Project accounting

Although accounting tasks are performed throughout the project, specific financial elements must be considered early in the project initiation phase in order to be adequately addressed during the project and to avoid accounting issues upon completion.

The local government is strongly encouraged to submit invoices with attached status reports, schedules and back up materials on a monthly basis to facilitate efficient TxDOT review of requests and verification of work performed.

Responsibility

Local government project personnel are responsible to keep accurate financial records and documentation on projects.

TxDOT project personnel have a responsibility to work with their local government counterparts to ensure adequacy and accuracy of the project financial records in compliance with all applicable federal and state requirements plus any additional requirements stated in the project’s Advance Funding Agreement (AFA).

Advance payments

In most cases, the local government will make advance payments to TxDOT for one or more of the following purposes:

• TxDOT oversight costs.
• Acquiring right of way.
• Developing engineering plans.
• Constructing the project.

As stated in the AFA, local government advance payments are collected prior to starting the work that will be paid for with the local government advance payments.  The amount of funds advanced is specified in the AFA between TxDOT and the local government.

Project closeout

After the project is complete, the applicable TxDOT district office and the TxDOT Finance Division will coordinate a close-out accounting for project funds based upon the terms in the AFA.

If the local government participation is based upon a fixed-fee, no additional funds will be due from the local government or due to the local government.

If the local government participation is a specified percentage or alternative method and the local government has overpaid or underpaid:

• TxDOT will provide a final Statement of Cost to the local government and a check if the local government advance payments exceed local government responsibilities.
• TxDOT will provide a billing statement for the additional amount due if the local government advance payments are less than local government responsibilities.

The local government has 30-days to pay any amounts due.

Withdrawal and termination

If a local government withdraws (or is terminated) from a project after an AFA has been executed, the local government is responsible for payment of all direct and indirect project costs previously incurred by TxDOT for the items of work in which the local government is participating.

More information

• Forms and publications
• Use the side navigation to access additional pages in the toolkit.