NEW for You: Collecting Accounts Receivable
When the amount due from an agency to DHS exceeds the payment due from DHS, agencies may end up with receivables. CARS collects these within an Agency Type (Type of Agency + Contract Year). After contract years close, remaining receivable balances are moved from one Agency Type to the next. (For example, from Agency Type 210 to Agency Type 310.) Most accounts receivable, both in dollar amounts and volume, are generated by County agencies.
The GEARS moves and changes means receivables will be collected more quickly. GEARS will use future reimbursement requests to recover any funds due to DHS from an agency across all active contract years.
Tip: To prepare for this change in timing when we move to GEARS, we will need to move the current account receivable balances sooner than we do now in CARS. The CARS Unit will identify the receivables balances and move these against subsequent contracts.
Accounts receivable balances may change as reported expenditures are processed during the CARS batch cycles. Please wait until after CARS reports are available on-line at CARS Data Queries and then select your appropriate report. Then request the exact accounts receivable balance information that will be processed in a subsequent month.
Future monthly payments will be affected by any new or remaining receivable balances during the transition to and continuing with GEARS. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this information, including inquiries on the exact amount of your receivables balance, please submit your questions to DHS 600RCars. We are here to help!
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A Refresher on Profiles
Profiles are used similarly in CARS and GEARS:
- They are used by local agencies to report costs
- They are used by DHS to calculate reimbursement based on the costs reported by local agencies, adjustments if any, and contract terms
The Find A Profile In CARS/GEARS page on our website includes:
- The profile type*
- The percentage that is reimbursable
- Whether costs roll to or from one profile to another (if they do, which profiles are involved in the roll)
- Whether costs reported on a profile are allocated to others or receive allocated costs from another profile
- The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number, currently known as the Alternative Listing Number (ALN) for those profiles funded in whole or in part with federal funds
*Tip: When we talk about profile types, it's good to know that we have five of them. We have the list and what each one does on the CARS/GEARS website.
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Rolling, unrolling, and reimbursement
Because costs may be reimbursable under more than one profile (but may only be reimbursed once!) CARS and GEARS support rolling and unrolling costs between profiles when and as designated by contract.
Rolls are recalculated each time CARS or GEARS is run. Changes in reported costs and/or contract levels will result in increased (rolling) or decreased (unrolling) of prior amounts rolled between profiles.
How will profiles in GEARS work?
Profiles will continue to work in GEARS as they do now in CARS. The Profile IDs will be the same in GEARS as they are in CARS. The Profile IDs, types, reimbursement percentages, funding controls, rolls and unrolls will remain the same. Local agencies will not see the actual changes, but the system will perform better.
There will be a change in how profiles work that local agencies may notice. Calculations internal to GEARS will be made in dollars and cents. This may show up in allocations, funding control limits, contract balances, overmatch calculations and when the reimbursement percentage is less than 100%. GEARS calculations will be in dollars and cents but local agencies should continue to report costs in whole dollars (no cents) only!
To learn more, including how to use the Find a Profile spreadsheet, visit our CARS home page.
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User question of the month
Question: People in my agency were automatically subscribed to the DHS CARS/GEARS Newsletter. Why wasn’t I automatically subscribed?
Answer: CARS does not contain local agency contact information. Because we knew we would want to communicate with local agencies about the transition to GEARS, we built a “subscriber” list based on the email addresses of those submitting CARS-600 reports. This list was created during July and August 2022. We know there are people who were not on that listing who should receive the newsletter and are asking those who do receive the newsletter to share current versions and the link, below, for subscribing. You can also subscribe on the CARS homepage.
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