Accounting
term that refers to the overall process of tracking your business's income and expenses, and then using these numbers in various calculations and formulas to answer specific questions about the financial and tax status of the business.

Base Adjustment
Adjustments made to the initial base level budget to reflect total base level funding available to the agency. The list of acceptable base level technical and policy adjustments are included in the biennial budget instructions. Adjustments are generally made on a technical or policy basis. Examples of technical adjustments are one-time appropriations and program sunsets. Examples of policy adjustments are salary increases and space rental changes.

Account
A collection of financial information grouped according to customer or purpose.

Cash Letter
A group of checks accompanied by a paper listing sent to a clearinghouse, a Federal Reserve Bank, or another institution. A cash letter contains a number of negotiable items, mostly checks, accompanied by a letter that lists the amounts and instructions for transmittal to another bank. May also be called a transmittal letter.

Bookkeeping
The task of recording the amount, date, and source of all business revenues and expenses. Bookkeeping is essentially the starting point of the accounting process. Only with accurate bookkeeping numbers can meaningful accounting be

Accounts Receivable
Amounts owed to a business that the business expects to receive.

Audit
A systematic review or examination of the assertions or actions of a third party to evaluate conformance to some norm or benchmark.

Blue Book
This is the term commonly used to describe the Government Finance Officers Association publication Governmental Accounting, Auditing and Financial Reporting. Initially, the blue book was the authoritative source for GAAP for state and local governments.

Adult Protective Services (APS
Adult Protective Services includes the 24-hour, 365 days a year access to assistance and/or referral with reports of physical, sexual or emotional abuse, neglect by caretaker, self-neglect, exploitation and abandonment.

Cash Method Of Accounting
Accounts for income and expenses when actually received or paid.