Page 134 - HCSD SOPandIC Manual

Title: GLOSSARY OF COMMON SCHOOL ACCOUNTING TERMS

ACCOUNT - A descriptive heading under which are recorded financial transactions that are similar in
terms of a given frame of reference, such as purpose, object, or source.

APPROPRIATION - An authorization granted by a legislative body to make expenditures and to incur
obligations for specific purposes.

AUDIT - The examination of records and documents and the securing of other evidence for one or more
of the following purposes:

Determining the propriety, legality and mathematical accuracy of proposed or completed transactions.
Ascertaining whether all transactions have been recorded.
Determining whether transactions are accurately recorded in the accounts and in the statement drawn from
the accounts.
To determine whether the statements prepared present fairly the financial position of the school district.

AVERAGE DAILY ATTENDANCE, ADA - The aggregate days; attendance of a given school during a
reporting period divided by the number of days school is in session during this period. Only days on
which the pupils are under the guidance and direction of teachers should be considered as days in session.

BID - The process which includes legal advertising and direct contact, sought from appropriate vendors
for goods and services individually or in the aggregate, whose cost is above the mandated bid threshold.

BUDGET - A plan of financial operation embodying an estimate of proposed expenditures for a given
period or purpose and the proposed means of financing them.

CAPITAL OUTLAY - An expenditure which results in the acquisition of fixed assets or additions to
fixed assets. It is an expenditure for land or existing buildings, improvements of grounds, construction of
buildings, additions to buildings and the remodeling of buildings, with the life expectancy of at least ten
years.

CASH - Currency, checks, postal and express money orders, and bankers' drafts on hand on deposit with
an official or agent designated as custodian of cash, and bank deposits.

CHART OF ACCOUNTS - A list of all accounts generally used in an individual accounting system. In
addition to account title, the chart includes an account number which has been assigned to each account.
Accounts in the chart are arranged by Fund, Program, Function and Object.

CONTRACTED SERVICES - Services rendered by personnel who are not on the payroll of the Board
of Education including all related expense covered by the contract. Also see Purchased Services.

[APPENDIX-4.1]

From: John Greenhalgh, Practitioner's Guide to School Business Management, Allyn and Bacon, Boston, 1978, pp. 261-273. Sam B. Tidwell,
rd
Financial and Managerial Accounting for Elementary and Secondary Schools, 3 Ed., 1985, pp.597 -628.