The Chart of Accounts allows Fiscal Officers and Financial Managers to report on dollars spent and received in their divisions and departments. It also provides much needed flexibility to the EVP and Executive Officers in reporting and analyzing our revenues and expenditures at an Institutional and Divisional level. The chart below depicts the six segments of the chart of accounts string.
| Segment | Definition | # of digits |
|---|---|---|
| Entity | Who? What school? | 2 |
| Organization | What department? | 3 |
| Funding | Where does the money come from? | 6 |
| Activity | How is the money spent and received? | 6 |
| Sub-activity | (Open to department use) | 4 |
| Natural Class | What are the expenses and revenues? (subcodes) | 4 |
Sponsored research projects use a different string, called a PTAEO string, to track and report on data about those projects. PTAEO is an acronym for Project, Task, Award, Expenditure Type, and Org. The string describes transaction data in much the same way as the GL chart string, but is structured a bit differently.The PTAEO string is composed of 5 segments, instead of 6, and contains 24 characters rather than 25. The chart below depicts the five segments of the PTAEO string.
| Segment | Definition | # of characters |
|---|---|---|
| Project | Work being done | 6 digits |
| Task | A project must have at least one task, those with cost shares must have a separate task to differentiate those charges | 4 digits |
| Award | Money paying for the work | 6 characters (alpha code + 5 digits) |
| Expenditure Type | Equivalent to Natural Class | 5 characters (4 digits + alpha code) |
| Org | Equivalent to GL org | 3 characters |
Anyone who procures goods or posts journal entries for sponsored projects needs to use the PTAEO strings.
These strings are also used when completing forms, such as payroll authorization, that are related to sponsored research projects. This holds true for any form, either paper or web-based, that contains charging instructions for sponsored projects.
Journal entries for sponsored research projects are handled with a tool called SPUD (Sponsored Projects Upload Device). This is a spreadsheet template and is very similar to FAS$Input.
The Lookup Tool was created so financial users could see how their former 6-digit account numbers have been mapped to the current 25-digit strings. To access the Lookup Tool and get instructions on how to use it, go to the Lookup Tool Help page.
