§ 159-26. Accounting system.
§ 159‑26. Accounting system.
(a) System Required. Each local government or public authorityshall establish and maintain an accounting system designed to show in detailits assets, liabilities, equities, revenues, and expenditures. The system shallalso be designed to show appropriations and estimated revenues as establishedin the budget ordinance and each project ordinance as originally adopted andsubsequently amended.
(b) Funds Required. Each local government or public authorityshall establish and maintain in its accounting system such of the followingfunds and ledgers as are applicable to it. The generic meaning of each type offund or ledger listed below is that fixed by generally accepted accountingprinciples.
(1) General fund.
(2) Special Revenue Funds. One or more separate funds shall beestablished for each of the following classes: (i) functions or activitiesfinanced in whole or in part by property taxes voted by the people, (ii)service districts established pursuant to the Municipal or County ServiceDistrict Acts, and (iii) grant project ordinances. If more than one function isaccounted for in a voted tax fund, or more than one district in a servicedistrict fund, or more than one grant project in a project fund, separateaccounts shall be established in the appropriate fund for each function,district, or project.
(3) Debt service funds.
(4) A Fund for Each Utility or Enterprise Owned or Operated bythe Unit or Public Authority. If a water system and a sanitary seweragesystem are operated as a consolidated system, one fund may be established andmaintained for the consolidated system.
(5) Internal service funds.
(6) Capital Project Funds. Such a fund shall be established toaccount for the proceeds of each bond order or order authorizing any debtinstrument and for all other resources used for the capital projects financedby the bond or debt instrument proceeds. A unit or public authority mayaccount for two or more bond orders or orders authorizing any debt instrumentin one capital projects fund, but the proceeds of each such order and the otherrevenues associated with that order shall be separately accounted for in thefund.
(7) Trust and agency funds, including a fund for each specialdistrict, public authority, or school administrative unit whose taxes orspecial assessments are collected by the unit.
(8) A ledger or group of accounts in which to record thedetails relating to the general fixed assets of the unit or public authority.
(9) A ledger or group of accounts in which to record thedetails relating to the general obligation bonds and notes and other long‑termobligations of the unit.
In addition, each unit or public authority shall establish and maintainany other funds required by other statutes or by State or federal regulations.
(c) Basis of Accounting. Except as otherwise provided byregulation of the Commission, local governments and public authorities shalluse the modified accrual basis of accounting in recording transactions.
(d) Encumbrance Systems. Except as otherwise provided in thissubsection, no local government or public authority is required to record orshow encumbrances in its accounting system. Each city or town with a populationover 10,000 and each county with a population over 50,000 shall maintain anaccounting system that records and shows the encumbrances outstanding againsteach category of expenditure appropriated in its budget ordinance. Any otherlocal government or any public authority may record and show encumbrances inits accounting system. In determining a unit's population, the most recentfederal decennial census shall be used.
(e) Commission Regulations. The Commission may prescribe rulesand regulations having the force of law as to:
(1) Features of accounting systems to be maintained by localgovernments and public authorities.
(2) Bases of accounting, including identifying in detail thecharacteristics of a modified accrual basis, identifying what revenues aresusceptible to accrual, and permitting or requiring use of a basis other thanmodified accrual in a fund that does not account for the receipt of a tax.
(3) Definitions of terms not clearly defined in this Article.
TheCommission may vary these rules and regulations according to any other criteriareasonably related to the purpose or complexity of the financial operationsinvolved. (1971, c. 780, s.1; 1975, c. 514, ss. 11, 16; 1979, c. 402, s. 6; 1981, c. 685, ss. 6, 7; 1987,c. 796, s. 3(6).)