Funds and Ledgers

Owned by Nancy L. Hallock (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Jun 06, 2019 by Jennifer Koerber (Unlicensed)Version comment
3 min read

Definitions

The Alma budget structure has three levels of fund structure hierarchy:

  • Ledger: the highest level of the fund structure hierarchy. Ledgers represent campus and funding source (as defined by library business offices). They combine a large number of summary funds and allocated funds under a single umbrella. During migration in 2018, ledgers were created for each Harvard University financial tub.
  • Summary Fund: the middle level of the fund structure hierarchy. Summary funds exist purely for reporting purposes and cluster subsets of allocated funds together. They do not have money allocated to them and cannot be used to place orders or pay invoices.
    • Summary funds themselves have two levels: Parent Summary and Child Summary. Every Ledger has at least one Parent Summary Fund. Every Parent Summary Fund has at least one Child Summary Fund.
  • Allocated fund: the lowest level of the fund structure hierarchy. Allocated funds have dollars allocated to them, can have orders placed against them, and can be used to pay invoices. Allocated funds can be dedicated to a specific subject area and purchase type, or to a specific endowment or foundation fund. Allocated funds match the structure of the Harvard University Chart of Accounts.

 

List of FY19 Ledgers, Summary Funds, Allocated Funds

View the FY19 Ledgers with Summary Funds and Allocated Funds for more details on current ledgers and funds.

 

Example of Ledger, Parent Summary, Child Summary, and Allocated Funds

This Example is from withing the Ledger for Harvard College Library, tub 415, from Fiscal Year 2019:

  • Ledger: FHCL^Harv Coll Library - Code:415



    • FHCL^Sciences - Parent Summary - Code: 415.3611



      • FHCL^Cabot - Collections - Child Summary (org) - Code: 415.36130



        • FCOL XT Hvd Union Class of 1878 Fund (1920) - Code: 415.36130..481003.651123.0000.00000

Note:The structure of all funds is apparent in the Path which appears with the record.


Searching for Funds and Ledgers

Go to Acquisitions >> Acquisitions Infrastructure >> Funds and Ledgers. Click on the name of a fund to show detailed information about the fund. The second tab will show the list of Transactions, which can be searched in a number of ways and filtered by:

    • Allocation
    • Expenditure
    • Encumbrance
    • Disencumbrance
    • Transfer

For more detailed information about searching and navigating funds, see Funds: Searching & Navigation.


Selecting a Fund for Order or Payment

When creating orders and paying order invoices in Alma, you will use an Allocated Fund, available in a drop-down list at the appropriate field in the order or invoice form. The drop-down list of funds contains only Allocated funds (despite the header that states Funds and Ledgers).

Allocated Funds can be searched by:

  • All
  • Code
  • Description
  • External ID 
  • Name

The fund list displays:

  • Fund name
  • Fiscal period
  • Available balance
  • Code
  • Warning 
  • Allocated balance

Choosing an allocated fund from this list will populate the fund field in the Order or Line item of an Invoice. See One-Time Orders for Physical Items and Creating and Editing an Invoice for more details.

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