PeopleSoft Financials User Guide:
Chart of Accounts
CHART OF ACCOUNTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Overview ................................................................................................................................. 2
Chart of Accounts .................................................................................................................... 2
UVM’s Ten Chartfields ...............................................................................................................................2
Chartfield Definitions .................................................................................................................................2
Additional Project-Related Fields ..............................................................................................................4
PeopleSoft Chartstring Guidelines ........................................................................................... 8
Chartstrings in the Financial Module .........................................................................................................8
Chartstrings in the HR Module ..................................................................................................................8
Frequently Asked Questions .................................................................................................... 9
Is there a place to enter a particular chartfield value and see what description is associated with that
value?.........................................................................................................................................................9
What is a chartstring? ................................................................................................................................9
What is a chartfield? ..................................................................................................................................9
What is the significance of the Account chartfield? ..................................................................................9
Resources/Help...................................................................................................................... 10
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PeopleSoft Financials User Guide:
Chart of Accounts
Overview
• The PeopleSoft Chart of Accounts (COA) structure uses chartfields (or segments) to record
the financial effect (e.g., balance sheet, income statement, etc.) of each transaction.
• The Chart of Accounts is intended to consider all financial reporting needs, providing
sufficient flexibility to allow for the development of financial statements for management as
well as external readers.
• Each chartfield captures a different element of information (Who, What, Why, How, Where)
regarding the transaction. It is the combination of chartfields that brings meaning to the
transaction.
• The use of multiple chartfields allows for flexible data accumulation and reporting of the
financial aspects of projects, activities, programs, events, etc. that occur across UVM
organizations or funds.
• In addition to the chartfields, PeopleSoft uses Trees for summarizing and reporting on data
maintained in the General Ledger. Trees represent a hierarchy of the values in each
chartfield so that parent-child relationships can be established to support reporting.
Multiple Trees can be created for each chartfield, allowing flexibility in reporting and
analysis through alternate views of the data.
Chart of Accounts
UVM’s Ten Chartfields
UVM uses ten chartfields to summarize and report financial information.
Chartfield Account Operating Dept Fund Source Function Project Program Purpose Property
Name Unit
Length 5 2 5 3 6 3 6 4 4 4
(no. of digits)
xxxxx xx xxxxx xxx xxxxxx xxx xxxxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx
Chartfield Definitions
Account: The Account chartfield categorizes the nature of the transaction as a specific type of
revenue, expense, asset, liability, or net asset (equity). This chartfield is a required field for all
revenue, expense, or balance sheet transactions.
Operating Unit (OU): The Operating Unit identified with a transaction separates University
units with identifiable assets and liabilities and is a required chartfield for all transactions.
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Chart of Accounts
Assets represent the economic resources owned by the unit. Liabilities are the
obligations/debts of the University. Generally, Operating Units represent higher-level
organizations also captured in the organizational hierarchy established in Department chartfield
trees.
Department: The Department or organization identified with the transaction represents the
UVM academic or operating unit responsible for or affected by the transaction. It is a required
field for all transactions.
Units generally meet the following criteria to be considered a department or an organization:
• Have an ongoing business purpose and objective within the University
• Have an established budget
• Have fiscal oversight by a responsible person
• Have positioned employees
• Occupy space
Fund (Net Asset Class): The Fund chartfield is used to track spending restrictions and
designations and to categorize UVM’s net assets for external reporting. This chartfield is
required on all revenue, expense, and balance sheet transactions.
Source: The Source chartfield is used to identify UVM’s revenue earned from educational and
operating programs, sponsored projects, contributions from donors, endowment income, etc.
The chartfield is intended to identify/record the funds generated or expended in connection
with each transaction. It serves as the identifier for each pool of money (gift, endowment, etc.)
that requires separate budgeting, financial management, and/or reporting. This chartfield is
required for all revenue and expense transactions.
Function: The Function chartfield is used to designate the purpose of the transaction as it
applies to federal and other external reporting requirements. This chartfield is essential for
compliance with federal cost principles, and is required on all revenue and expense
transactions.
Project: The Project chartfield is used to identify transactions associated with a project or grant.
It provides additional functionality unique to projects accounting (project life, defined period,
defined activities, etc.). Projects are not limited to activities associated with sponsored awards.
At UVM, the Projects chartfield and associated projects accounting functionality supports
financial management associated with sponsored grants and contracts, capital projects, other
internally funded projects, and faculty discretionary activities. Projects can be broken down into
specific phases, segments, and activities for lower level tracking and control. Characteristics of a
project typically include the following:
• Defined begin and end dates
• Designated budget or funding support
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PeopleSoft Financials User Guide:
Chart of Accounts
• Specific group of participants
• One-time event or initiative
• May cross fiscal years
• May have distinct reporting requirements.
Program: The Program chartfield is used to record revenue and expense transactions
associated with formal or informal programs including cross-disciplinary initiatives and centers,
public service activities, academic initiatives, and athletic areas.
Purpose: The Purpose chartfield provides a tracking mechanism for university-wide purposes
and activities occurring within and/or across departments and organizations, programs, and
funds. The ability to record costs associated with faculty recruiting is an example. Such costs
will continue to be identified by their natural account (travel, etc.) through the Account
chartfield, but they also can be associated with the Purpose of faculty recruiting. The Purpose
field can be used to track both revenues and expenses to a specific purpose or activity.
Note: University-wide activities, as well as recurring activities within departments, are
assigned specific values in the Purpose chartfield. In addition, generic values are
available for departments to track initiatives, purposes, or activities unique to their
organizations.
Property: The Property chartfield is used to track capital additions, deletions, and maintenance
costs associated with particular University buildings.
Additional Project-Related Fields
In addition to the Project ID chartfield, three other chartfields are used to gather information
specific to projects. These chartfields are PC Business Unit, Activity and Analysis Type and are
used by the by the other modules of PeopleSoft to process project transactions correctly.
Therefore, these following chartfields are required for transactions using a project ID:
PC Business Unit: Defines the ledger the project will be accounted for in the Projects,
Commitment Control and Grants/Contracts modules. UVM currently has two options for PC
Business Unit; all projects at UVM are categorized as either Sponsored Contracts (Business Unit
GCA01) or Non-Sponsored Projects (Business Unit PC001).
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Chart of Accounts
Project Type: Further defines the type of project. The Project Type is not part of the project
chartstring, rather, it is a high level description of the purpose of the project within Project
Costing. The Project Type limits the Project Activity that can be selected, which is part of the
chartstring
Sponsored Projects (business unit GCA01) can have the following project types:
Non-Sponsored Projects (business unit PC001) can have the following project types:
Activity: The Activity chartfield allows for more granular detail about the project. The activities
associated with a project are defined during the initial project set-up. When selecting the
activity value for a transaction such as a journal entry, the list of available activities will be
limited to the values that were associated with the project during set-up.
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Chart of Accounts
The following Activity values are assigned to the PC001 business unit as of June 2018:
Proj Type Description Activity Description
AGNON AG-Nonmatched AGNM AG-Nonmatched
ARCHL NonFederal Archaeology Project ARA0 Archaeology Resource Assessmnt
ARCHL NonFederal Archaeology Project HIST Historic Resources Review
ARCHL NonFederal Archaeology Project OTHR Other-Mgmt Plans,Testimony,etc
ARCHL NonFederal Archaeology Project PHS1 Archaeology Phase I Study
ARCHL NonFederal Archaeology Project PHS2 Archaeology Phase II Study
ARCHL NonFederal Archaeology Project PHS3 Archaeology Phase III Study
BILLN Billing - External BLLN Billing - External
CAPTL Capital Projects AEGN General A & E
CAPTL Capital Projects BIDD Bidding
CAPTL Capital Projects BLDG Building & Site Construction
CAPTL Capital Projects CADM Construction Administration
CAPTL Capital Projects CDOC Construction Documents
CAPTL Capital Projects CEST Cost Estimating
CAPTL Capital Projects CNV4* Capital - For Conversion
CAPTL Capital Projects CPTL Capital Project Default
CAPTL Capital Projects DSDV Design Development
CAPTL Capital Projects EXST Existing Conditions
CAPTL Capital Projects FEAS Feasibility Study
CAPTL Capital Projects LEED LEED Consulting
CAPTL Capital Projects NOCP Non-capital transactions
CAPTL Capital Projects OWNA Owner's Administrative Costs
CAPTL Capital Projects OWNM Owner Managed Construction
CAPTL Capital Projects PERM Permit Costs
CAPTL Capital Projects PLR8 Pollution Remediation - CAPTL
CAPTL Capital Projects SCDS Schematic Design
CLNTR UVMMC Clinical Trials -Non-Cap CLIN UVMMC Clinical Trials
CNTED Continuing Education - Non-Cap CTED Continuing Education
DFMNT Deferred Maintenance - Capital DFRD Deferred Maintenance - Capital
DFMNT Deferred Maintenance - Capital PLR1 Pollution Remediation - DFMNT
DFMOM Deferred Maintenance - O & M DFDO Deferred Maintenance - O & M
DFMOM Deferred Maintenance - O & M PLR2 Pollution Remediation – DFMOM
ENERG Physical Plant Energy -Capital NRGC Physical Plant Energy –Capital
ENERG Physical Plant Energy -Capital PLR3 Pollution Remediation – ENERG
ENRGO Physical Plant Energy - O & M NRGO Physical Plant Energy - O & M
ENRGO Physical Plant Energy - O & M PLR4 Pollution Remediation - ENRGO
FCLTY Faculty Discretionary -Non-Cap FCLT Faculty Discretionary
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Chart of Accounts
GRSCH Graduate Research Project GRSC Graduate Research Project
INAWD Internal Award INAW Internal Award
INTCH Internal Charges - Non-Cap INTC Internal Charges
NOCAP Other Non-Capital NCAP Other Non-Capital
NOCAP Other Non-Capital PLR7 Pollution Remediation - NOCAP
RESLF Residential Life - Capital CNVJ* RL Capital - For Conversion
RESLF Residential Life - Capital PLR5 Pollution Remediation - RESLF
RESLF Residential Life - Capital RLBD Res Life Bidding
RESLF Residential Life - Capital RLBL Res Life Bldg & Site Construct
RESLF Residential Life - Capital RLCA Res Life Construction Admin
RESLF Residential Life - Capital RLCD Res Life Construction Document
RESLF Residential Life - Capital RLCE Res Life Cost Estimating
RESLF Residential Life - Capital RLDD Res LIfe Design Development
RESLF Residential Life - Capital RLDF Res Life Default
RESLF Residential Life - Capital RLEC Res Life Existing Conditions
RESLF Residential Life - Capital RLFE Res Life Feasibility Study
RESLF Residential Life - Capital RLLD Res Life LEED Consulting
RESLF Residential Life - Capital RLOM Res Life Owner Managed Constr
RESLF Residential Life – Capital RLOW Res Life Owners Admin Costs
RESLF Residential Life – Capital RLPR Res Life Permit Costs
RESLF Residential Life – Capital RLSD Res Life Schematic Design
RSLFO Residential Life - O & M PLR6 Pollution Remediation - RSLFO
RSLFO Residential Life - O & M RLMO Residential Life - O & M
START Faculty Start-Up CNVD* CNVD Temp to correct Blankets
START Faculty Start-Up STRT Faculty Start-Up
URSCH Undergraduate Research Project URSC Undergraduate Research Project
UVMPR UVM General Financial -Non-Cap UVMD UVM General Financial Activity
*Converted Activity Types are listed here for reference and should not be used in a new project’s
set-up or transactions.
For the GCA01 business unit, the standard Activity is SPNS. (Sponsored Projects Administration
may by exception designate another Activity if warranted by special circumstances, such as, for
example, if UVM receives a sponsored award for a construction project.)
Analysis Type: The Analysis Type chartfield is used to further categorize the transaction as
expense or revenue. The Analysis Type also is used to calculate Facilities & Administrative
costs. Users need to enter this value only when entering a journal; otherwise, the system
selects the correct value.
Most frequently used Analysis Types are:
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Chart of Accounts
Analysis Type Transaction Type
GLE General Ledger Expense
CGE Cost-Share General Ledger Expense
GLR General Ledger Revenue
PeopleSoft Chartstring Guidelines
How to complete a chartstring depends upon where users are working in the software.
Following are general guidelines for using chartstrings in PeopleSoft. The PC Business Unit and
Activity chartfields do not appear in PeopleSoft HR.
Chartstrings in the Financial Module
Account Operating Dept. Fund Source Function PC Project Activity Id Program Purpose Property
Unit Business
Unit
- These fields must have a valid value entered for all transactions.
- These fields must have a valid value entered for a project or left blank for
non-project-related transactions.
- These fields must have a valid value entered for all transactions. Use
non-zero values if the transaction is related to a defined program,
purpose, and/or property; otherwise, four zeros (0000) must be
entered. The fields cannot be left blank.
Chartstrings in the HR Module
Account Operating Dept OPER Fund Source Function Project Program Purpose Property AFFL
Unit Unit Affil
- These fields must have a valid value entered.
- This field must have a valid value entered for a project or left blank for
non-project-related transactions.
- These fields must have a valid value entered for all transactions. Use
non-zero values if the transaction is related to a defined program,
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PeopleSoft Financials User Guide:
Chart of Accounts
purpose, and/or property; otherwise, four zeros (0000) must be
entered. The fields cannot be left blank.
- These fields are not used and should be left blank.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a place to enter a particular chartfield value and see what description is
associated with that value?
There are many ways to see the description associated with a particular chartfield value.
Wherever there is a look-up icon (magnifying glass) next to a chartfield, users can click on the
icon to search for the description. In each case, the chartfield will be matched with a textual
description of that value.
What is a chartstring?
A chartstring is the combination of each of the defined chartfields. It is the combination of the
chartfields that brings meaning to the transaction. At UVM, a chartstring comprises the
following elements: Account-OU-Dept-Fund- Source- Function- Project- Program-Purpose-
Property.
What is a chartfield?
A chartfield is a unique element of information related to financial data. Each chartfield
captures a different element of information related to the transaction (e.g. what, why, who,
how, where). Within each chartfield, there are assigned values that represent defined financial
data that UVM needs to track for reporting. Chartfields at UVM range in length from 2 to 6
digits, with each type of chartfield being a standard length.
What is the significance of the Account chartfield?
The Account chartfield is used to categorize the nature of the transaction as a specific type of
revenue, expense, asset, liability or equity. For example, it may designate an expense such as
domestic airfare or lab supplies. The Account chartfield value represents similar financial data
elements to those captured by the object code or sub-code in UVM’s legacy system, FRS.
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PeopleSoft Financials User Guide:
Chart of Accounts
Resources/Help
If you have questions about the information in this user guide, please email Financial Reporting
and Accounting Services.
Here are links to related resources, training opportunities, and policies:
• Chart of Account Spreadsheets
• Non-sponsored Project User Guide (PDF)
• University Financial Services
• UFS Roadshow Training Topics (PDF)
• Professional Development & Training Classes
• University Policies and Operating Procedures
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