Policy 3011

Business Affairs

Fund Balance Reporting

Reviewed and affirmed by the Board:  10/24/2017
Last Revision: 
Original publish date: 09/24/2013
Related policies & regulations:  
Legal references:  

  

Fund balance classification shall be recorded in accordance with governmental accounting standards as promulgated by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), including GASB #54.

 

The order of spending and availability of the fund balance shall be to reduce funds from the listed areas in the following order:  restricted, committed, assigned and unassigned.  Negative amounts shall not be reported for restricted, committed or assigned funds.

 

Fund Balance shall mean the gross difference between governmental fund assets and liabilities reflected on the balance sheet.  Governmental fund assets are those of the General Fund, Special Revenue Funds, Debt Service Funds and Capital Project Funds.

 

The fund balance of the general fund finances most functions in the District.  The fund balance of the general fund shall mean the gross difference between general fund assets and liabilities reflected on the balance sheet.

 

The five classifications of governmental fund balances are as follows:

  1. Non-spendable fund balance means the portion of the gross fund balance that is not expendable (such as inventories) or is legally earmarked for a specific use (such as the self-funded reserves program). Examples of non-spendable fund balance reserves for which fund balance shall not be available for financing general operating expenditures include:  inventories, prepaid items, deferred expenditures, long-term receivables and outstanding encumbrances.
  2. Restricted fund balance includes amounts constrained to a specific purpose by the provider, such as a grantor.  Examples of restricted fund balances include:  child nutrition programs, technology programs, construction programs and resources from other granting agencies.
  3. Committed fund balance means that portion of the fund balance that is constrained to a specific purpose by the Lincoln Board of Education.  Examples include:  potential litigation, claims and judgments and activity funds.
  4. Assigned fund balance means that portion of the fund balance that is spendable or available for appropriation but has been tentatively earmarked for some specific purpose by the Superintendent or designee.  Such plans or intent may change and may never be budgeted or may result in expenditures in future periods of time.  Examples include:  insurance deductibles program start-up costs and other legal uses.
  5. Unassigned fund balance includes amounts available for any legal purpose.  This portion of the total fund balance in the general fund is available to finance operating expenditures. The unassigned fund balance shall be the difference between the total fund balance and the total of the non-spendable fund balance, restricted fund balance, committed fund balance and assigned fund balance.