accounting

PERAC introduces four new general ledger accounts required for reporting 2019 activity: Account #5120 (Benefits — employer share of insurance/Medicare match for staff); Account #4701 (Carried Interest — investment general partner incentive fees); Account #4702 (Equalization Expense/true-ups — charges applied to later-joining partnership investors); and Account #4703 (Miscellaneous Investment Expenses — non-management-fee investment costs such as legal and audit). The three investment accounts close to #4820 Investment Income Control Account; Account #5120 closes to #3298 Expense Fund.

PERAC issues expanded administrative reminders covering asset management and a wide variety of retirement board activities. Key topics include: Section 23B contract expiration (April 2019 marks the seven-year term limit for many existing service provider relationships, requiring new searches); cash book submission requirements (complete packages including Trial Balances and Adjusting Journal Entries due within four weeks of month-end); monthly financial reporting to the board; vendor selection and RFP compliance under Section 23B; child support enforcement obligations before releasing accumulated deductions; management fee disclosure and accounting on Schedule 7; board meeting minutes requirements under the Open Meeting Law; executive session minutes handling; and the correct interest rate to use for refunds involving members who transferred from another system.

PERAC establishes a dedicated email address for monthly Cash Book submissions: percashbooks@per.state.ma.us. Boards that have already submitted 2019 Cash Books should not resubmit, but all remaining 2019 Cash Books should go to this address. PERAC reiterates that complete monthly Cash Book packages — including Year-to-Date Trial Balance, Monthly Cash Receipts, Monthly Cash Disbursements, Monthly Adjusting Journal Entries, and Monthly General Ledger — are due within four weeks of month-end. Timely submission is required for PERAC to perform monthly accounting/investment analysis and calculate each system's annual rate of return. All other communication with investment analysts Sarita Yee and Veronica Colon should continue via their individual email addresses.