Amendments to the Chart of Accounts for 2001-2002

DATE: September 6, 2000

TO: Senior Full-time Financial Officers

SUBJECT: Amendments to the Chart of Accounts for 2001-2002

Amendments to the Chart of Accounts for fiscal year 2001-2002 have been posted on the Treasury Board web site at:
/pubs_pol/dcgpubs/coa/siglist_e.asp.

These amendments consist of changes to the Chart of Accounts for the Financial Reporting Accounts (section 4.2) and Master List of Objects (section 8.2), and take effect on April 1, 2001 for fiscal year 2001-2002 and subsequent fiscal years.

These changes are being posted at this time to facilitate departmental systems design and testing in advance of the implementation of the Financial Information Strategy (FIS) on April 1, 2001.

At the present time, for 2001-2002, only a small number of general changes are required to the Chart of Accounts for the Authority codes in section 5.2 of the COA Website. As a result, the changes required are listed in the Appendix to this Information Bulletin. The Chart of Accounts for Authorities will be updated shortly

Changes to the Financial Reporting Accounts

The major changes being made to the Financial Reporting Accounts (FRA) in 2001-2002 relate to:

• Financial Reporting Accounts required as new accounting policies have been developed and included in the FIS Accounting Manual.
• Changes requested by departments as they continue to implement FIS in their departmental systems. These include revisions to the accounts for the Canada Pension Plan, and for tax revenue accounts.
• Changes to the Provincial tax collection agreement accounts, and for certain transactions related to Interdepartmental Settlements

Detailed explanations on these changes can be found in Appendix C to section 4.2. A list of the old codes and the new FRA codes that replace them are included in Appendix B to that section

Changes to the Master List of Objects

In 2001-2002, major changes are being made in the Master List of Objects to the revenue objects and the objects for assets and liabilities to meet departmental requests for simplification of object coding requirements for departmental systems. These changes will result in the elimination of 50 separate objects used to identify increases or decreases in the class objects; the revision of over 100 codes due to the elimination of standard object 13; and the need to realign all objects included in standard objects 15 and 16 prior to the implementation of FIS. These changes are summarized below.

1. The objects used to separately record increases and decreases to current asset and liability accounts in three sub-categories have been eliminated. As well, objects in five other sub-categories have been simplified.
2. With the full implementation of the new Authority codes for all departments, the duplicate sets of source objects in standard objects 13 and 14 for non-tax revenue have been merged. As revenue credited to the vote on a cash basis is an authority requirement, it is being reported as such in the Authority codes. As a result, standard object 13 and the related sub-categories 35 and 36 are being eliminated. As well, the 12 objects in sub-category 47, which are also authority related, have been realigned.
3. With the elimination of Standard Objects 15 and 16 under the Financial Information Strategy, and their replacement by the internal-external indicator, all of the objects in sub-categories 36 and 46 have been merged with similar objects in non-tax and tax revenue. The objects relating to Recoveries of Costs have been merged with the same objects in sub-category 37, so those recoveries can be deducted within standard object 12 from the equivalent expenditures. These changes pertain to all departments, and not just to departments that are implementing FIS in 2001-2002.
4. For the remaining departments that are to become FIS-compliant on April 1, 2001 for fiscal year 2001-2002, all of the objects presently included in Standard Object 15 need to be re-aligned to the standard objects to which they relate on a gross reporting basis. Details are provided in Appendix D to that section.
5. As there is no need for separate objects for tax revenue, most of the existing objects in sub-category 42 have been realigned to object 4200. Starting in 2001-2002, that object will include all tax revenue transactions.
6. Other changes being made for fiscal year 2001-2002 simplify the reporting of Travel and Relocation Advances, and realign some other objects to existing economic objects.

These changes are explained in more detail in Appendix C to the Master List for 2001-2002. A list of the old objects and the new objects that replace them are included in Appendix B

Comments and inquiries:

John M. Morgan
Senior Director
Government Accounting Policy
Comptrollership Branch

If you have any questions, please contact Greville Price at (613) 952-3404, fax (613) 952-9613, or by e-mail at Price.Greville@tbs-sct.gc.ca.

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