List of terms

Term Definition See also
Accrual Revenue Recognition Accrued revenue: Revenue is recognized at invoicing, before cash is received.
Activity An activity identifies the tasks being performed for a project. The activity can be a project, phase, task, or activity. See project
Agency An administrative unit of the government or type of administrative division that awards the grant funding the activity or project. See Grantor, prime grantor
Allocated expenditures Project expenditures allocated or distributed to funding sources based on eligibility and funding rules (funding rules include priority, fund percent, and fund amount).
Appropriation An act by Congress, typically on an annual basis, that permits federal agencies to incur obligations and to make payments out of the Treasury for specific purposes.
ARRA The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The overall goals of the ARRA are to stimulate the economy in the short term and invest in education and other essential public services to ensure the long-term economic health of our nation. An act making supplemental appropriations for job preservation and creation, infrastructure investment, energy efficiency and science, assistance to the unemployed, and State and local fiscal stabilization, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, and for other purposes.
Award See Grant or Notice of Grant Award
Budget The amount of money or resources earmarked for a particular institution, activity or time-frame; An itemized summary of intended expenditure. See Funding
CFDA Number

Type the number assigned to a Federal program in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA).

The CFDA is a government-wide compilation of Federal programs, projects, services, and activities which provides assistance or benefits to the American public.

Commitment Lawson terminology for encumbrance. A reservation of allotted funds for estimated contractual activity. See Encumbrance
Contract

Also known as a Grant Agreement, is a negotiated and accepted terms between the awarding agency and the grantee for performance of a grant program, project or activity.

In Lawson, a contract represents a code associated to the Contract activity and is the intersection of the project and the project funding sources.

See Contract Activity
Contract activity The contract activity is associated to a Contract. The Contract and the Contract activity represent the single or multiple funding sources for your grant and/or non-grant funded projects. See Contract
Contract Funding Dollar amount available for contract expenditures. Total funding is the sum of all funding sources. New budget edit which compares project expenditures to funding.
Contracted Grant or non-grant funding allocated to project contracts.
Cost Class Short description for Cost Classification. See Cost Classification
Cost classification A cost classification represents a summarization for grant budgeting and pay request summarization. Grant pay request summarization is dictated by the grant agency and typically does not equate to the account category structure or cost breakdown structure used for project management. See Cost Class
Cost Classification Template A cost classification template is table name which maintains the relationship between cost classifications and detail account categories. A template is assigned to a grant to define valid cost classifications for the Grant Budget. It is also used to assign the cost classification to the grant eligible account categories when the grant is assigned to a contract as a funding source.
Cost share See Match
Deferred Revenue Account Deferred revenue or earned/unavailable account for grant revenue for Modified Accrual Revenue Recognition. GM121 will debit AR and credit deferred revenue (earned/unavailable) for grants funding at invoicing. When cash is received /applied AR195 will reclassify or move the deferred revenue to revenue.
Direct costs Direct costs are actual costs identified with a particular grant activity, such as labor and materials.
DUNS Number (Data Universal Numbering System) Used by Dun & Bradstreet. This is a unique 9-digit number for each grantee that allows the federal government to track federal money.
Eligible expenditures Expenditures are charges made to the project or program. Eligible expenditures refer to project expenditures the grant will reimburse. The following expenditures may not be considered eligible expenditures (loans, purchase of building or land, etc.)
Encumbrance Encumbrance is a management tool used to reflect commitments in the accounting system and attempt to prevent overspending. Encumbrances allow organizations to recognize future commitments of resources prior to an actual expenditure. Amount for which there is a legal obligation to spend in the future. A purchase order is a typical encumbrance transaction See Commitment
Expenditures Sum of the Allocated Expenditures (Cost Type Account Categories) - Updated via GM120 (Grant Expenditure Allocation). Reconcile by running GM290 (Expenditure Allocation Listing) based of the ACHISTDTL "1" released records.
Federal Financial Report (FFR/SF425) Federal Financial Report (FFR or Standard Form 425). The FFR replaces the SF-269 (Financial Statue Report) and SF-272 (Federal Cost Transaction Report) with a single electronic report used by Federal agencies. Submission of interim FFR's are typically filed on a Quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis, as directed by the Federal agency.
Fund Adjustment A fund adjustment is an increase or decrease in funding due to an underfunded or overfunded situation.
Fund Amount Grant award amount, non-grant funding or local funding amount.
Fund Transfer A fund transfer occurs when a grant funds multiple projects and over-funding of one project requires a fund transfer to other projects.
Fund Type Fund type defines if the fund is a grant or non-grant fund. A grant is an external source of funding, a grant, bond or loan. A non-grant fund is an internal source of funding, either local or tax fund represented by a general ledger funds to be assigned to a project. Grant or non-grant fund.
Funding Funding or financing is to provide capital (funds), which means money for a project, a person, a business or any other private or public institutions. See budget
Funding source Funding sources for grants include the federal government, state government, and private grants. Non-grant funding includes local tax funds, loans and bonds. Examples of valid funding sources include: federal grants, state grants, private grants, NIH grants (National Institute of Health), HHS grants (Health and Human Services), local funds, tax funds, and so on.
Grant An award of financial assistance from a Federal agency to a recipient/entity (not individuals) to carry out a public purpose of support or stimulation authorized by a law of the United States. Notice of Grant Award, Award
Grant Budget The grant budget stores grant amounts as reported on the NOGA (Notification of Grant Award). The grant budget is entered by cost classification. The grant budget dictates the grant pay request summarization.
Grant Deliverables A grant deliverable is any deliverable that needs to be sent to a grantor or grant sponsor. Agencies awarding grants may require the grantee to deliver products of the project. Grant personnel may be responsible for deliverables such as financial reports or other deliverables defined by the sponsor. Adding grant deliverables to a grant during setup allows the ability to track the assignment and completion of deliverables through the life of the grant project. The exact same deliverable, such as the Federal Financial Status Report (SF-425), may be submitted at various time frames throughout the life of a Grant.
Grant Eligible Account Categories Grant eligible account categories represent project costs which are eligible for reimbursement by the grant.
Grant Eligible Activities Grant eligible activities represent project tasks which are eligible for reimbursement by the grant.
Grantor

A grantor is an organization that engages a subcontractor to work on a grant or research project. If an organization is a subcontractor on a grant or research project, the grantor is the organization that funds subcontractor, and the prime grantor is the agency that funds the direct sponsor.

A person who makes a grant in legal form; "conveyed from grantor to grantee"

Indirect Costs Indirect costs are costs that are not directly accountable to a cost object or project. Overhead cost incurred in the overall funding of the organization (e.g. administration costs, utilities, etc.) Cost share, local match
Invoice Amount invoiced or amount requested. Equal to the open receivables. See Pay Request
Invoice Amount Amount invoiced or requested from the grantor or grant sponsored agency.
Match The portion of total project allocated expenditures covered by grantee funding. Cost share, local match
Match Fund A match fund is the "grant" the funding source matches.
Modified Accrual Accounting An accounting method commonly used by government agencies that combines accrual-basis accounting with cash-basis accounting. Modified accrual accounting recognizes revenues when they become available and measurable and, with a few exceptions, recognizes expenditures when liabilities are incurred. This system divides available funds into separate entities within the organization to ensure that the money is being spent where it was intended.
Modified Accrual Revenue Recognition Deferred revenue: Revenue is recognized after cash is received.
Multi-Funded Contract A project contract funded by a single or multiple sources.
NGA/NOGA See Notice of Grant Award.
Non-grant Fund Non-grant funds are internal or local funding the grantee contributes towards the project. Non-grant funds are local funds, specifically, tax funds or appropriations used to fund a project. Non-Grant Funds are internal funds (related to a GL Company, Accounting Unit and Account). Non-Grant Funds do not have a sponsor. Nor can you bill or request reimbursement for non-grant funds. A non-grant fund may fund a single project or may fund multiple projects.
Notice of Grant Award The Notice of Grant Award (NOGA) is the legally binding document that notifies an organization or individual that an award has been made. The award notice contains the terms and conditions of the award, and documents the obligation of federal funds. The award notice may be in letter format or may be issued electronically.
Open Receivables Calculated (Receivable - Receipts = Open Receivables).
Pay Request See Invoice
Prime Grantor A prime grantor is an agency that awards a grant or funds a research project. If an organization is subcontractor on a grant or research project, the prime sponsor is the agency that funds a direct sponsor. Prime Grantor is the agency that funds the grantor for pass-thru grants.
Project A project is a temporary endeavor, having a defined beginning and end (usually constrained by date, but can be by funding or deliverables), undertaken to meet particular goals and objectives], usually to bring about beneficial change or added value. See Match
Receipts Cash Receipts. Amount of cash drawn down or received on the project life to date.
Receipt Sum of the AR Applied Amount. Updated by the new AR API (GMAR90PD) executed by AR190/AR195 for Modified Accrual Revenue Recognition.
Receivable Sum of the invoiced or requested receivables (ACHISTDTL). Updated by running GM121. Reconcile by running GM290 (Expenditure Allocation Listing) based on the ACHISTDTL "3" processed records.
Remaining Calculated (Fund Amount - Expenditures = Remaining Balance).
Request for Reimbursement Amount invoiced or amount requested. Equal to the open receivables.
Required match Required match occurs when the organization commits to matching a portion of the project costs within the grant proposal.
Revenue Clearing Account This account represents the revenue clearing or revenue offset account for local or non-grant funding. This account is credited when internal or local funding is assigned to a multi-funded contract via GM20 and is debited when expenditures are allocated to the local funding (GM121 is run).
Revenue Offset Debit side of the entry for non-grant funds.
Source Fund Expense Account This account represents the source fund expense GL account for local or non-grant funding. This account is debited when internal or local funding is assigned to a multi-funded contract via GM20.
Transfer The act of transferring funds from one project contract to another.
Transfer From Fund Account The transfer entries are optional. The Transfer from Fund or source fund represents an Asset account and is debited when internal or non-grant funds are assigned to a contract via GM20 for Modified Accrual Revenue recognition.
Transfer To Fund Account The transfer entries are optional. The Transfer to Fund represents a Liability account and is credited when internal or non-grant funds are assigned to a contract via GM20 for Modified Accrual Revenue recognition.