The liability date is used in the Central Accounting System to determine in which accounting period (month) a transaction is posted in the General Ledger. Posting of transactions to the correct month is essential to ensure that the State's annual and interim financial statements are properly prepared. Therefore extreme care must be exercised in determining the proper liability date.

This bulletin describes how to determine the liability date required on payment, receipt and transfer documents and supersedes Accounting Bulletin A-86 dated 1/23/84.

The liability date for a voucher is generally the date when the goods or services are received from the vendor, regardless of whether a corresponding invoice has been received. If a billing is for services performed over a period of time, the liability date is the last day of that period. The attached table indicates more specifically how to determine the liability date for various types of payments.

Note: If a voucher has more than one liability date within a quarter, it is sufficient to use the latest of those dates on the voucher. If a voucher contains charges with liability dates in different quarters, a voucher continuation form, AC32397, must be completed to record the various liability dates. The State's fiscal quarters are April-June, July-September, October-December and January-March.

Receipt documents include:

• Report of Moneys Received (AC909)
• Revenue of Contract Receipt (AC2405)
• Refund of Appropriation Expenditure (AC1286)

The accounting system automatically assigns a 'liability' (accounting recognition) date to each revenue transaction entered on AC909's and AC2405's. The liability date assigned is the date the transaction processed through the accounting system and the cash is deposited in a treasury bank account. However, agencies must continue to complete the 'Date' field on the AC909 and the 'Liability Date' field on the AC2045 as instructed in Volume IV of the User Procedure Manuals.

The liability date entered on a Refund of Appropriation Expenditure (AC1286) should be the liability date from the original voucher.

Transfer documents include:

• Journal Transfer (AC22)
• Revenue Transfer (AC1370)
• Journal/Revenue Transfer with Tail (AC2414)

When these documents are used to correct expenditure or revenue accounts (cost centers, objects, revenue contracts, etc.), the liability date is that which appeared on the original document.

When these documents are used to distribute expenditures or revenues, the liability date is the date the transfer document is prepared.

Note: Only one liability date is allowed on each transfer document. Whenever there are multiple liability dates, agencies should combine all transactions within a quarter and prepare a transfer document using the last day of the quarter as the liability date.

Direct questions on this bulletin to the Accounting Information Center at (518) 473-1170.