2015 Connecticut General Statutes
Title 4 - Management of State Agencies
Chapter 50 - Office of Policy and Management: General Provisions; Budget and Appropriations; State Planning
Section 4-69 - Definitions.

Wherever used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) “Accrual basis” means the basis upon which, in transactions thereon, revenues are accounted for when earned or due, even though not collected, and expenditures are accounted for as soon as liabilities are incurred, whether paid or not;

(2) “Agency fund” means a fund consisting of resources received or held by the state as an agent for certain individuals or governmental units;

(3) “Allotment” means a portion of an appropriation or special fund set aside to cover expenditures and encumbrances for a certain period or purpose;

(4) “Appropriation” means an authorization by the General Assembly to make expenditures and incur liabilities for specific purposes;

(5) “Assets” means the entire property of all kinds of the state, including both current assets and fixed assets;

(6) “Audit” means, in the absence of any expression defining the extent to which it has been limited, an examination of the subject matter of the accounting in all its financial aspects, including, so far as the several classifications of accounts may be involved, the verification of assets, liabilities, receipts, disbursements, revenues, expenditures, reserves and surplus in such detail as may be necessary to permit certification of the statements rendered and of the accountability of the fiduciary parties;

(7) “Auditors’ certificate” means a statement signed by the auditors stating that they have examined the accounting records and expressing their opinion, based on such examination, regarding the financial condition of the state or any of its enterprises, the results from operations and any facts which the auditors in their professional capacity have investigated;

(8) “Balance sheet” means a statement showing the financial condition of a fund or government at a specified date;

(9) “Budget” means an estimate of proposed expenditures for a given period or purpose and the means of financing them, determined for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014, and each fiscal year thereafter on the basis of generally accepted accounting principles, as administered by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, as expressed in appropriation and revenue acts;

(10) “Budget document” means the instrument used by the Governor to present a comprehensive financial program to the General Assembly;

(11) “Budgeted agency” means (A) every department, board, council, commission, institution or other agency of the Executive Department of the state government, provided each board, council, commission, institution or other agency included by law within any given department shall be deemed a division of that department; (B) every court, council, division and other agency of the judicial branch of the state government financed in whole or in part by the state, including those agencies, officers, employees and services for which, or for the payment of whose salaries, appropriations are made to be expended on the direction, taxation or approval of any state court or judge thereof; and all of said courts, councils, divisions, agencies, officers, employees and services shall be one or more budgeted agency or agencies as the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management may prescribe; (C) every full-time permanent department or agency of the legislative branch of the state government; and (D) every public and private institution, organization, association or other agency receiving financial aid from the state;

(12) “Capital budget” means that portion of the budget which deals with the estimates of proposed expenditures for land, nonstructural improvements to land, structural replacements and major improvements and the means of financing them;

(13) “Capital outlay” means expenditures which result in the acquisition of additions to fixed assets;

(14) “Cash basis” means the basis upon which, in transactions thereon, revenues are accounted for when received in cash and expenditures are accounted for when paid;

(15) “Current assets” means those assets owned by the state which are available to meet the cost of operations or to pay current liabilities of the state;

(16) “Current liabilities” means liabilities which are payable immediately or in the near future out of current resources, as distinguished from long-term liabilities to be met out of future resources;

(17) “Deficit” means the excess of the liabilities and reserves of a fund over its assets, or the excess of the obligations, reserves and unencumbered appropriations of a fund over its resources;

(18) “Disbursements” means payments in cash regardless of the purpose;

(19) “Encumbrances” means obligations in the form of purchase orders or contracts which are to be met from an appropriation and for which a part of the appropriation is reserved;

(20) “Expenditures” means amounts paid or liabilities incurred for all purposes, including expenses, provisions for retirement of debt and capital outlay;

(21) “Expenses” means expenditures for operation, maintenance, interest and other current expenditures for which no permanent or subsequently convertible value is received;

(22) “Fiscal period” means any period at the end of which the state closes its books in order to determine its financial condition and the results of its operations;

(23) “Fixed assets” means assets of a permanent character having a continuing value, such as land, buildings, machinery and furniture and other equipment;

(24) “General Fund” means the fund that is unrestricted as to use and available for general purposes;

(25) “Liabilities” means debts or other legal obligations arising out of transactions in the past which are to be liquidated or renewed or refunded upon some future date;

(26) “Modified accrual” means a basis of accounting where revenues are recognized when earned only so long as they are collectible within the period or soon enough afterward to be used to pay liabilities of that period and expenditures are recognized in the period in which they were incurred and would normally be liquidated;

(27) “Overdraft” means (A) the amount by which checks, drafts or other demands for payment on the Treasury or on a bank exceed the amount of the credit against which they are drawn or (B) the amount by which requisitions or audited vouchers exceed the appropriations or other credit to which they are chargeable;

(28) “Petty cash” means a sum of money, either in the form of currency or a special bank deposit, set aside for the purpose of making change or immediate payments of comparatively small amounts for which it is subsequently reimbursed from the cash of a fund;

(29) “Receipts” means sums actually received in cash from all sources unless otherwise described;

(30) “Refund” means an amount paid back or credit allowed on account of an overcollection;

(31) “Reimbursements” means cash or other assets received as a repayment of the cost of work or services performed, or of other expenditures made for or on behalf of another governmental unit, fund or department;

(32) “Revenue” means additions to cash or other current assets which neither increase any liability or reserve nor represent the recovery of an expenditure;

(33) “Special fund” means any fund which is to be used only in accordance with specific regulations or restrictions, including any fund created by a law authorizing and requiring the receipts of specific taxes or other revenues to be used to finance particular activities;

(34) “Trust fund” means any fund consisting of resources received and held by the state as trustee to be expended or invested in accordance with the conditions of the trust;

(35) “Unencumbered balance” means that portion of an appropriation or allotment not expended or encumbered;

(36) “Unexpended balance” means that portion of an appropriation or allotment which has not been expended;

(37) “Unliquidated encumbrances” means encumbrances which have not yet been paid or approved for payment;

(38) “Voucher” means a document certifying a certain transaction, especially a written form attesting the propriety of the payment of money;

(39) “Warrant” means a draft upon the treasurer for the payment of money.

(1949 Rev., S. 223; June, 1955, S. 74d; P.A. 81-466, S. 2, 4; P.A. 96-180, S. 1, 166; P.A. 11-48, S. 47.)

History: P.A. 81-466 deleted definition of “program budget” formerly found in Subdiv. (28) and renumbered remaining subsections accordingly, effective March 1, 1982; (Revisor’s note: In 1995 the Revisors editorially changed the lower case alphabetic indicators in Subdivs. (11) and (26) to upper case for consistency with statutory usage); P.A. 96-180 amended Subdiv. (11) by substituting “Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management” for “director of the budget”, effective June 3, 1996; P.A. 11-48 redefined “budget” in Subdiv. (9), redefined “expenditures” in Subdiv. (20), added new Subdiv. (26) defining “modified accrual” and redesignated existing Subdivs. (26) to (38) as Subdivs. (27) to (39), effective July 1, 2011.

Cited. 148 C. 623. Appropriation to be spent for purpose specified; towns not agencies within section meaning. 163 C. 537. Cited. 193 C. 670; 200 C. 386.

Cited. 41 CS 90, 99.