(upbeat music)
-: All right, good afternoon everyone.
My name is Mike Davis.
I'm the manager of the cash counting branch
at Fiscal Service, and we're here today
to talk a little bit about
what is a Business Event Type Code, or a BETC,
and the proper way to us BETCs.
And up here with me is my colleague and good friend,
Mark Ross, and he has told me that he is mostly here
just for moral support and to provide a little bit
of eye candy on stage.
Mark: 100% moral support.
-: Okay, we will let him do that.
No, he'll be here to help with some questions
probably that you guys are gonna have.
So we'll walk through our learning objectives
for this afternoon.
What is a Business Event Type Code?
We will talk about that.
We will talk about why BETCs are important.
We will talk about the BETC Universe,
all the BETCs that exist out there currently,
and maybe some that we are gonna be adding here soon.
And how you can get help regarding Business Event Type Codes
and how to use them.
So, our financial management vision
and we have a desire to strengthen reporting
and to make federal financial data more accessible,
more transparent, and we feel like the proper use
of Business Event Type Codes feeds into that very well.
And we know that we need the agency community's assistance
and support and all the contributions that you make
in order to be successful.
So, we want to ensure
that operational excellence is achieved.
Not only in servicing you as the agency community,
and ensuring that you have all the tools and assistance
that you need to be able to report properly,
to process your transactions efficiently and effectively,
but we also understand that operational excellence
on your side is a top priority also.
So we wanna make sure that we give you whatever we need to
in order to help you to achieve that goal
on your side as well.
So, some bullets underneath that.
So you're gonna hear me talk a little bit
about string TAS versus component TAS and BETC.
You're gonna hear me talk about some tools
that are available to find BETCs and what is coming
in the future, so all of that will feed into helping you
as the agency community in conducting your mission
and ensuring operational excellence on your side.
So what is a BETC?
A BETC is a code within the Central Accounting
and Reporting System, or CARS as most of you know it,
and we use that to identify the type of activity
that you are reporting such as payments, collections,
investments, you may have some funds held
outside of Treasury, any situations like that,
you're gonna use a Business Event Type Code in the future
if you are not currently to report
to Treasury that activity.
So each BETC can be up to eight characters
in length currently.
The BETC, along with the Treasury Account Symbol,
and the amounts are used to report the type of activity
and the affect that that activity has
against your Fund Balance with Treasury balances
for that identified TAS.
So BETCs replace the transaction codes
and standard sub-classes that have been used in the past.
And BETCs are assigned in CARS for use
with specific TASs based on legislations.
So, if in the future, you feel like you have the need
and you have the legal authority
to report specific types of BETCs,
we can use FHOT as an example, maybe you have
outside accounts at commercial banks for one reason
or another, or outside investment accounts,
maybe you have a Vanguard account that your agency
is using to invest excess funds until you need them
for your cashflow purposes.
If you have the legislative ability
to be able to do that, yet, when you look
at the TAS and BETC listing combination
that's available on the same public website,
and you're not seeing those BETCs that you feel
that you need associated with your TAS,
you can reach out to me, you can reach out to Jerome Jackson
in the budget appropriation and analysis section
and they will ensure that,
assuming you do have that legislative authority,
that they get those BETCs assigned to those TASs
that you need them on.
So, BETCs exist as a means to identify
the specific type of activity or balances
that you as the agency are reporting.
So OMB, us at Treasury, GAO, even you the agencies
can drive requests for BETCs to exist
for specific reporting or tracking purposes.
So if you, as an agency,
feel that you have a valid recommendation
for a Business Event Type Code to exist,
you can absolutely reach out to us at Treasury.
We will pull in our friends at OMB
and vet that internally, externally,
and ensure that the request is valid,
but it would absolutely be possible
to have additional BETCs added
if there was a need to do that.
So, why is a BETC important?
It provides a more intuitive breakdown of events
when you use string TAS.
So, string TAS is, most of us I think are probably aware
of all of the components that make up a TAS.
So there is a sub-level prefix, there's an ATA,
there's an AID, a main, an availability type code.
You may have beginning and ending periods of availability.
You may have a sub-account.
So all of those are the components
of a Treasury Account Symbol.
If you're reporting in string format,
all of that information for the TAS
is basically concatenated,
if we're talking Excel terms here, and put together
and you report that concatenated TAS as a positive
or negative amount as a receipt or disbursement.
No where in that file
will you specify a specific Business Event Type Code
to be used.
In component format, you report that Treasury Account Symbol
with each individual component.
And some of them you may never have a sub-level prefix,
you may never have an ATA.
If you have a multi-year fund with a beginning
and ending period of availability,
you won't have an availability type code.
But even though for that specific TAS,
you don't have those fields, all of that information
is reported together, and then you're gonna report
an amount in a debit column and an amount
in a credit column with a specific Business Event Type Code
and that's gonna tell us at Treasury
and tell CARS how to classify that transaction
and how that transaction should impact your fund balance
with Treasury for the Treasury Account Symbol
that you've indicated.
So in the past when string TAS has been used,
system logic that occurs within CARS
has been used to assign a Business Event Type Code for you.
So, in the future and we don't know when yet,
but we know that we're certainly moving toward requiring
all agencies to report all transaction activity
in component format and that at some point,
string TAS will stop being supported.
And we have several reasons, I won't go into that now.
I've went into a little bit
in some of the other presentations,
but if you're curious about that, you can find me
and we can certainly talk about it.
So a BETC allows for further alignment to GTAS.
A lot of you are probably aware
that there are certain business aligned GTAS edits
that a combination of transactions that have been used
with specific BETCs are what make up one side
of performing the validation of that edit.
A BETC provides programmatic breakdown needed
for auditability which means that data flows
from a source system and then to CARS,
then to GTAS for ultimate display in the financial report.
So, what's standing in the way currently of auditability?
So, I'm gonna get off of the BETC train here
for just a moment and talk about ALCs
that are not currently CARS reporters
which historically has kind of had an effect
on whether you are reporting transactions
in component versus string.
At the end of the day the two issues
are really separate issues.
You can be a reporter, you can be a non-reporter,
and you can report in component format.
But as transitions of ALCs to CARS reporters began,
one of the stipulations was that when you converted
to a CARS reporter, you would be required
to report in component format.
So over the years, and as those ALC transitions occurred,
we ran into some scenarios where maybe it was
extremely burdensome and produced undo burden
on the agencies and we made the decision for a few
of those agencies to continue to support string
even though they were converting to reporters.
So, we've been as lenient basically with that
as we could be, but it is becoming readily apparent to us
with new BETC requests and things of that nature
that continuing the support of that string reporting
is gonna be something that we're gonna have to discontinue.
And not only those complications
with adding additional BETCs and trying to build that logic
so that CARS can assign the BETC appropriately.
Not only is that a problem, but also we feel
like you as the agency community who know your transactions
are the best suited to identify the Business Event Type Code
that goes with that transaction.
So, we're kind of at a crossroads here
where we don't feel like it is a good decision
to continue to allow CARS to assign BETCs for you.
You know your activity and you should know
what Business Event Type Code to use with that activity
so at some point in the future,
and expect further communication on this,
but at some point we are going to have to stop the support
of that string reporting and require it in component only.
So, ALCs that are non-reporters
are standing in the way of auditability.
Transaction-level detail is not available in CARS
for the reporters, because basically transactions
aren't classified on the front end.
So you're submitting summary-level information
for all of your Treasury Account Symbols
at the end of the month
and it is preventing the traceability
of specific transactions to the classification.
Statement of Differences is also standing
in the way of auditability.
So again, this is something that most of you
are probably familiar with,
because even if you're a reporter now,
you weren't more than likely at one point.
So a Statement of Difference occurs
when the source system transaction data that is captured
in CARS does not match what you're agency reports
for that month.
So, let's say we have $500 dollars of IPAC transactions
that came in during the month and CARS captures
that you had $500 dollars worth of IPAC activity,
but when you go to report that at the end of the month,
you only report $400 dollars.
Well, $100 dollars Statement of Difference occurs
in that scenario and as most of you are well aware,
the numbers are much larger than $100 dollars
typically, when SODs are created
so not knowing the classification
of those SODs is standing in the way
of our auditability and if you are an agency
with outstanding Statements of Difference,
just last week you would've received a letter from me
asking for additional information regarding
that Statement of Difference, why it occurred,
the root cause of why it occurred,
some plans on how you can prevent that,
a similar SOD from occurring in the future
and also your plans for how and when you plan
to classify that data,
and a corrective action plan regarding that.
So if you're at an agency that is still a non-CARS reporter,
and you're responsible for any of the cash reporting
that takes place, if you haven't seen that yet, you will.
It was sent to the individuals on the distribution list
for the quarterly CFO scorecard
and I'm sure will be filtered down at some point.
And then the last item standing in the way of auditability
that we have up here is the transactional details
in CIR, PIR, IPAC are not available in CARS
so hence they are not in GTAS.
So again, I went through a little bit of an explanation
regarding the string versus component reporting.
So that too, is standing in the way of auditability,
because we don't know with 100% percent certainty
that CARS has assigned the Business Event Type Code
that you would have assigned had you selected that yourself.
So that's a reason that we are moving in that direction.
And then, CARS reporter adjustments
that are done at the summary level
rather than the transaction level
so we are still engaged with GAO and we're talking
about this with them currently.
But preliminary information supplied by GAO
says that, "if you are a CARS reporter agency
"and you're only reclassifying transactions once a month,
"and you're doing it at the summary level,
"that's breaking that traceability
"from how that transaction impacted the schedules
"of the general fund being able to trace
"back to the CARS account statement
"in knowing how it was classified."
So you may have a transaction that came in
on a specific TAS with a BETC initially
and if you're only doing your re-classes once a month
at the summary level, there's no tie between
that initial transaction
and the reclassification transaction.
So at least initially, that is something that GAO
has told us is standing in the way of auditability.
We fully expect to push back on that a little bit
and have some conversations and see if we can get
around meeting that information,
because I can tell you from my experience,
so I spent several years
in the administrative resource center within Fiscal Service
in the cash accounting branch
where we were doing cash reporting, cash reconciliation
for the 35 or 40 federal agencies that ARC supports,
and in ARC we were doing summary-level re-classifications
and we were not tying back those re-classifications
to individual transactions.
So we are well aware that for some agencies
and I'm sure all agencies aren't doing the things
the way we were in ARC, but I'm sure there are also
some that are, understand that we know what that would mean
to those agencies who are doing re-classifications
that way and we will do our best to see
if we can't steer that conversation somewhere else.
So, how do we get to auditability?
So we need to transition the remaining non-CARS reporters
to CARS reporters.
Currently, we're sitting with about 99% of the TDO,
Treasury Disbursing Office, ALCs,
as full reporters, we only have literally two
that have not converted to full reporters yet
and we are fully engaged with those agencies
and are working towards that.
And for the non-Treasury disbursing offices,
we are only 16% complete currently.
The good news about that is by the end of the calendar year,
we actually expect that 16% to be more like 60%.
So we are engaged with a lot of those ALCs
and we know that there are actually a couple hundred
that will be converting to full reporters
here in the near future.
So if you're still using string TAS on your re-classes,
on transactions that you're reporting,
please come talk to us.
We can help you make the transition to component format.
We can help you if you're not familiar
with Business Event Type Codes
and how to identify those, and we can be of assistance.
So please come talk with us.
And then it's also important that,
for those of you who are currently reporting
in component format, to use the right BETC
and the right TAS on the initial transaction
when it's processed, not after the fact in CARS
when you're going to re-classifications.
Take a look at the re-classifications
that you're doing on a monthly basis.
If it's trading partners who are generating the information,
that are forcing those re-classifications,
work with them and try to get the transaction classified
on the front end accurately.
Not only is it gonna save you work in the long run,
because then you're not gonna have to re-class.
It will help us here at Fiscal Service
with some of our auditability concerns
and as far as the Business Event Type Codes
that are available, the ones we are adding,
there is more guidance coming soon on those.
So, I don't know how well you can see that.
What this is is a screen within ISIM,
where you can actually go in and change your CARS profile
so that you are viewing information
in CGAC format, component format.
So, I just threw that out there.
That's actually good, because you'll know
if you hear CGAC or component format,
those are the same thing.
So right here you can see a little checkbox
that says, "Is CGAC."
All you have to do is login to ISIM, check that box,
and if the way you are entering transactions
prior to doing this was in string format,
this is gonna change it, and you're now gonna be able
to enter the information.
It's gonna give you all the fields that you need
to be able to enter transactions in component format.
So I just wanted to share that to you
so that you would know how to make the transition.
Oh, I had a red box there, sorry.
Didn't need to use the laser pointer, did I?
I forgot about that.
All right, so here's an example,
and again I don't know how well you'll be able to see this,
but this is an example of that profile in string
versus in component format.
So, looking at a re-classification screen here in CARS,
and on the left side here you can see
that this is where I was talking about
where the red box is, this is where I was talking
about in string format,
all of that information is concatenated.
You're typing in your TAS, sorry.
Typing into your TAS in that box.
And then in component format,
once you've flipped your profile what you're going to see
is what I was talking about earlier.
All of the individual components of the TAS
and then also you see that this BETC column is added.
So that's where you're gonna tell us
what Business Event Type Codes needs to go
with the transaction that you're reporting.
So the BETC Universe.
Currently, there are over 300 BETCs that have been created
and exist within CARS, and that number is on its way up.
So we know, what's the number Mark?
What, currently we have 70?
Mark: 75-ish, 80-some--
-: 75, 80 BETCs that are in the works
of being added currently.
If you'll stick around after this presentation,
the lovely Missy Williams will be talking,
she's mad at me right now, I'm sorry.
Oh, it's a secret.
She'll be talking about some BETCs that are being added
for loan-related activity, and if you're listening
to Joel Erb on Monday you heard about the disbursement,
BETCs being broke out here in the near future.
So, the good news about the 300, or maybe close to 400 soon,
Business Event Type Codes that exist
is that the majority of the agencies
will only use a small subset of those BETCs.
There are a lot of BETCs that are specialized
and used to report activity
that a lot of agencies don't have.
So, while that 300, 400 number can be scary
on the forefront, the real truth of the matter is,
you're not gonna use that many.
You'll use a small subset and I'm actually trying
to lead a group right now who is taking a look at the
around 300 BETCs that exist in the system currently
to see if we truly need all 300,
and I can tell you that we don't,
because we've already identified some that
have never been used or not assigned
to any Treasury Account Symbols within CARS
which means you can't use them.
So we're gonna try to slim that list down a little bit.
It'll be give and take,
'cause we're adding some, removing some.
And then here's the bullet about more BETCs are coming.
So there's a repayable advance BETC that is in currently.
It was not when I created these slides.
What's that?
Man: Tonight.
-: Oh, it goes in tonight.
There we go.
Man: You're breaking.
-: So, yay, breaking news.
That's right.
What is it, Wolf Blitzer says, "Breaking news."
So, maybe I may be qualified for his job here before long.
So, repayable advance BETC goes in tonight.
Cash refunds for prior year disbursements.
That's something that we've been working on
and will be going in fairly soon.
Also, the disbursement BETCs loan activity BETCs
will be expanded as I've already spoke about,
and somewhere in the near future there will also
be some of our appropriation type BETCs
that are added to the system and for the most part,
Jerome, shake your head if I'm wrong,
but I feel like those appropriation type BETCs
are really used more by your group
than the agency community.
They will probably see them
on their account statement, but--
Man: Disqualify them just slightly.
-: Okay.
Man: Impacting OMB's schedule.
-: Yeah, absolutely.
So, used by Jerome's group, but impacting the OMB schedules
and information that they look at.
So, how to use BETCs.
I hope that I'm not gonna disappoint,
because I'm not gonna pull up a list of BETCs
and go through scenarios for this is when you use this type
of BETC, but what I'm going to actually do
is point you towards the guidance that exists
and tell you about some new guidance
that we'll be rolling out here really shortly
and how you can get assistance with determining
which BETCs to use for transactions.
So the TFM has many instances of specifying certain types
of activity or balances that must be reported to Treasury
and in some cases, the Business Event Type Code
that goes along with that type of activity
is actually spelled out in the TFM.
The current list of BETCs with descriptions,
whether they are an increase or decrease indicator,
and other reference information is listed
on the same public website, and I give you a link here
that you can use and pool down that information.
So many of you have probably seen it.
It's called the BETC Listing FACT Sheet, PDF version.
I don't think there's an Excel version.
Nope, PDF version.
It will give you a listing of all the BETCs that exist
and a lot of great information.
It will also include standard sub-classes
that have been used historically
when you were reporting in string format.
So as you're making that transition from string to component
this sheet may be helpful to you as you are determining
what sub-classes are being used and what BETC
that equates to, because at the end of the day
that's what the sub-class is telling that transaction.
So, another source of information that many of you
are probably are already aware of,
but I want to point it out is the listing
of valid TAS and BETC combinations that exist
is also listed on that same public website.
And so, the last link that I gave you
was directly to that PDF document.
This one is just to the same public website
where you can pull down an Excel file, CSV file,
that will give you the listing of all valid TAS
and BETC combinations that exist in the universe.
It's not just your agency, it's everything.
So, lots of good information there
and I know there are several agencies
that use that on a regular basis.
Some systems even get a feed of that
to ensure that their system is updated on a daily basis.
And just to point out, that information is,
TAS/BETC combination listing is updated on a daily basis.
A feed from CARS occurs and that is updated
and a new file put out there everyday
assuming there are updates.
And then, one of the most exciting things
that I wanted to share with all of you
is that new guidance is coming soon
and we are at least tentatively planning
that that guidance will also be posted
on the same public website.
That way that you'll have kind of everything
that you need to be able to determine
the appropriate TAS and BETC combination
will be right there in one place.
And stay tuned, I'm gonna show you an example here.
So, the current list of BETCs, what we have here
is just a screenshot I took of that BETC listing FACT sheet
that I talked about just a few minutes ago.
You can see that you have the actual BETC itself
which we talked about can be up to eight characters.
This is the information that you would actually put
in the system to report that BETC.
Here you've got a description of what this code means.
You've got your debit credit indicator.
Keep in mind when we're talking about debit
and credit indicator for cash reporting purposes,
and when we're talking about BETCs,
you gotta thinking banking debits and credits,
not typical accountant debits and credits.
So anything that shows up in this column
as a debit is gonna be a decrease to your fund balance
with Treasury, anything that shows as a credit
is gonna increase your fund balance with Treasury.
Here's the column I spoke about a few minutes ago
and this example doesn't have any,
but there was the standard sub-classes that were used
in string format that can help you
with making the transition from using that subclass
with your string TAS
to identify a specific type of activity.
If you can pull up this listing, look for the subclass
that you were looking for.
It's gonna tell you what BETC it equates to over here.
And then we've got a IPAC payment collection indicator.
So that's pretty much gonna marry up
with the GWA debit credit indicator only
instead of seeing a D for debit,
you're gonna see a P for payment.
And there are a few other fields
that are over to the right on that listing as well,
but there is an example of that BETC Listing FACT sheet.
So, this is an example of the TAS/BETC combination file
that you can pull down the Excel file
from SAM public that gives you all of the TAS
and BETC combinations
that are valid combinations that exist.
So as you can see here,
gives you the Treasury Account Symbol
that you're looking at.
So, I apologize for not blowing out
some of these columns a little larger,
but I was trying to get as much on the screen as I could.
Here's the actual BETC column.
So it tells you the TAS that you're looking for,
and you could filter on this row,
pull in only the TAS that you're looking for
and it will give you a listing of every BETC
that is available for that TAS.
So, I would say that's probably what I wanted you
to get out of this the most is that you can do that
and find every valid combination.
So the new guidance that I was talking about
that we are developing, here's an example of that.
Hopefully you'll like the look of it,
but we would absolutely welcome feedback
when we roll this out if you have additional information
that you would like to see on this.
So again, probably gonna be an Excel file
that we're gonna put on the same public website.
Again, you're gonna have the Business Event Type Code
here in the beginning, a description.
This will be the same information that's listed currently.
Standard subclass here we have an example now,
so we're talkin' FHOT subclass 41 transaction code,
if you were using that.
Some agencies were or were not.
But the additional information that were added
that I feel like is gonna be beneficial for you guys
is this description of use column
where we are actually in a few more words
describing when that BETC should be used on a transaction.
We are also going to link you within that spreadsheet
to some applicable GTAS edits that are pertainable
to that Business Event Type Code that has been used.
So if you have a business line edit for FHOT,
certain grouping of BETCs is gonna be added together
and make sure they match your information in your GL
when you're submitting that GTAS information.
We've tried to link you to those edits
within the spreadsheet and give you that information.
We are also going to attempt to link you
to further guidance that is in the TFM, in this column,
and you can see we haven't worked out
how to do those links yet, but we will be doing that.
But this is an example
of what we envision the new guidance document to look like.
We'll certainly continue, this will certainly continue
to evolve and will hopefully become much more comprehensive
even than this, but we feel like this is a good start
and it was something that we could get together
fairly quickly and we expect to release this
and have it posted on that same public website
where if we have to pivot and put that somewhere else.
You will be getting communication that the guidance
is available when we put it out
and it will let you know where to go and find that.
So, some items that are on the horizon.
The new BETCs mentioned earlier
that Missy's gonna talk about here
in about a half hour related to the loan-related activity.
We already talked about the BETCs that Joel is working on
to split out the DISB, talked about Jerome's,
and although we aren't actively working on any others yet,
we've heard some rumblings that there could be
some additional BETCs being requested.
So we expect that trend to continue
as we attempt to get down to a more granular level
for all of the activity.
So, that initial draft of new guidance
as I spoke about is expected to be released
around the beginning of fiscal year 2020.
Changes to the reporting format
to require component reporting
and illuminate the availability of string reporting
is absolutely coming as we've talked about already.
So, just wanted to reiterate those points
as I felt like they were some of the most important.
So at this point, we'll take some questions
if anyone has them.
Teresa.
You care to use the mic?
She'll get it for you.
Teresa: Do you expect any new guidance
to eventually put columns in there
for budgetary and proprietary SGLs?
-: Yeah, so I think that, have you mentioned that before
when we've talked about this potentially?
Teresa: I don't remember. -: No? Okay.
So, okay.
Like I said, I feel like the example
that I showed and what we're trying
to put together right now and get out quickly
so that agencies will have some more information
that they can rely on.
I feel like this is just the first draft,
and I feel like it can get way better
than just this is gonna be.
So we will absolutely be engaging with you
and the others at OMB to ask for feedback
and for items such as that that you feel like
would be beneficial to all the parties
that are interested in.
Absolutely, we'll continue working on it
and we'll be willing to add additional information.
And also, I want to make it clear that we want feedback
from you all as the agencies as well.
So if this document, when you see it,
is not giving you what you need, please reach out to us
and tell us.
Maybe we can add some additional information,
some additional links.
I don't know what it will look like without knowing
what the questions are, but please reach out to us
and let us know, because this is really your document
to help you and we want it to be helpful to you.
Go ahead.
Woman: So, are you gonna be reaching out to agencies
as well as to the OMB and phase that, I hope,
on how to improve the whole BETC structure?
I mean, I'm also thinking in terms
of the USSGL TC codes, because agencies
should certainly know when they're setting up a BETC,
what the USSGL TC code is and that's super important.
A lot of agencies, all the cabinet-level agencies
are required by law to comply with the USSGL
on a transaction level
and so this would be tremendously helpful
to them to include that.
-: Sure, we would welcome all feedback,
and I just asked for the feedback
from the agencies, so yeah.
Woman: Thank you.
-: All the help we can get, we will take it.
We wanted to be as helpful as possible.
Any other questions?
Woman 2: I have a question in regards
to changing your profile to a CGAC user.
I have a team member who they've tried to change
it the old way under CARS in the profile section.
So it's now the preferred way to go through,
was it ITIM, or whatever front-facing?
-: ISIM, yes.
Woman 2: Okay.
-: Yeah, and so that, just to make everyone aware,
if you haven't encountered that.
So there is a screen within CARS
that it looks like you can change that.
It will let you select it and go through the process
and everything, but it doesn't actually change it.
You are required to login through ISIM
to change that profile.
If anyone needs assistance with that,
you can absolutely reach out to us
and we will assist with how to do that.
Also, here is the contact information
and a group email box that will go to the entire one side
of my branch, the cash analysis section,
and we'll ensure that you get a timely response
with any questions or assistance
that you might need like that.
Anything else?
All right, well appreciate everyone's attention today
and thank you.
(applauding)