Expenditure accounting records are the ledgers and related documents maintained to show in summary fashion how their funds are spent, and the sources and natures of any receipts. The key records are the general ledger accounts which summarize the financial status and financial transactions of the agency. They are controls that serve not only as central fiscal records, but also as a primary source of data for those concerned with solvency, expenditures and program costs.

The general ledgers are subdivided into arbitrarily created account titles, which are based on programs, projects, costs, and funds. Supporting them are a group of subsidiary ledgers and documents further detailing the information in the general ledgers or serving as posting media to the ledgers themselves. To the extent that they reflect appropriation expenditures, the general ledgers are supported by allotment ledgers, which at all times show the current unobligated balance of funds allotted for specific agency purposes and thereby provide a safeguard against over expenditure by operating officials. The allotment ledgers are general controls over expenditures, and they, in turn, summarize and are supported by more detailed controls that normally take the form of project or job orders that authorize exact and specific expenditures.

The sources of data that are posted to the ledger files fall into two general groups:

As the centralized fiscal record, the general ledgers ultimately summarize stores, plant, and cost accounting data, which are treated in a separate schedule, but these are only several aspects of the total ledger accounts. Consequently, the ledgers are the source of the data included in the basic apportionment reports to the OMB and the Department of Treasury, and overall reports of agency fiscal condition which may be required by the General Accounting Office (GAO) (Schedules 6 and 8). The adequacy for audit purposes of the general ledger accounts is normally considered by GAO auditors to be indicative of the agency's entire accounting system and the reliability of its financial data.

This schedule does not apply to such records maintained on a Government-wide basis by the Department of Treasury and the OMB, or to those formerly maintained by the GAO. Any records created prior to January 1, 1921, must be offered to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) before applying these disposition instructions. If you have records created prior to January 1, 1921, contact the Servicewide Records Management Program or your Area Records Manager for further instructions.

When a claim is filed by or against the Government, records relating to the claim should be retained without regard to the otherwise applicable records retention schedules that would have authorized destruction of the records prior to the time when the claim is finally resolved, unless the agency has received written approval from the GAO (44 U.S.C. Section 3309 and 62 Comp. Gen. 42 (1982)). A claim is finally resolved: (1) when it is disallowed and the time for appealing the denial or instituting suit on the claim has expired; or (2) when it is allowed and paid or the amount offered in compromise is accepted and paid; or (3) when the amount found due and owing proves uncollectible because time limits for collecting the indebtedness through legal proceedings or by way of setoff have expired.

A new item has been added to this schedule to authorize the destruction of electronic mail and word processing records maintained by agencies in addition to the copy in the recordkeeping system. This item covers electronic copies of electronic mail and word processing records created and used solely to produce the recordkeeping copy, and electronic copies of electronic mail and word processing records that are needed in addition to the recordkeeping copy for dissemination, revision, or updating.

See Exhibit 1.15.44–1 for General Records Schedule 7.