Finance Account Code Structure

Scope

This policy defines the University’s method of classification for accounting transactions within the University’s accounting software, the PeopleSoft General Ledger.

Reason for Policy

To segregate resources according to the restrictions placed on their use by the funding source as well as to record data in a manner that will aid in complying with internal or external reporting requirements.

Policy Statement

The University of Missouri System has a variety of internal and external reporting requirements that rely on the data recorded on every transaction and/or the data within the University’s financial system. The University uses a finance account code structure containing ChartField values to segregate financial resources based on responsibility, related activities, source and use of monies, and restrictions in accordance with the principles of fund accounting.  Each ChartField has its own meaning in defining the type of transaction being made and when used in conjunction with other ChartFields, represents a unique source or use of funds.  These ChartField combinations make up the balances in the General Ledger and in total, represent the financial position of the University.  ChartField values include: Account, Business Unit, Fund, DeptID, Program, Project, and Class.

Required ChartFields
Each accounting transaction in the General Ledger is made up of blocks of information called ChartFields.  Account, Business Unit, Fund, DeptID, Program, and Project ChartFields are typically required on all PeopleSoft transactions.  Class is required on revenue or expense transactions.  A 5-character (detailed) Program is required on all transactions pertaining to endowments, student loans, gifts, bond proceeds, and any ChartFields that receive investment income.  An 8-character (detailed) Project is required for grant transactions and construction projects.  If no detailed Program or Project is being used, a ‘0’ or ‘00’ should be placed in the field, respectively.  Differing combinations of ChartField values are used on each transaction depending on what type of activity is being recorded, what type of funds are involved and what department is responsible for the activity. When the Account is added to this combination of ChartFields, the result is referred to as a ChartField String.  

MoCodes can be used for a shorthand way to represent a unique combination of ChartFields, including Business Unit, Fund, DeptID, Program, Project and Class.  MoCodes are also used by different systems that feed transactions to the General Ledger when that system is unable to accommodate the size of data included in a ChartField combination.

When creating transactions, users select the ChartFields that best matches the activity to be recorded.  Any questions involving the appropriate ChartField to use should be directed to a divisional or departmental fiscal manager or to the campus accounting office.

Funds
The first building block of the University’s accounting system of ChartFields is the Fund.  A Fund is a self-balancing set of accounts for recording assets, liabilities, net assets and changes in net assets (i.e. revenues, expenses and transfers).  The University’s fund accounting utilizes fund groups, which define the purpose and restriction of the activity and balances recorded in each fund.  Funds groups and how the funds are used are outlined below:

• Current Funds: consists of operating, gifts, grants, auxiliary and service operation fund types.
  • Operating funds: to be used for the general operations of the University and consist of resources from general revenue allocations, operating state appropriations, student tuition and other current operations not accounted for in other unrestricted funds.
  • Gifts and grant funds: used for recording restricted monies received as gifts or grants.
  • Auxiliary funds: to be used for the operations of approved sales and services conducted by auxiliary units meeting the definition of a self-supporting enterprise that are ancillary to the University’s mission as set forth in the program classification guide.
  • Service Operations: to be used for operations that charge for goods or services to University departments.  Operations in this fund must follow University policy on Service Centers and the program classification guide for other self-supporting enterprises.
• Loan Funds: consists of resources to be loaned out to and repaid by students.
• Endowment and Similar Funds: consists of resources donated and received to be set aside and invested.  The University utilizes the following groupings of endowment funds:
  • True endowment: used to record endowments where the corpus must remain intact.
  • Restricted quasi endowment: used to record required match on endowed funds as well as restricted gifts that are to be invested as an endowment in which the corpus is spendable.
  • Unrestricted quasi endowment: used to set aside funds that will act similar to an endowment for internal investment purposes.
• Plant Funds: consist of monies used for construction, maintenance and repair, acquisitions of capital assets, debt and capitalization of assets.
• Retirement Funds: consists of retirement and other post-employment benefits
• Custodial Funds: consist of assets held by the University for organizations that are outside of the University’s reporting entity, are not derived from the University’s own resources, and are held for the benefit of the outside organization.

New ChartField Requests
A new ChartField Request Form is to be completed to request a new DeptID, Program, or non-grant Project ChartField.  This form can be found under Employee Self Service in the PeopleSoft Finance module. The forms will be electronically routed for review and approval. The campus accounting office will complete the final review and approval of the request and create new DeptIDs, Programs and non-grant Projects.

Requests for a new Business Unit, Account, Class, or Fund are made to the Controller’s office via the campus accounting office with a sufficient business case documented.  The Controller’s Office will review these requests and make the final determination on the creation of a new code.  Grant Projects are established by the campus sponsored program office during the grant award process.

Program Classification Structure
The University must report expenditures by function for various reporting requirements.  The University has accomplished this by using Program Classification Structure (PCS) codes.  The PCS is a set of categories used by higher education to report expenditures on a uniform basis by program or purpose.  A PCS code or subprogram category is assigned to a DeptID ChartField to classify the primary expenditures that will be charged to that DeptID by using the attribute field.  The PCS code assigned to a DeptID should reflect the predominant use of funds and only one PCS code may be assigned to a DeptID.  When expenditure activity within a DeptID will be for a mixture of purposes and the expenditures are both material in volume and can be easily and practically segregated, a separate DeptID should be requested to report each activity.

Definitions

Account – a 6-digit numeric field used to describe and classify transactions according to uses and/or regulations, restrictions, or limitations in compliance with financial reporting requirements.  The University uses separate ranges to designate the transaction as revenue, expense, net assets, asset or liability. For a listing of Accounts, go to Account under PeopleSoft ChartFields and MoCodes at https://www.umsystem.edu/ums/fa/controller/peoplesoft.

Business Unit– a 5-character alpha field used to represent a campus or separate reporting entity of the University of Missouri System, such as the University Hospitals and Clinics and System Administration.  A listing of Business Units can be found at: https://umsystem.edu/ums/fa/controller/peoplesoft-businessunit

Class – a 5-character alphanumeric field used at departmental discretion to define transactions in more detail as needed for departmental reporting purposes. 

• Class values are either 1-numeric character if class is not defined or 5-alpha numeric characters if detailed values are needed for departmental purposes.  The Class ChartField is required on revenue and expense transactions but not on asset and liability transactions.

More information on Class can be found at: https://umsystem.edu/ums/fa/controller/peoplesoft-class

ChartField – a PeopleSoft application field that stores the University’s chart of accounts and provides a basic structure to segregate and categorize transactional and budget data.

ChartField String – reference used to describe the combination of ChartFields with an Account ChartField which creates an accounting transaction.

DeptID – an 8-character alphanumeric field with the first character representing the Business Unit.  The DeptID represents the lowest budget level in the University organization.  Attributes that define the organizational structure, budget classifications, and PCS are associated with each DeptID.   More information on DeptIDs can be found at: https://umsystem.edu/ums/fa/controller/peoplesoft-deptid.

Fund – a 4-digit numeric field used to classify resources according to uses and/or regulations, restrictions, or limitations in compliance with financial reporting requirements.   For a listing of Funds, go to Fund under PeopleSoft ChartFields and MoCodes at https://umsystem.edu/ums/fa/controller/peoplesoft.

MoCode – a 5-character field used to represent a combination of ChartField values that make up a unique ChartField combination which includes Business Unit, Fund, DeptID, Program, Project and Class.  MoCodes are used as a shorthand way to represent a unique combination of ChartFields.  The use of MoCodes simplifies the data entry of ChartFields in financial transactions when the same set of values is commonly used together.  It does not include the Account ChartField. For more information on MoCodes, visit the MoCode Guide at: https://www.umsystem.edu/sites/default/files/media/fa/controller/Financial%20Information%20Services/Peoplesoft/MoCode.pdf

PeopleSoft General Ledger – an accounting or financial system software used by the University to record and track financial transactions.

Program – a 5-character alphanumeric field used to designate transactions in more detail as needed for System-wide, campus-wide or interdepartmental purposes.  The first alphabetic character represents the designated Business Unit and the remaining numeric characters specify the Program type. More information on Program can be found at: https://umsystem.edu/ums/fa/controller/peoplesoft-program.

Program Classification Structure (PCS) – a set of categories and related definitions used by higher education to report expenditures on a uniform basis by program or purpose.

PCS Attribute – a PCS program or subprogram category describing an expenditure activity by program or purpose (e.g., 11 – On-Campus General Academic Instruction) that is assigned to each DeptID ChartField.

Project – an 8-character alphanumeric field used for activities that are temporary in duration and for which revenues and expenditures may accumulate over more than one fiscal year.  For non-grant projects, the first character of the Project code represents the designated Business Unit and the second represents the type of project.  Grant or sponsored activity Projects begin with ‘0’.  More information on Project can be found at: https://umsystem.edu/ums/fa/controller/peoplesoft-project

Accountabilities

Users of PeopleSoft that enter or approve transactions are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the ChartFields used for the activity.  Transactions that are not coded correctly could lead to financial reporting deficiencies.

UM System Controller’s Office:

• Reviewing, approving and maintaining the following ChartField values:
  • Account
  • Business Unit
  • Class
  • Fund
• Monitoring financial transactions and reports to ensure proper usage of the ChartFields.

Campus Accounting Office:

• Reviewing, approving and maintaining the following codes and related items applicable to their campus:
  • DeptID
  • MoCode
  • Program
  • Non-grant Project
• Review PCS Attributes every two years
• Monitoring campus financial transactions to ensure proper usage of ChartFields

Campus Sponsored Program Office:

• Review, approve and maintain the following related applicable to grant coding:
  • Project
  • MoCode
  • Grant related DeptID

Each College/School/Division Responsible Fiscal Contact:

• Review and approval of new and existing ChartFields changes
• Monitoring financial transactions to ensure proper usage of ChartFields
• Requesting deactivation of ChartFields that are no longer being used

Each accounting system user:

• Understanding ChartFields within their functional area and coding transactions appropriately.
• Monitoring financial transactions and reports to ensure proper usage of the ChartFields.

Additional Details

Forms

ChartField Request Form found under Employee Self-Service in PeopleSoft Financial

Related Information

Additional guidance is available at the following locations:

PeopleSoft: https://umsystem.edu/ums/fa/controller/peoplesoft

PCS Codes

History

Updated June 11, 2025 to include guidance on usage of funds by restriction and groupings.

This policy combines the following former policies:

• Accounting Policy Manual 3.35 – Creation and Use of MoCodes (revised 5/14/2007)
• Accounting Policy Manual 3.45.05-.15 – Program Classification Structure (revised 5/14/2007)
• Accounting Policy Manual 3.50.10-.60 – ChartFields (revised 9/26/2007)
• Business Policy Manual 201 – Account Code Assignment & Maintenance (revised 3/10/1996)
• Business Policy Manual 209 – Revenue Accounts (revised 6/30/2004)
• Business Policy Manual 211 – Expenditure Accounts (revised 6/30/2004)

Procedure

ChartField Usage Procedures

ChartField Request Form Instructions: General Ledger Core User Reference Guide

ChartField and MoCode Reference Guide

General Ledger Core User Training Guide