F

Factor In Oracle Payables, the payee of an invoice when the payee differs from the supplier on the invoice. For example, a supplier may have sold their receivables to a financial institution or factor.

FASB 52 (U.S.) See SFAS 52 .

Feeder Program A custom program you write to transfer your transaction information from an original system into Oracle Application interface tables. The type of feeder program you write depends on the environment from which you are importing data.

Feeder System A non-Oracle system from which you can pass into OracleAssets. For example, you can pass budgetor production information from a spreadsheet into Oracle Assets.

Fiduciary Funds A fund type for which the accounting and reporting techniques depend on whether the fund is expendable or nonexpendable. Examples of fiduciary funds include Trust and Agency funds.

FIFO (first-in-first-out) Costing Method A cost flow method used for inventory valuation. Inventory balances and values are updated perpetually after each transaction is sequentially costed. It assumes that the earliest inventory units received or produced are the first units used or shipped. The ending inventory therefore consists of the most recently acquired goods. FIFO cost flow does not have to match the physical flow of inventory.

Final Close A purchase order control you can assign to prevent modifications to or actions against completed documents, lines, and shipments by final closing them. Final-closed documents are not accessible in the corresponding entry windows, and you cannot perform the following actions against final-closed entities: receive, transfer, inspect, deliver, correct receipt quantities, invoice, return to supplier, or return to receiving.

Financial Data Item An Oracle Financial Analyzer database object that is made up of either a variable, or a variable and a formula. For example, a financial data item called "Actuals" would be a variable, while a financial data item called "Actuals Variance" would be made up of a variable (Actuals) and a formula that calculates a variance.

Financial Statement Generator A powerful and flexible report building tool for Oracle General Ledger. You can design and generate financial reports, apply security rules to control access to data via reports, and use specific features to improve reporting productivity.

Firm A purchase order control. When you firm an order, Master Scheduling/MRP uses the firm date to create a time fence within which it does not suggest new planned purchase orders, cancellations, or reschedule-in actions. It continues to suggest reschedule-out actions for orders within the time fence. If several shipments with different promised or need-by dates reference the same item, Master Scheduling/MRP sets the time fence at the latest of all scheduled dates.

Fiscal Year Any yearly accounting period without regard to its relationship to a calendar year.

Fixed Asset An item owned by your business and used for operations. Fixed assets generally have a life of more than one year, are acquired for use in the operation of the business, and are not intended for resale to customers. Assets differ from inventory items since you use them rather than sell them.

Fixed Assets Unit A measure for the number of asset parts tracked in Oracle Assets. You can assign one or more units to a distribution line.

Fixed Rate Currencies Currencies with fixed exchange rates. No longer applicable to EU member states.

Flat-Rate Depreciation Method A depreciation method that calculates the depreciation for an asset based on a fixed rate each year. This method uses a constant rate which Oracle Assets multiplies by an asset&'s recoverable cost or net book value as of the beginning of each fiscal year

Flexfield An Oracle Applications field made up of segments. Each segment has an assigned name and a set of valid values. Oracle Applications uses flexfields to capture information about your organization. There are two types of flexfields: Key Flexfields and Descriptive Flexfields .

Flexfield Segment One of the sections of your key flexfield, separated from the other sections by a symbol that you define (such as -, /, or \). Each segment typically represents an element of your business, such as cost center, product, or account.

Folder Customizable windows located throughout Oracle Applications. Folders allow you to: change the display of a window by resizing or reordering columns, hide or display columns, and change field names to best fit the needs of each user's working style.

Foreign Currency In Oracle Applications, a currency that is different from the functional currency you defined for your set of books in Oracle General Ledger. When you enter and pay a foreign currency invoice, Payables automatically converts the foreign currency into your functional currency at the rate you define. General Ledger automatically converts foreign currency journal entries into your functional currency at the rate you define. See also Exchange Rate , Functional Currency .

Foreign Currency Conversion A process in Oracle Applications that converts a foreign currency transaction into your functional currency using and exchange rate you specify. See also Foreign Currency Exchange Gain or Loss .

Foreign Currency Realized Gain/Loss Gains or losses on foreign currency transactions due to foreign currency fluctuations. Typically, the gain or loss is tracked for assets or liabilities for a period of time. Oracle General Ledger posts all foreign currency gains or losses resulting from revaluations to the Cumulative Translation Adjustment account defined in your set of books. Oracle Payables determines the foreign currency gain or loss as the difference between the invoiced amount and the payment amount due to changes in exchange rates.

Foreign Currency Journal Entry A journal entry in which you record transactions in a foreign currency. Oracle General Ledger automatically converts foreign currency amounts into your functional currency using an exchange rate you specify. See also Foreign Currency , Functional Currency .

Foreign Currency Revaluation A process that allows you to revalue assets and liabilities denominated in a foreign currency using a period-end (usually a balance sheet date) exchange rate. Oracle General Ledger automatically revalues your foreign assets and liabilities using the period-end exchange rate you specify. Revaluation gains and losses result from fluctuations in an exchange rate between a transaction date and a balance sheet date. General Ledger automatically creates a journal entry in accordance with FASB 52 (U.S.) to adjust your unrealized gain/loss account when you run revaluation.

Foreign Currency Translation A process that allows you to restate your functional currency account balances into a reporting currency. Oracle General Ledger multiplies the average, periodic, or historical rate you define by your functional currency account balances to perform foreign currency translation. General Ledger translates foreign currency in accordance with FASB 52 (U.S.) . General Ledger also remeasures foreign currencies for companies in highly inflationary economies, in accordance with FASB 8 (U.S.).

Formula Entry A recurring journal entry that uses formulas to calculate journal entry lines. Instead of specifying amounts, as you would for a standard entry, you use formulas, and Oracle General Ledger calculates the amounts for you. For example, you might use recurring journal entries to do complex allocations or accruals that are computed using statistics or multiple accounts.

Forward An action you take to send a document to another employee without attempting to approve it yourself.

Four-Way Matching Purchasing performs four-way matching to verify that purchase order, receipt, inspection and invoice quantities match within tolerance.

Freeze You can freeze a purchase order after printing. By freezing a purchase order, you prevent anyone from adding new lines or changing the purchase order. You can continue to receive goods and be billed on already existing purchase order lines. The ability to continue receiving against the purchase order is the difference between freezing and canceling.

Function A PL/SQL stored procedure referenced by an Oracle Workflow function activity that can enforce business rules, perform automated tasks within an application, or retrieve application information. The stored procedure accepts standard arguments and returns a completion result. See also Function Activity .

Function Activity An automated Oracle Workflow unit of work that is defined by a PL/SQL stored procedure. See also Function .

Function Security An Oracle Applications feature that lets you control user access to certain functions and windows. By default, access to functionality is not restricted; your system administrator customizes each responsibility at your site by including or excluding functions and menus in the Responsibilities window.

Functional Currency Currency you use to record transactions and maintain your accounting information. The functional currency is generally the currency used to perform most of your company's business transactions. You determine the functional currency for the set of books you use in your organization. Also called base currency.

Fund A fiscal and accounting entity with a self-balancing set of accounts in which cash and other financial resources, all related liabilities and residual equities or balances and changes to these balances are recorded. A fund is segregated to carry on specific activities or attain certain objectives in accordance with special regulations, restrictions, or limitations. When you implement Oracle Public Sector Financials, Fund is typically the balancing segment of your Accounting Flexfield.

Fund Balance Fund balance is the equity portion of a fund balance sheet. Fund balance may contain one or more of the following subdivisions: reserved - A portion of the fund balance not available for expenditure or legally segregated for a specific future use. For example, Reserve for Encumbrances and Reserve for Inventory are reserved portions of fund balance. Unreserved, designated - A portion of the fund balance established to indicate tentative plans for the future use of current resources. Unreserved, undesignated - Fund balance available for use without predefined restrictions.

Fund Group A general category of funds for which you report fund activity as a whole. Plant funds, restricted funds, and general operating funds are examples of fund groups. Each fund group can have one or more funds associated with it. In Oracle Public Sector Financials, you can summarize funds into fund groups using rollup groups.

Fund Segment The segment of your Accounting Flexfield that you use to record fund, appropriation, or other information relating to a fiscal entity. In Oracle Public Sector Financials, fund segment is a generic term for the balancing segment you specify when you implement Oracle Public Sector Financials.

Fund Type A classification of funds for specifying accounting attributes. GAAP and other accounting authorities specify the fund types in general use and the appropriate accounting method, use of encumbrance, use of budgetary or proprietary accounts, and other attributes. For example, governmental units typically use the following fund types: General, Special Revenue, Capital Projects, Debt Service, Internal Service, Enterprise, and Trust & Agency.

Funding Budget A budget against which accounting transactions are checked for available funds when budgetary control is enabled for your set of books.

Funds Available In Oracle Financial Applications, the amount budgeted less actual expenses and encumbrances of all types. Oracle Financials lets you check funds available through online inquiries or generated reports.

Funds Available In Oracle General Ledger, the difference between the amount you are authorized to spend and the amount of your expenditures plus commitments. You can track funds availability at different authority levels using the Online Funds Available inquiry window, or you can create custom reports with the General Ledger Financial Statement Generator.

Funds Checking The process of certifying funds available. You can check funds when you enter actual, budget, or encumbrance journals. When you check funds, Oracle Financials compares the amount of your transaction against your funds available and notifies you online whether funds are available for your transaction. Oracle Financials does not reserve funds for your transaction when you check funds.

Funds Reservation In Oracle Payables, the creation of requisition, purchase order, or invoice encumbrance journal entries. Payables reserves funds for your invoice when you validate the invoice. Invoice Validation creates encumbrance journal entries for an unmatched invoice or for price and quantity variances between an invoice and the purchase order to which you match the invoice. Payables immediately updates your funds available balances and creates an encumbrance journal entry that you can post in your general ledger.

Funds Reservation In Oracle General Ledger, the process of reserving funds available. You can reserve funds when you enter actual, budget, or encumbrance journals. When you reserve funds, Oracle Financials compares the amount of your transaction against your funds available and notifies you online whether funds are available for your transaction.

-- DianeMcHugh - 20 Jun 2007