BUCS Fund Accounting

BUCS Modules

BUCS (BUdgetary Control System) is a fully integrated fund accounting system designed to meet the needs of government, nonprofit and educational agencies. Designed in modules, BUCS allows the user to select the components that fit their specific needs.

BUCS is a true fund accounting system, not a reworked commercial program. It's designed to address the special needs of fund accounting operations. Start with a basic system, expand it as needed. With eleven modules to choose from, BUCS allows you to tailor the package to the specific needs of your installation.

Fund Accounting is special. We have emphasized those features. BUCS can operate on a cash or accrual basis, by fund; the number of funds is unlimited; account codes can be up to 29 positions, free in-form; encumbrance processing is available; a reversal mechanism is provided to make entries that will prevent overstating revenues and expenses; payables and receivables from different funds can be mixed because the system tracks items individually by fund; it provides for amounts up to one billion dollars; grant tracking is a standard feature; it consolidates funds into groups by class and by type; Reports are offered for the special needs of fund reporting. These features allow you to fit BUCS to your operation like "a hand in a glove."

Ease of use is vital. In order to make it that way, BUCS features windows, help screens, simplified processing with entries made automatically; instant error checks for accuracy and exception handling capabilities. Work is simplified. Payments from multiple funds can be expensed on a single invoice; up to fourteen invoices can be paid with a single check; manual check processing is permitted; standard invoices, like copier rental, are stored for fast processing; conflicts between encumbrance and invoice amounts are automatically handled; Bank/Check reconciliation is available. BUCS eliminates the tedious tasks in accounting.

Automatic Posting from other packages is important. Frey packages are integrated. Other programs can send entries to the general ledger with a simple-to-use file interface. BUCS edits the entries for errors and posts them. Hand posting of entries from other systems, which is time consuming and prone to errors, is eliminated.

Security is a standard feature. Menu item access is controllable by user. Types of access are view, update or no access, account ranges, and spending limits. These capabilities are a must to properly protect your vital information.

On-line retrieval of Paid Invoices eliminates the need to search through piles of paper to answer frequently asked, time-consuming requests.

Standard Reports include Revenues, Expenses, Trial Balances, Balance Sheets, Fund Balances, Income Statements plus many others. All can be set up and tailored by the user using the powerful report generator supplied with the system. And, a report scheduler is provided so that you can prepare up to eighteen reports at a time with a single command. Report preparation drops from days to minutes.

Budgeting is made easy. Quickly prepare financial plans using mass change facilities. This allows one to change entire categories of accounts with just a few commands. It also allows one to budget by period, quarter and/or annually. BUCS eliminates adding machines and worksheets from the budgeting process.

Documentation is extensive and clear. The user guide is packed with detailed instructions, display/report examples, and processing procedures. An on-line electronic manual is provided to make using the system a breeze. A tutorial is available for one to practice before implementing the software. All of this has been provided to make the implementation and use of BUCS as smooth and easy as possible.

BUCS Modulesback to top

General Ledger (Required): Provides for the establishment of the chart-of-accounts; the posting of transactions and the preparation of the reports associated with a fund oriented general ledger system. A Report Generator function allows you to tailor reports to your specific needs. You define what information prints, where it prints, where subtotals and totals appear, line spacing, page breaks, titles, headings and more. Choose from more than eighty (80) items to be printed on the revenue and expense reports. Items can be printed in any combination. With the built-in calculation functions, the type of reports that can be produced with BUCS is almost unlimited. Facilities are also included in on-line posting to establish, store and recall "standard" journal entries. These entries can be used to streamline the posting of any entry that recurs periodically.

Advanced Allocations: The ability to process allocations is a standard part of the General Ledger. However, many clients manage a large number of projects and/or grants that require pooled overhead to dynamically be distributed to those operations. Advanced Allocations fulfills that need by dynamically analyzing activity in each operation and then distributes pooled accounts accordingly

Accounts Payable: Invoices and checks can be processed on a cash or accrual basis. Set up a vendor file; process invoices for payment; print reports detailing invoices in-process; and, generate payment checks. It provides for processing invoices which have been encumbered; invoices against mixed funds on a single check; and, automatically posts all necessary entries to the General Ledger. As entries are processed, vendor spending and appropriation limit tests are applied to assure that funds are available for that distribution item. You can create "standard" invoice formats for processing recurring type items such as copier rental, utility bills, etc. The dollar distributions may be in the form of amounts or percentages. Paid invoices may also be retained for on-line retrieval.

CC-Tracker: Streamlines and enhances the processing of credit card transactions. Charge slips are entered as invoices and marked as credit card transactions. When the statement arrives, all slips are presented for reconciliation. Provides a true picture of vendor activity and highlights misuse of credit cards.

Positive Pay: Creates a database to be sent to the bank containing dates, check numbers, and amounts. The bank validates all incoming checks against the database. It prevents the fraudulent altering of check amounts. Banks are no longer absorbing the cost of altered checks. They are passing the responsibility on to the customer. Clearing House, which is published by the National Automated Clearing House Association.

Cash Receipts: A fast and efficient way to enter receipts with automatic balancing and a Cash Receipt Journal. This is especially useful when processing receipts that must be distributed to several revenue accounts and different funds. The appropriate revenue and cash accounts are automatically validated, balanced and posted to the General Ledger.

Encumbrances: Available for those entities that must use encumbrance processing as a part of their accounting operation. This is normally required in government and public school operations. Obligations are entered into the system in the form of purchase orders, contracts, etc. Each expense item that will be affected by the encumbrance is identified and automatically posted to the General Ledger. The controlling account for encumbrances is also updated in the General Ledger for each fund. Liquidation of the encumbrance is made automatically when the invoice is processed. Provisions are made to handle full as well as partial liquidations of encumbrances.

Billing-Accounts Receivable: Full featured, integrated system for billing a variety of goods and services. This module addresses the requirements for both one-time bills as well as cycle-based billing like refuse collection charges. Bills and receipts can be co-mingled for multiple funds. And, complex fund accounting issues like unapplied cash and credit memos are properly addressed.

Combining Reports: This module is used to create and maintain an alternate set of accounts for reporting. This alternate account scheme enables different accounts to be assigned and accumulated under a common format. This module gives you the power to create complex FASB 177 and GASB 34 columnar reports.

Budget Planning: Simplify the preparation of budgets. It allows the user to establish a base budget predicated on current budget figures, last twelve months of actuals, zero based and/or specified amounts. Once a "draft" has been created, the user may modify the plan by discrete line item or may apply mass changes by object category. Example: you can specify that all supply expense accounts should be increased by 10 percent, all phone expense accounts should be decreased by 3 percent and all professional dues accounts should be increased by five dollars. Budgets can be prepared by period, quarter and/or annually. Using the Report Generator mechanism, reports can be prepared detailing the plan in almost any format the user desires. Once the plan has been approved, it can be transferred to the General Ledger for implementation in one easy step.

Requisition Control: Controls the encumbrance and purchase order process by establishing an approval mechanism based on spending limits for individuals. User defined spending limits control the process. A notification system advises the approver that purchase orders are awaiting their review. If a requisition is rejected, the system notifies the originator. The Accounts Payable and Encumbrance modules must be available in order to use this capability. These programs are embedded in the A/P and Encumbrance software. Their functions only appear if the Requisition Module has been enabled.

Fee Receipting: Prepares receipts and certificates for miscellaneous fees that are collected. Examples: building permits, pet licenses, business licenses, burning permits. Documents can be user customized using Crystal Reports. Complete accounting, inquiries and reports are also provided.

Bank/Check Reconciliation: Provides the user with a fast convenient mechanism to reconcile checking accounts. A check voiding feature is provided that automatically reverses the accounting entries associated the check. Receipts/deposits are also reconciled. The module also allows you to examine outstanding, cleared and voided checks prior to purging reconciled checks from the file.

Fixed Assets: Facilities to establish and maintain fixed asset data and accounting distributions. Calculates depreciation and generates appropriate entries for the general ledger. A facility is available for calculating replacement cost for insurance purposes. Applicable reports and labels are produced by this module.

Data Dictionary: Allows access to retrieval and analysis tools via an ODBC gateway. This enables the performance of ad hoc inquiries, reports, and file transfers to other systems. Using BUCS data files, one can extract fields and design reports using Excel, Crystal Reports, Word, Access, and other software products.

Microsoft SQL Database: Optional data storage method for those sites who prefer MS SQL as a standard.