1. January 10th, 2018

2. Fringe Benefit Rates

3. Fringe Benefit Rates Software related to NRs
Mike has a Worksheet Annual Report
Fringe Benefit Rates are calculated annually at year-end, this rate is then updated in the System Options of New Roads
Print a final Trial Balance – excluding Fringe Benefits.
Calculate Actual Labor Cost
Total Labor Cost from last page of Trial Balance
Minus: Total Labor Cost included in 3X Unallocated Fringe Benefits
Minus: Total Labor Cost included in 9X Comp Time Payable
Calculate Fringe Benefit Rate
Divide Total 3X Unallocated Fringe Benefits by the Calculated Annual Labor Cost discussed above
Mike will the worksheet to everyone.
Question: Is the labor adjustment done in month 12 or month 13?
Answer: the final trial balance for overhead is through the final period (typically Period 13), excluding fringe benefits.
11/16/2018

4. County Share of Uncompleted Projects

5. Uncompleted Projects Discussion
The County Share of Uncompleted Projects represents the portion of a contract that has not yet been certified that is the local obligation.
Example:
A project has been awarded for $100,000.00
$80, Regular Construction Funded 80%
$20, Local Funded 20%
Work Certified at Year-end is $50,000.00
Remaining to be certified is $50,000.00
20% of $50, = $10, this amount is the County Share of Uncompleted Projects
Calculate the County Share of Uncompleted Projects for each project/contract that has local funding
The total of all calculated values is the amount reported.
11/16/2018

6. Unearned Revenue

7. Unearned Revenue What should be done on the trial balance?
Julie asked if most balance every month. One person said they balance at the end of the year.
Mike said the Project Funding Database calculates this and is reconciled each month.
If Unearned Revenue is calculated manually follow the instructions shown in these notes.
The instructions for calculating Unearned Revenue:
Determine undeclared revenue for all projects at the end of the current year.
Project #1
$100,000 Regular Construction Funded
$80,000 Recognized Revenue
$20,000 Undeclared Revenue
Project #2
$75,000 Regular Construction Funded
$70,000 Recognized Revenue
$5,000 Undeclared Revenue
Project #3
$120,000 Regular Construction Funded
$125,000 Recognized Revenue (5,000 overrun, was not requested as of year-end)
-$5,000 Additional Revenue
Calculate Unearned Revenue Balance
Reconciled Allotment Balance
$1,245,000
Plus Undeclared Revenue
$20,000
$5,000
$1,270,000
Minus Additional Revenue
-$5,000
$1,265,000 Unearned Revenue Balance
The calculated value determined in these instructions should equal the value of the Unearned Revenue Account in the liability section of the county costing system.
11/16/2018

8. Year-End

9. Year-End Go over Year-End Adjustments
Year-end process or beginning of the year process
Rhonda uses New Roads. She closes monthly and at the end of December. She can send copies of what she does if anyone would like the information.
Inventory, project receivables, benefits payables.
Conduent has year-end instructions for the New Roads system, the discussion for reconciling Allotment and Unearned (deferred) Revenue Accounts is outdated and should not be used, refer to the State Aid Accounting Manual for reconciliation instructions for these accounts.
11/16/2018

10. Annual Report

11. Annual Report Page Order Explaining Annual Report to Commissioners
Completing the “Annual Summary of Highway Information” for the Annual Report
Goodhue submits the Annual Report to their Commissioners electronically. They do not receive many questions from the Commissioners about it.
11/16/2018

12. GASB34 Report

13. GASB34 Report Discussion
Goodhue: New grading and new culverts reports.
Mike said this is a year-end process that is completed after completion of the County Highway Annual Report, the Statement of Construction Costs is the best source for reporting infrastructure (GASB34).
Overlay and Grading projects are added to infrastructure, then depreciated over designated number of years, 25 years for Overlays and 50 years for Grading.
What is added to infrastructure and depreciated differs by county, the reporting must be consistent from year to year.
Hubbard County: years ago the county accountant should have set up their system. Hubbard County set up their report from 1980 reports in Excel spreadsheets. When a new project comes in, the accountants searches for the road segment on the spreadsheet. The report is an indication of the road and bridge systems of each county’s worth. Overlay values do not add value to the road so they are not placed on the spreadsheet.
11/16/2018

14. Other
Julie asked how others set up accounting codes for paving, grading, bridges when engineers ask to look up what was spent.
Mahnomen County said they use a 1 type (bituminous) or 2 type (grading). For Auditors for depreciation they use 25 and 50 year life. They look at the GASB34 spreadsheet.
Dodge County replied after the webnar as follows:
Your question on the Paving vs Grading cost accounts; if you look in the 2x area of the chart of accounts, your contract spec items should be set up according to what type of project you are doing. 
is Grading Projects
is the Base part of the project so on a grading project you would have only and cost accounts matching the spec item. 
would be Pavement type either Concrete or Bit so your Paving contract would have , and cost accounts to match the spec items
is your bridge area.
In a spec # the four digits match the ending four digits of the cost account area it goes to. 
Maybe you knew all of this but I wanted to explain that you wouldn’t necessarily need to set up special cost accounts because they are there.  You could run a project report, or a job number report to see what your totals are.