What’s the easiest way to enter budget amounts?

A simple way to enter a “lump sum” budget amount for operating statement g/l accounts. The respective budget entries are tracked through out the year, and reported on the Operating Statement report. Highlight the Fiscal Year (upper left of screen) by holding down the left mouse button and dragging it across the fiscal period (i.e. 2000001). Change it to the current fiscal year (i.e. January 2004 would be entered as 2004001…..the year 2004, followed by the month 001). Click on the GL to Budget button (upper right) if this is the first time entering budgets or new fiscal year). Select individual g/l account numbers (click on each one) or select all g/l account numbers (by holding down the left mouse button and dragging it down highlighting all the g/l numbers listed). Click the arrow in the center pointing to the right. All the selected g/l numbers will move to the right container. File close to return to the budget entry screen. Now, simply enter the early budget for respective g/l account numbers (under Enter Yearly Budget). The entries may be corrected, changed and/or updated as required by returning to this screen and changing the amount(s).

Maryland Fund Accounting | Enhanced Business Systems

If you look at the financial statements of a major corporation like Apple or Amazon, the primary goal is simple: to show how much profit the company made. But when you look at the finances of a state government, the goal completely shifts. State governments aren’t designed to make a profit; they are designed to provide services, build infrastructure, and protect citizens. To manage this safely and transparently, governments rely on a specialized financial system called fund accounting.

What is Fund Accounting?

Fund accounting is an accounting system used primarily by non-profits and government entities. Instead of pooling all money into one giant bank account to measure overall profitability, fund accounting separates financial resources into distinct, self-balancing “funds.” Each fund is tied to a specific purpose, legal restriction, or designated activity.

To ensure uniformity and transparency across the country, state governments follow rules set by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). Under GASB guidelines, state finances are generally divided into three main buckets:

Governmental Funds: These track basic government services and functions, primarily funded by taxes (e.g., public safety, education, health services).
Proprietary Funds: These operate similarly to a private business, where the government charges fees for services to cover its costs (e.g., toll roads, state lotteries, or public universities).
Fiduciary Funds: These hold assets that the government manages on behalf of others, which cannot be used for the government’s own programs (e.g., state employee pension funds).

Why Fund Accounting is Essential for State Governments

For a state government, mixing money is not just bad practice—it is often illegal. State governments receive money from a vast array of sources, including income taxes, federal grants, gas taxes, and lottery ticket sales. Much of this money comes with strict legal strings attached.

Fund accounting is critical because it provides:

Legal Compliance: It ensures that money earmarked by law for a specific purpose (like federal highway grants) is not spent elsewhere.
Taxpayer Transparency: It allows citizens, journalists, and watchdog groups to see exactly where tax dollars are being allocated and whether they are being spent as promised.
Fiscal Accountability: It prevents agencies from accidentally overspending or using long-term infrastructure money to pay for short-term operational deficits.

Fund Accounting in Action: The State of Maryland

To understand how useful this is, we can look at the State of Maryland, which operates with an annual budget exceeding $60 billion. Maryland’s budget is incredibly complex, managing everything from Chesapeake Bay conservation efforts to the Baltimore transit systems. Maryland fund accounting allows Maryland to organize this massive financial undertaking safely.

Here is how fund accounting practically applies to Maryland’s financial structure:

The General Fund: This is Maryland’s primary operating fund, managing roughly $25 to $27 billion annually. It is fueled largely by state income and sales taxes and pays for the state’s day-to-day operations, including public schools, state police, and health programs like Medicaid.
The Transportation Trust Fund (TTF): This is a textbook example of a Special Revenue Fund. The TTF collects money from Maryland’s gas tax, vehicle titling taxes, and registration fees. By law, this money is fenced off and must be used by the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) to maintain highways, operate the MTA, and fund the Port of Baltimore. Fund accounting ensures that if the state faces a shortfall in the General Fund, it cannot simply drain the TTF to pay for unrelated administrative costs.
The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Fund: Maryland recently passed sweeping, multi-billion-dollar education reforms. By placing this money into a dedicated fund, lawmakers and citizens can track exactly how much cash is available to support these specific public school mandates over the next decade.
The Revenue Stabilization Account (Rainy Day Fund): Maryland consistently maintains a strong Rainy Day Fund to protect against economic downturns. Fund accounting isolates this money so it is only triggered and transferred during specific, legally defined economic emergencies.

The Strategic Value for Maryland’s Future

Fund accounting is more than just a bookkeeping exercise for Maryland; it is a vital strategic tool. Recently, Maryland has faced warnings of looming structural deficits—where projected spending outpaces projected revenues—particularly concerning rising costs for education and declining purchasing power in the Transportation Trust Fund.

Because Maryland uses strict fund accounting, lawmakers can see these specific shortfalls clearly and address them independently. If the state used traditional corporate accounting, a surplus in a restricted federal grant account might temporarily mask a massive deficit in state highway maintenance, leading to catastrophic long-term infrastructure failure before anyone realized the money was gone.

Furthermore, Maryland is one of a select group of states that consistently holds a AAA bond rating from major credit agencies. This top-tier rating allows the state to borrow money for new schools and roads at the lowest possible interest rates. A major reason Maryland maintains this rating is its rigorous adherence to GASB fund accounting principles, which proves to investors that the state manages its distinct revenue streams responsibly, predictably, and transparently.