I need to know all the debits and/or credits for a specific g/l account number or series of numbers.

Click on the Inquiry tab in General Ledger and select “Selective Account Detail”. Adjust the beginning and ending dates if necessary, then click on the radio button next to “G/L Detail – Selective Account”. Double click on the g/l number(s) shown on the left side of the screen, then click ok. For a better display of information, click on print preview or print button.

Texas Fund Accounting | Enhanced Business Systems

To understand how a massive government entity operates, it helps to look at its financial engine: fund accounting.

In the private sector, accounting is generally designed to answer one primary question: Is the business making a profit? All revenues and expenses are pooled together to determine the bottom line. Government accounting, however, has a completely different fundamental goal: accountability.

Taxpayers, bondholders, and grant-issuing agencies need to know that their money is being spent exactly how the law dictates. Fund accounting achieves this by dividing a government’s finances into separate, self-balancing “buckets” called funds.

Instead of one giant bank account, a government manages hundreds or even thousands of individual funds. Each fund has its own specific set of assets, liabilities, revenues, and expenditures. This ensures that money legally restricted for a specific purpose cannot be accidentally or intentionally spent on something else.

Generally, these funds fall into three broad categories:

Governmental Funds: Used for core public services like police, fire, and administration (e.g., the General Fund).
Proprietary Funds: Used for business-like activities where the government charges a fee for services, such as a municipal water utility or a state-run toll road.
Fiduciary Funds: Used when the government is holding money in trust for someone else, such as a state employee pension plan.

Why Fund Accounting is Crucial for Texas

When you apply this concept to a state as economically and geographically massive as Texas, Texas fund accounting transforms from a standard bookkeeping practice into a vital tool for constitutional compliance and economic stability.

Texas has one of the largest economies in the world and operates a biennial budget spanning hundreds of billions of dollars. Furthermore, Texas has a unique revenue structure—it has no state income tax, relying heavily instead on sales taxes, property taxes, and severance taxes from oil and natural gas production. Fund accounting is what keeps this complex web of revenues organized and legally compliant.

Key Texas Funds in Action

The state’s financial manager, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, tracks over 400 separate funds in the State Treasury. Here is how fund accounting practically impacts the state:

The General Revenue Fund: This is the primary operating fund for the state. Most non-restricted tax revenue (like the general sales tax) flows here to pay for broad state priorities like education, public safety, and health and human services.
The State Highway Fund: Texas law mandates that certain revenues, such as state motor fuels taxes (the “gas tax”) and vehicle registration fees, be used strictly for policing public roads and acquiring, constructing, or maintaining the state highway system. Fund accounting builds a strict firewall around this money so it cannot be raided to balance the General Revenue Fund.
The Economic Stabilization Fund (ESF): Commonly known as the “Rainy Day Fund,” this is one of the most critical funds in Texas. It receives a portion of oil and natural gas severance taxes. Because energy markets are notoriously volatile, Texas uses this fund to capture excess revenue during “boom” years. Fund accounting isolates this money so the legislature can strategically deploy it during “bust” years or for specific, one-time infrastructure emergencies, protecting the state’s baseline budget from market shocks.
The Permanent School Fund (PSF): Created in the 19th century with an endowment of public land, this fund exists to support public education. The revenues generated by these lands (through grazing rights, oil and gas leases, etc.) are tracked meticulously in the PSF. The principal is protected, while the investment returns are distributed to schools, ensuring multi-generational accountability.

Transparency and Trust

Ultimately, fund accounting provides the transparency required by a democratic system. When Texas voters approve a bond measure for water infrastructure, or when they pay an extra fee at the DMV designated for clean air initiatives, fund accounting provides the mathematical proof that those dollars reached their intended destination. It prevents the commingling of assets, ensures adherence to the state’s constitution, and allows lawmakers and citizens alike to evaluate the fiscal health of specific state initiatives.