Governance & records
Fund Accounting
Funds, appropriations, and budget-vs-actual — the way a government actually keeps books.
Keep your books the way the law requires a government to: by fund, against appropriations, with budget-versus-actual on every line. Batch the day's deposits, reconcile against the bank statement, and watch each fund's spending against what the budget authorized — so the question "do we have the money in that fund" has an answer you can stand behind.
The challenge
Governments don't keep one checkbook — they keep funds, each with its own appropriations and its own rules about what the money can be spent on. A general-ledger package built for a business doesn't think that way, so the city ends up with a fund structure bolted onto QuickBooks and a treasurer who reconciles the bank by hand every month.
In practice
Month-end, fund by fund
The budget set appropriations across the general fund, the road-and-bridge fund, and a couple of special revenue funds. As the year runs, every purchase order and claim charges against a fund and its appropriation, so spending climbs against the authorized amount in real time — and when a department head asks whether there's room left in the road fund, the budget-versus-actual line answers without a spreadsheet.
At the counter, the day's checks are batched into a deposit and posted to the right fund. At month-end the treasurer pulls the bank statement, matches it against the batched deposits, and reconciles — the items that clear, the ones still outstanding — instead of ticking a paper register line by line. The books close by fund, the way the audit will read them.
What it does
- 01
Books kept by fund
Maintain the fund structure a government actually uses — general, road-and-bridge, special revenue — instead of forcing it onto a business ledger.
- 02
Appropriations as the limit
Set what the budget authorized per fund, and let spending post against it so the appropriation is the line nobody crosses by accident.
- 03
Budget vs. actual, live
Every fund shows authorized, spent, and remaining as POs and claims post — the answer to "is there money left" without a spreadsheet.
- 04
Deposit batching
Group the day's receipts into a deposit batch posted to the right fund, the way the treasurer takes them to the bank.
- 05
Bank reconciliation
Match the bank statement against your batched deposits and cleared items, and reconcile the period instead of ticking a paper register.
- 06
Tied to procurement and projects
Charges flow in from purchasing and from capital projects and grants, so the fund's actuals reflect the work the government is doing.
How it works
Set up funds and appropriations
Define the funds and the budget appropriations the body adopted, fund by fund.
Spending posts against the budget
Purchase orders, claims, and project costs charge a fund and appropriation, raising actuals against the authorized amount.
Batch the deposits
Group the day's receipts into deposit batches posted to the right fund.
Reconcile and report
Match the bank statement to your batches, reconcile the period, and read budget-versus-actual by fund.
English and Spanish
Bilingual by design
Fund accounting is the treasurer's and auditor's back office — a staff-facing tool, English-first for the people who keep the books. Where it touches the public is downstream: the payments residents make and the project and grant spending it summarizes surface in the bilingual ledger and the public-facing transparency views the rest of the platform provides.
CiVQ AI — included in every package
CiVQ AI: read the books, flag the strain
CiVQ AI can summarize budget-versus-actual across funds into a plain briefing for the commissioners, and flag a fund whose spending is outrunning its appropriation before the period closes. It explains the numbers in plain English or Spanish — the human still signs the reconciliation.
Get started
See CiVQ in your language.
Book a 30-minute walkthrough with our team in Rio Grande City. We'll tailor it to your city, county, or district.
Bilingual support included at every tier.