The vast majority of the University's accounting entries are generated from accounts payable, payroll and other automated systems. These systems employ the necessary processing controls for these entries and maintain the detailed data regarding their origin.
In addition to these transactions, there is a need to make adjustments and other direct entries to the University's general ledger. GJIM is an on-line system designed to capture data at its point of origin and facilitate the entry of data to create journal transactions in a common document format.
The scope of GJIM includes processing expenditure transfers, funds (budget) transfers, interdepartmental invoices, account code changes and journal entries. GJIM is not used for the processing of cash receipts, other accounts receivable activity, or transfer vouchers.
GJIM is an external front end to the University's general ledger. It allows document entry to be distributed throughout the University. Documents are uniquely identified by their type, the fiscal year in which they are to be effective, and a system generated number which includes a line number for the transaction. Other data that is retained include company cost center numbers, account numbers, the budgetary unit, the departmental representative associated with the document (for tracking purposes), and the date the document is effective. Short descriptive text noting the reason for and/or referencing related activity associated with the document is permitted. These brief descriptions are passed to the general ledger and appear on the monthly Departmental Budget Report (DBR). The ability to input lengthy text describing the purpose of, or providing additional justification for, a document is provided and maintained. This text is required and may be viewed whenever the document is accessed.
Expenditure Transfers allow distributing or moving one expenditure transaction that has already been recorded in accounting for a specific company cost center to numerous company cost centers. You can select one company cost center transaction that you want to move the expenditures from and up to 25 company cost costs can be entered to move the expenditures.
Fund Transfers allow budgeted funds that are associated in accounting with a specific company cost center to be moved to other company cost centers. These documents permit 24 entries, with each entry specifying a company cost center, a departmental accounting category, and an amount. There can be multiple "To" and "From" cost centers. Funds transfers cannot be moved between institutional categories (e.g. SALNC funds moved to MAINT).
Interdepartmental Invoices allow processing of charges to multiple cost centers for a specific service provided by a department. These documents permit the designation of only one cost center to receive credit, but allow the charge to be distributed across as many as 10 cost centers.
Account Changes allow account numbers to be changed for a financial transaction (e.g., a purchase originally recorded as equipment may be reclassified as non-capital). Only expense or revenue accounts may be used on an account change, although these may be mixed within an entry (an expense account may be changed to a revenue account or vice versa). These documents permit 12 entries, with each entry specifying the company cost center, original account number, desired account number, category and amount.
Journal Entries allow authorized individuals to make unrestricted changes within the university's financial records. These transactions are unrestricted in regard to what company, cost center, category and account number may be specified. These are intended primarily for use by Financial Affairs, and allow up to 98 lines per transaction. Note: Journal Entries require appropriate justification and Financial Affairs' explicit approval.
GJIM documents are created and submitted by utilizing a two-step process. The first step is the creation of the transaction by using the maintenance functions (ETM, FTM, IIM, ACM, and JEM). These functions provide users with the ability to maintain the documents separately from the approval process. The documents can be lengthy and require an extended time for their creation and editing prior to being finalized by the operator entering them.
The second step is done when the document is ready to send to GL. The TARGET Processing functions (ETTP, FTTP, IITP, ACTP, and JETP) are used. These functions submit a request to change the document status from open (O) to approved (A). The system also changes the value of document status on the database from open to submitted to prevent any updates in the maintenance functions.
Newly created documents will be assigned a status of O (open). Only an open document can be updated in a document maintenance function. For that reason, when the document is submitted for approval in a TARGET processing function, the status of the document is changed to S (submitted). This insures that the document can't be altered via the maintenance functions during the review process. If a transaction is rejected during the review process, the document status is set to R, and it cannot be updated or resubmitted. If a transaction is withdrawn during the review process, the status is set back to O (open) so corrections can be made and the document re-submitted for approval.
The copy action is allowed in all of the maintenance functions except ETM. When using an Action of C, the transactions are processed the same as an Action of A (add). The values displayed on the screen will be retained and can be changed as needed. A new document number will be assigned when saved. Only documents of the same type can be copied.
The desired date for the document to be effective within the General Ledger must be specified at data entry. On all documents except Journal Entries this date will be validated by checking the open and close dates for an accounting month and year on the GJIM calendar (CALM) at the time the document is entered.
In the rare circumstance when the accounting period was open at the time of creation but has been closed by the time the document is being extracted for processing to GL, the system will alter the effective date to be within the oldest period still open and record the fact that this action was taken (by placing an asterisk next to the Effective Date field). This change will not be performed, however, if it would mean the document would be posted to a different fiscal year than originally intended.
Journal Entries are not altered in this manner since they may be used to update the GL even after the calendar table indicates the period is closed. In the event an effective date is closed, the document will suspend and must be dealt with by Financial Affairs.
Document comments are required for all GJIM transactions. An extended text facility is provided in the PF9 key. The document cannot be saved without this information. A primary purpose of this facility is for you to provide reviewers with supporting documentation and justification for document approval.
Copies of the latest version of the GJIM Overview, How-To Manuals, and the comprehensive User's Manual can be obtained at the BASIS site on the Web (http://www.uark.edu/BASIS/). The Manual contains further information about each on-line function, as well as more detailed Help documents, a glossary, and a system outline.
If you need assistance and can't find the answer in this or other GJIM documentation, call Financial Affairs at extension 5-4547.