Procedures for Transfer Accounts Usage
Date: June 2021

Overview of Transfer Accounts

Departments use “Transfer Accounts” to provide support to another department, move money to a different fund or unrestricted project, or to reimburse another department or fund for costs – incurred in a current or prior year.    
Prior to FY2022, the account  5833710 – Revenue Allocation  served all purposes, including both Personnel and Non-Operating Support.

For FY2022, the original account 5833710 will continue to be available, while two new accounts are now available for additional to segregate the transactions.

ACCOUNTS ACCOUNT   PURPOSE  for  UNRESTRICTED FUNDS
5833710 – Revenue Allocation Use this transfer account for unrestricted costs incurred in a prior year; general support not labeled as Personnel or Operating Expenses.  e.g. Funding for START-UP Projects from Provost, START Projects from VPR, F&A Allocation.
5833716 – Revenue Allocation-Personnel Use this account when giving funds to another department to provide support for Personnel.
5833717 – Revenue Allocation-Operating Use this account when giving funds to another department to provide support for Operating Expenses (Non-Payroll).

Note: the same transfer account must be used for both the DEBIT and CREDIT in a journal entry for the accounts.


When to use a Transfer Account vs. Expense Account?

Prior Year Operating Expense: Always use 5833710 – Revenue Allocation for Unrestricted Funds.

Prior Year Payroll Expense:

    • For Unrestricted Funds, determine if the correction is needed.  If the “account” in a previous year was incorrect, but the balance of the department was correct it is not an issue that needs to be resolved with a journal.
    • If an overage occurred on one department, that would result in the need of a retro.

Current Year Operating Expense: Departments can use the new Transfer Account  5833717 – Revenue Allocation-Operating  to provide support to another department for the amount.  Alternatively, if two departments agree, the expense for the item can be moved to the department that is supporting the cost of the expense.

Current Year Payroll Expense:  Departments can use the new Transfer Account  5833716 – Revenue Allocation-Personnel  to provide support to another department for the amount. Alternatively, if one department is reimbursing another department for an Payroll expense, if two departments agree, the expense for the item can be moved to the department that is supporting the cost of the payroll expense.

    • Retro or
    • Journal using a Manual Payroll Account