VPRS 19157 Balance Books

A generic explanation of an accounting system is given below. Municipal accounting has been subject to the provisions of the Local Government Act 1874 and subsequent local government legislation and to the Municipal Accounting Regulations. Under these provisions the income and expenditure of Victorian municipal councils is segregated into Municipal Funds, Loan Funds and a Country Roads Board Fund.   The Municipal Funds are further broken down into the following three types of funds: *              General Fund *              Undertakings such as abattoirs, electricity supply etc *              Private Street Construction, Separate Rate and Special Improvement Charges.   Municipalities are required to credit ordinary revenue to the Municipal Funds. Ordinary revenue is comprised of rates, tolls and rent of tolls, grants and all other moneys not being the proceeds of a loan. The General Fund is the principal fund of the council and its accounts show the main items of municipal income and expenditure.   The Municipal Accounting Regulations require separate accounting records to be kept for the three types of Municipal Funds.   Accounting Records   Accounting systems comprise a structured collection of records which together document financial transactions.  At the most basic level the flow of information between the records was as follows: from source documents (such as invoices and receipts), income and expenditure were recorded in cash books and journals.   From cash books and journals, sub-totals for expenditure and revenue were consolidated into subsidiary ledgers.  Figures in subsidiary ledgers were used to compile totals of income and expenditure that were recorded in the general ledger.  Categories of income and expenditure were then aggregated under account segments for use in financial statements.   The flow of information, however, was not always this straightforward.   Source Documents   Examples include receipt books, cheque butts, vouchers etc.  Information was extracted from these documents and entered chronologically, in full or summary form, into cash books or journals. This process is called journalizing.   Cash Books   A cash book is a combination of a book of original entry (ie. a journal) and the ledger account for cash (often including the bank account).  As a book of original entry it is used to record receipt and payment transactions in chronological order. Following a standard format, cash (and cheque) receipts are entered on the lefthand side of the book, and cash (and cheque) payments are recorded on the righthand side.  These amounts are then 'posted' to the relevant ledger accounts which are identified either by ledger folio numbers or account numbers.  As the cash book is also a replacement of the ledger account for cash, it is balanced at regular intervals.   Journals (Specific and General)   The prime function of a journal is to facilitate the 'posting' of credit and debit transactions into the appropriate ledger accounts.  Like the cash book the journal is a book of original entry which records transactions in chronological order.  Specific journals are often maintained to summarise information about similar types of transactions, including cash transactions, eg. cash receipts journal, wages and stores journal. General journals, on the other hand, provide a convenient record of other transactions, including adjustments to ledger accounts (to correct errors for example) and the sale or purchase of assets.   Journals may also be used to record the posting of amounts from one account to another (particularly common at the end of a financial year).  The relevant accounts are identified either by the ledger folio number or an account number.   Ledgers (Subsidiary and General)   Ledgers comprise a record of changes (debit and credit transactions) concerning one or more accounts. The makeup (classification) of accounts is arbitrary and usually depends on the functions of the agency and the regulations governing its financial reporting requirements. Transactions are posted to the ledger accounts from the cash books and journals.  The source of the posting is usually indicated by a combination of folio numbers and an abbreviation of the source record eg. 'C' or 'CB'=Cash Book, 'J'=Journal, 'PC'=Petty Cash Book etc.   Subsidiary ledgers are often maintained to facilitate a division of responsibilities within a large account, or to provide a separate record of a particular account.   A general ledger, however, comprises all accounts necessary for the compilation of the finance statements required by the agency. If subsidiary ledgers are used it is common for a general ledger to include a single account which represents the totals of the transactions of the accounts in each of the subsidiary ledgers.  This device is called a 'control account'.   Finance Statements   Examples include Statements of Operations, Balance Sheets, Profit and Loss Statements.   Finance statements provide the final summary of the agency's financial situation at a particular point in time. They are usually compiled once a year and published with an annual report, although they may be compiled at more regular intervals. The types of statements and their format are generally determined by legislative requirements, and these in turn determine the nature of the accounts required to be maintained.

下文将对会计系统（accounting system）进行通用阐释。维多利亚州市政会计需遵循1874年《地方政府法》（Local Government Act 1874）及后续地方政府立法，同时需符合《市政会计条例》（Municipal Accounting Regulations）的相关规定。根据上述规定，维多利亚州市政委员会的收支需划分为市政基金（Municipal Funds）、贷款基金（Loan Funds）及乡村道路委员会基金（Country Roads Board Fund）三类。

市政基金可进一步划分为以下三类：
* 普通基金（General Fund）
* 各类运营基金，如屠宰场（abattoirs）、供电（electricity supply）等公用事业项目
* 私人街道建设（Private Street Construction）、单独税率及专项改良收费（Separate Rate and Special Improvement Charges）相关基金

市政机构需将普通收入（ordinary revenue）计入市政基金。普通收入由市政税（rates）、通行费（tolls）及通行费租金、拨款（grants）以及所有非贷款所得的其他款项构成。普通基金是市政委员会的核心基金，其账目记录了市政收支的主要项目。

《市政会计条例》要求针对三类市政基金分别保留会计记录。

会计记录
会计系统由一系列结构化的记录集合构成，共同完整记录各项财务交易。从最基础的层面来看，记录间的信息流转逻辑如下：从原始凭证（source documents，如发票（invoices）、收据（receipts））中提取信息后，将收支情况登记至现金账簿（Cash Book）与日记账（Journal）中。
由现金账簿与日记账生成的收支分项汇总额将被整合至明细分类账（Subsidiary Ledger）。明细分类账中的数据将用于编制总分类账（General Ledger）中的收支总额。随后，收支类别将按照账户分类进行汇总，用于编制财务报表（Financial Statements）。
不过，实际的信息流转并非始终如此简单直接。

原始凭证
原始凭证示例包括收据簿（receipt books）、支票存根（cheque butts）、付款凭证（vouchers）等。信息将从这些凭证中提取，并按时间顺序以完整或汇总形式录入现金账簿或日记账，该流程称为日记账分录（journalizing）。

现金账簿
现金账簿兼具原始分录簿（book of original entry，即日记账）与现金分类账（通常包含银行账户）的双重功能。作为原始分录簿，它用于按时间顺序登记收款与付款交易。按照标准格式，现金（及支票）收款需登记在账簿左侧，现金（及支票）付款则登记在右侧。随后，这些金额将被过账（post）至对应的分类账账户，可通过分类账页码（ledger folio）或账户编号进行标识。由于现金账簿同时替代了现金分类账，因此需定期进行余额核对。

日记账（专用日记账与通用日记账）
日记账的核心功能是便于将借贷交易（debit and credit transactions）过账至对应的分类账账户。与现金账簿类似，日记账也是按时间顺序记录交易的原始分录簿。专用日记账通常用于汇总同类交易的信息，包括现金交易，例如现金收款日记账、工资与物料日记账（wages and stores journal）。而通用日记账则用于便捷记录其他交易，包括对分类账账户的调整（例如更正差错）以及资产的买卖。
日记账也可用于记录金额从一个账户过账至另一个账户的操作（在财务年末尤为常见）。相关账户可通过分类账页码或账户编号进行标识。

分类账（明细分类账与总分类账）
分类账用于记录单个或多个账户的变动情况（借贷交易）。账户的构成（分类方式）具有任意性，通常取决于机构的职能以及监管其财务报告要求的法规。交易将从现金账簿与日记账过账至分类账账户，过账来源通常通过页码组合与源记录缩写进行标识，例如：'C'或'CB'=现金账簿（Cash Book），'J'=日记账（Journal），'PC'=零用现金簿（Petty Cash Book）等。
明细分类账通常用于在大型账户中划分职责，或为特定账户提供单独的记录。
而总分类账则包含编制机构所需财务报表所需的全部账户。若使用明细分类账，总分类账通常会包含一个单一账户，用于汇总各明细分类账中所有账户的交易总额，该设置称为统驭账户（Control Account）。

财务报表
财务报表示例包括运营表（Statements of Operations）、资产负债表（Balance Sheets）、损益表（Profit and Loss Statements）。
财务报表提供了机构在特定时点的财务状况最终汇总情况，通常每年编制一次并随年度报告一同发布，不过也可按更短的周期编制。报表的类型与格式通常由立法要求确定，而这又进一步决定了需保留的账户类型。