by Consolidated Mail Services (CMS): mailed to suppliers and payees by CMS or routed by CMS to the agency or OST.
Hierarchies		Hierarchies are organizational structures that show relationships between different elements in the FDM. Hierarchies reflect each code’s relative place in that worktag structure. For ledger accounts, these hierarchies are referred to as summaries.
Hold Warrant for Pickup (HFP)		Workday warrants that are routed by Consolidated Mail Services (CMS) to the agency or to OST for pickup by the agency, in accordance with their agreement.
Independent Contingent Worker	Financial	An independent contingent worker (ICW) not represented by a supplier, and accounted for as a 1099 supplier. You issue purchase orders to, create receipts for, and pay ICWs just as you do suppliers.
Indirect cost		Costs incurred for a common or joint purpose benefitting more than one cost objective, and not readily assignable to the cost objectives specifically benefitted, without effort disproportionate to the results achieved.
Information Technology (IT)		All electronic technology systems, products and services. Equipment, software, services, and products used in processing information, office automation, and telecommunications (voice, data and/or video).
Inserted Warrant (ISW)		Workday warrants that are mailed to suppliers and payees by Consolidated Mail Services (CMS).
Interagency Bank Account		The Interagency Bank Account in Workday represents a clearing account used to facilitate: 1. The transfer of treasury cash between state agencies, or 2. The transfer of treasury cash between funds within the same agency.
Internal Audit		An independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve an organization's operations. It helps an organization accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control, and governance processes.
Internal control		A process effected by those charged with governance, management, and other employees, designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of the entity’s objectives relating to operations, reporting, and compliance.
Internal Control Activities		Policies, procedures, techniques, and mechanisms that help ensure that risks to the achievement of an agency’s objectives are mitigated. Control activities are performed at all levels of the agency, at various stages within business processes, and over the technology environment.
Internal Control Monitoring		The process of evaluating the quality of internal control performance over time and promptly addressing internal control deficiencies. Monitoring of the internal control system is essential in helping internal controls remain aligned with changing objectives, environment, laws, resources, and risks.
Internal service fund		A fund type used to report activities that provide goods or services to other funds, departments, or agencies of the state on a cost reimbursement basis. Internal service funds are used where the state is the predominate participant in the activity.
Internal Service Funds		Used to account for the provision of goods or services by one department or agency to other departments or agencies of the state or to other governmental units, on a cost-reimbursement basis. Internal service funds should only be used if the state is the predominant participant in the activity.
Intersection Security Group	Cross Application	An intersection security group is one whose members are other security groups. Workers associated with all included security groups are granted access through an intersection security group.
Investment Trust Funds		Used to report the external portion of investment pools reported by the sponsoring government.
Invoice Date		The date listed on an invoice received from a supplier. In Workday, the invoice date field on a Supplier Invoice defaults to the current date and is used to determine the payment due date.
Invoice Received Date		The date the invoice was received by the agency.
Job-Based Security Group	Cross Application	A job-based security group includes one or more job-related attributes or objects including job profile, job family, job category, management level, or exempt/non-exempt status.
Ledger account		Asset, liability, equity, revenue and expense accounts. Balance sheet accounts are entered directly on transactions and revenue and expense accounts default from the Spend/Revenue Categories of the Pay Component.
Legacy Data Extracts		The support provided by the Data Conversion Team in cleansing, extracting, and transforming data from legacy systems for submission and consolidation into Workday.
Legacy System Remediation (LSR)		The collaborative effort to update current systems designed for AFRS, enabling them to seamlessly integrate with the future OneWA financials.

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