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Uniform Classification of Accounts and Related Railway Records (UCA)

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The Uniform Classification of Accounts (aka UCA) manual is a regulation issued by the Agency. It prescribes a system of accounts to be followed by all federally regulated railways when annually reporting their operations to Transport Canada and the Agency. It is the principal source of financial and operating data used for railway costing. The manual:

1. defines the method of financial accounting for railways subject to regulation by the Agency;
2. provides accounting instructions and the framework of accounts for the rail operations of such carriers; and,
3. provides instructions for the recording of operating statistics and defines the categories for such data.

Financial accounting data on capital and operating expenditures come from the property accounts and the expense accounts of the railway. There are over 40 property accounts and over 160 operating expense accounts identified in the UCA Manual.

Property Accounts list each class of assets (e.g. rolling stock such as locomotives and freight cars, and rail infrastructure such as rail, ties, ballast, bridges, buildings) owned by the railway including their value, and record the annual expenditure on each class (i.e. gross investment). Accumulated depreciation states how much of each asset has been recovered through depreciation expense and allows the calculation of the residual value of each asset type (i.e. net book value).

Expense accounts are the other major source of financial accounting data. Expense accounts are usually structured in two ways. First, they are classified according to natural expense categories, based on the types of goods or services used or purchased when producing transport services. Thus, all expense accounts are subdivided into Labour and, Material and Other components. Second, expense accounts (and property accounts) are classified according to function or activity and are further subdivided into functional groupings. The purpose of these groupings of accounts is to display the interrelationship among various property and expense accounts in a consistent fashion.

Activities are defined as the major generic categories of operation that take place within a railway (i.e. Way and Structures, Equipment, Railway Operation and General).

1. Way and Structures concerns all operations and transactions related to the fixed plant of the railway, including: track and roadway; buildings; signals, communication and power facilities; terminals and fuel stations. The operations or transactions within this activity include repair and maintenance, leases, rents and depreciation of railway fixed plant.

2. Equipment concerns all operations and transactions related to railway equipment, including: locomotives; freight and passenger cars; intermodal equipment; roadway machines; and work equipment. The operations or transactions within this activity include repair and maintenance, leases, rentals and depreciation of railway equipment.

3. Railway Operation concerns all of the operations of the railway which are directly involved in providing transportation service, including: train and yard operations; train control operations; intermodal operations; station and terminal operations; and other transport modes used as an integral part of a rail service.

4. General concerns all operations and transactions required to support the overall railway enterprise and includes: general administration; employee benefits; taxes; insurance; and purchasing and material stores.

Operating statistics measure the physical (as opposed to the financial) operation of the railway. They are designed to provide measurements of railway operations and certain aspects of railway plant for cost analysis and other uses. Operating statistics are provided in six broad groups:

1. Motive Power Statistics: locomotive unit miles, gallons of fuel, yard diesel unit minutes;
2. Car Statistics: freight car miles and days, passenger car miles and days;
3. Train Operation Statistics: gross ton miles, train miles, train switching miles, train hours, average train speed;
4. Yard Operation Statistics: yard switching miles;
5. Traffic Statistics: carloads, net ton miles, tons of revenue traffic; and
6. Road and Track Statistics: equated road miles.

The property accounts, expenses and operating statistics are recorded according to the region where they are incurred. Geographic cost centre is a term denoting subdivision of an account along geographic lines at a level of detail greater than that of a region.

For more information or to get a copy of the document, please contact the Senior Officer, Financial Analysis, Canadian Transportation Agency, at (819) 997-6105.