Accounting for Departmental Revenues
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Definition and Scope
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How Do I Know If My Department Needs a Revenue Fund?
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Obtaining a New Revenue Fund
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Budgeting for Revenue
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Caveats
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Reference Materials
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Definition and Scope
Departmental revenue or "income" is defined as "Departmental revenue generated from sales to non-University clientele for goods or services." (Business and Finance Bulletin A-56). This policy does not cover gift or contract and grant revenues
Inter departmental transactions between units should not be reported as revenue, these transactions should be recorded as recharge income, which is an expenditure offset account.
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Revenue account values
Departmental Revenue is generally recorded using the following accounts:
Departmental use
46xxx Sales & Services of Educational Activities 47xxx Sales & Services of Auxiliary Enterprises 48xxx Other Operating Revenues If a department feels it is more appropriate to code a transaction with an account in the range 40xxx – 45xxx, please contact General Accounting or Extramural Funds Accounting as follows:
Contact the Extramural Funds Office (efahelp@berkeley.edu) for transactions in the following fund ranges:
18200 – 18999 State Agencies 20400 – 20499 State Agencies 20600 – 20939 State Agencies 20950 – 20999 Local Government – Contract & Grants 21000 – 21099 Federal Appropriations 21100 – 26499 Federal Contracts & Grants 26500 – 26599 Private Contracts & Grants 26600 – 33999 Federal Contracts & Grants 57000 – 59999 Private Contract & Grants 77001 – 77050 Local Government – Contract & Grants 77051 – 77099 State Agencies 77100 – 77149 Local Government – Contract & Grants 79000 – 79499 Private Contracts & Grants 79500 – 79999 Private Contracts & Grants For all other fund ranges, contact the General Accounting Office (gao@berkeley.edu).
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Revenue fund values
Whenever a department generates a significant amount of income from outside sources, such as other institutions, companies or the general public, these amounts should be recorded in a revenue fund range.
Currently, the campus considers any income regularly exceeding $50,000 per fiscal year to be significant enough to establish a revenue fund and to be permanently budgeted.
If revenue is less than $50,000 per annum, please use the following funds:
If the department has an established fund for this type of income, it can continue to be used otherwise:
- Accounts in the range 46xxx-Sales & Services of Educational Activities should be used with Fund number 60050.
- Accounts in the range 47xxx-Sales & Services of Auxiliary Enterprises should be used with the existing fund numbers set up for each auxiliary operation.
- Accounts in the range 48xxx-Sales & Services of Service Enterprises & Other Revenues should be used with Fund number 66350.
Org. codes, project or flex field values, along with the account, can differentiate the type of revenue for reporting & analysis purposes.
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Revenue org code values
The appropriate departmental org. code should be used with revenue accounts in the range 46xxx, 47xxx or 48xxxx. Central org codes should not be used to record departmental revenues.
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Combination validation
The following revenue accounts can only be used in conjunction with specific fund ranges.
Note: Departments should only use accounts in the range:
- 46xxx – Sales & Services of Educational Activities,
- 47xxx – Sales & Services of Auxiliary Enterprises and
- 48xxx – Other Operating Revenues
If a department feels it is more appropriate to code a transaction with an account in the range 40xxx – 45xxx, please contact General Accounting (gao@berkeley.edu) or Extramural Funds Accounting (efahelp@berkeley.edu) on how to proceed.
Account range Account description Fund range 400xx Non-resident Tuition 19900 401xx Application for Admission Fees 19900 402xx Registration Fees 20000 403xx Educational Fees 20094 404xx Summer Session Revenues 20290-20291 4050x Campus-Based Fees 20246-20250 4051x Health Insurance Fees 20270 4052x Special Law / Med. School Fees 20221 4053x Professional Degree Fees 20225, 20226, 20231, 20234 or 20237 4054x Campus Services Support Fees 20158 4055x Self-Supporting Program Fees 20150 or 19900 4056x Course/Instructional Materials Fees 20xxx 4059x Other Student Fees 200xx** 406xx Other General Fund Fees 19900 407xx University Extension Revenues 20300-20399 410xx State General Support 19900-19999 4110x State Specific Support 18000-18069 4111x State Special Funds 18070-18199 4200x U.S. Government Appropriations 21003-21099 412xx State Agencies 18200-18999, 20400-20499, 20600-20939, 77051-77099 421xx U.S. Government Grants 21100-24999, 29000-33999 422xx U.S. Government Contracts 25000-26499, 26600-28999 431xx Local Government Contracts & Grants 20950-20999, 77001-77050, 77100-77149 4400x Private Gifts-Unrestricted 39600-39999 4401x Private Gifts-Restricted 40000-56999 4402x Private Gifts-Uncollectible 39600-39999, 40000-56999 4403x Private Gifts-Discounts on Pledges 39600-39999, 40000-56999 44100 Private Restricted Grants 57000-58999 442xx Private Restricted Contracts 26500-26599, 59000-59999 79000-79999 450xx Endowment Funds Income * see below 46xxx Sales & Services of Educational Activities 60000-65999 47xxx Sales & Services of Auxiliary Enterprises 70000-74999 480xx, 48xxx Other Sources-Service Enterprises 66000-66099 481xx Other Sources-Other 66100-66399, 67320-69999*** * The UC Berkeley campus does currently not use this account, hence no fund range provided.
**The proper fund range for account 40593 (Continuing Education Fees) is 60000-65999.
***The proper fund range for account 48106 (Workstudy Revenue) is 66400-67319.
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How Do I Know If My Department Needs a Revenue Fund?
If your department receives payments from sources not associated with the University for services or materials provided by your department, and the payments directly benefit your department or the University, then these payments are probably revenue. If the total revenue your department receives exceeds $50,000 per fiscal year, your department should obtain a revenue fund and permanently budget for these revenues.
Revenue should not be confused with agency operations or other expenditure reimbursements. A department may undertake work for and incur costs on behalf of professional societies and organizations and receive reimbursements from the particular society or organization. In these cases the department should obtain the monies up front, to prevent potential problems in cash collection for services provided. These reimbursements are not considered revenues and should be credited on the miscellaneous cash receipt form to the departmental expenditure account from which the original expenditures were made. If the transactions relate to an established agency operation, please follow polices for agency operations. See UC Business and Finance Bulletin A-54 Agency accounts for further information.
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Obtaining a New Revenue Fund
In general, the process for obtaining a revenue fund is as follows:
Submit a Revenue Fund Number Request form. Download the Revenue Fund Number Request form and instructions. The form should include a detailed description of the revenue-generating activity and a projected budget of revenues. In order to establish the new fund, revenue-generating activity should amount to at least $50,000 per year.
For revenue fund requests, prepare a memo to accompany the fund request form. The memo should contain the following information to provide additional background to persons reviewing your department's request:
- Description of the items or service to be sold, including pricing and cost information and to whom the sales are expected to be made. This information will be useful in determining if any net revenue generated from the activity is subject to reporting to the Internal Revenue Service as Unrelated Business Income Taxes (See Caveats).
- The estimated amount of annual revenue to be generated from sales of the items or services.
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Budgeting for Revenue
Estimated annual revenue sources less than $50,000 do not have to be permanently budgeted.
Estimated annual revenues sources greater than or equal to $50,000 need to be permanently budgeted as follows:
Departments with revenue accounts should periodically review annual revenue estimates/budgets and determine if re-budgeting is necessary. Budgeted revenue is an estimate and is subject to fluctuation. The pot of money you might have thought would be available at the end of the year might not fully materialize. As a result, if actual income is less than budgeted income, budgeted expenditures may also need to be reduced to remedy the situation. Deficits in "revenue" funds are subject to Short-Term Investment Pool charges.
Please contact your budget representative if you have questions on how to budget for miscellaneous revenues. If you do not know who your contact is, see this list.
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Caveats
- Instructional Fees: Care should be taken in attempting to generate revenues from students. University budget policy prohibits departments from imposing instructional fees on students. Such things as charging for access to and use of laboratory facilities during normal instructional hours would violate this policy. Approval for imposing instructional fees is vested in the Chancellor, the President of the University, and the Regents. Consult the Vice Provost Office or the Budget Office for additional guidance.
- Unrelated Business Income Taxes: Any profits generated by the campus from revenue-generating activities which are not consistent with the purposes of the University are subject to being taxed by the Internal Revenue Service as unrelated business income. Please see the Unrelated Business Income Taxes (UBIT) section in the General Accounting website.
- Sales Tax: In certain circumstances the University as the seller must charge sales tax on sales to third parties. This determination needs to be made depending on whether the transaction is subject to sales or use tax, or the sale is exempt from tax. This will depend on the type of sales being made or services being rendered. See the University of California Sales and Use Tax Manual for further information on whether a transaction is taxable. If you have further questions, please contact General Accounting at gao@berkeley.edu.
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Reference Materials
Additional information can be obtained by consulting the following references:Business & Finance Bulletin, A-56, Academic Support Units Costing and Billing Guidelines
Business & Finance Bulletin, A-59, Costing and Working Capital for Auxiliary and Service Enterprises
Business & Finance Bulletin, A-61, Procedures for Determining Unrelated Business Income and Expenses