Terminating Banner Code Segments

Regularly reviewing your fund, organization, program, activity, and index codes for potential termination is a good business practice to instill within your monthly reconciliation process to determine if any of these codes are no longer needed and whether they are candidates for termination.

For example, once a code is terminated, future transactions will no longer be able to post to that code, removing the risk of misclassified transactions posting to these unused codes. After unused codes are identified and terminated, it will save time and effort in future monthly reconciliations, as those terminated codes will no longer have to be reviewed. For those who manage self-supporting or service plan funds, terminating an unused self-supporting or service plan fund prior to the year-end deadline ensures that you will no longer have to complete and submit a Year-End Fact Sheet for those terminated funds.

Note: Given that the chart and account codes within the C-FOAPAL accounting string are used uniformly across the entire University of Illinois System, those are typically not codes that units would ever request to have terminated. Any analysis and termination of those codes are handled within University Accounting & Financial Reporting (UAFR) internally. So, that is why those codes are not addressed within this webpage.

How to Determine if a Code is Active or Terminated

To determine whether or not a particular fund, organization, program, activity, or location code is active or terminated, go to the applicable code maintenance page in Banner.

1. First, go to the applicable code maintenance page within Banner as outlined below:  
   • Fund Codes: FZMFUND 
   • Organization Codes: FZMORGN 
   • Program Codes: FZMPROG 
   • Activity Codes: FTMACTV 
   • Index Codes: FZMACCI 
2. Perform a query (by pressing the F7 button or by clicking on the “Filter” icon in Banner) within this page, searching on the applicable chart and code combination.
3. Once you execute the query (by pressing the F8 button or by clicking on the “Go” icon in Banner), look for the Termination Date field. 
   • If that field is empty, then that means the code is active.
   • If that field has a date within it, then that means the code was terminated on that date shown within the Termination Date field.

Note: Codes are terminated on an individual basis. In other words, we cannot terminate or “freeze” an entire C-FOP accounting string. If a department would like to have a whole C-FOP terminated, then they need to submit separate requests for each individual fund, organization, and/or program code.

How to Submit a Termination Request

To submit a termination request, send an email to uas@uillinois.edu with a clear indication of which segment code you would like to terminate. Be sure to include the following in your request:

• The applicable chart, code number, and title to ensure there is no confusion as to which C-FOAPAL segment code needs terminated.
• A brief description of why you would like to terminate the code. This is helpful documentation to have in case anyone needs to refer to this reasoning in the future.

Also, if you are requesting the termination of a code, keep in mind that certain conditions must be met before the code can be terminated.

For example, the code cannot be terminated until all ties to any of the following items are removed from the code: Open encumbrances, active payroll appointments or job positions, active detail codes, active procurement cards (PCards) or travel cards (TCards).

If you need assistance determining whether or not any of these items are tied to your code prior to submitting your termination request, feel free to reach out to UAFR for guidance.

Note: All general ledger balances must be zeroed out before the fund can be terminated in most cases. However, there are exceptions to this rule (such as self-supporting funds, which can have surplus cash balances lapsed to the income fund during the termination process).

Monthly Financial Statements for Terminated Codes

Once a code is terminated, you will continue to receive monthly financial statements on the terminated code until the end of the fiscal year, assuming there was financial activity taking place on that code during the fiscal year. However, once the code is terminated, it will not roll into the next fiscal year, and you will no longer receive any type of financial statements on this code in the new fiscal year.

Re-Opening a Terminated Code

There are a few occasions where a code was terminated, but then needs to be re-opened for a particular reason.

For example, a unit may have terminated a gift fund, but then they receive a new donation for that particular gift fund which requires them to re-open the terminated gift fund in order to process the gift and to receive the related gift revenue.

While rare, it is allowable to re-open a terminated code in certain scenarios. To do this, there are parameters that must be followed:

• The code must be used for the same purpose as it was originally established for.
• The code cannot be re-purposed for new or unrelated activities.
• If an updated Banner Fund, Program, Index Code Request Form is not on file for the terminated code, UAFR will most likely ask that you complete and submit an updated form prior to re-opening the code. This ensures there is proper documentation on hand which outlines the code’s purpose for future reference.
• Once re-opened, the code must be regularly monitored, maintained, and reconciled just as it was prior to the termination.

If you find yourself in a scenario where you feel you need to re-open a code, reach out to UAFR by sending an email to uas@uillinois.edu, explaining your situation and why you need to have the code re-opened. If approved, UAFR will then assist you in re-opening the code once the proper documentation has been obtained.