Overview
The following table lists the seven ChartFields that are used in combination to record financial transactions at the University of Michigan. The ChartField combination is composed of elements that identify the “who, what, where, when, and how” of the money being spent or received, along with the tools a department uses to track the transaction activity.
| Business Unit (Where) UMICH |
Fund (How) 20000 |
Department (Who) 173500 |
Class (Why) 22000 |
Program (Tool) 10000 |
Project/Grant (Tool) F123456 |
Account (What) 618350 |
| ChartField Name | Official Description | Unofficial Description | Examples | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business Unit (Where) UMICH |
An independent entity that is set up when significantly different operating or reporting rules/regulations exist. | Identifies different areas of business for the University. | UMICH – University of Michigan HOSP – Hospital |
|
| Fund (How) 20000 |
An accounting entity with a self-balancing set of accounts. Each Fund operates in accordance with specific regulations or limitations. | Indicates the source of the money and determines how you can spend, receive, and account for that money. | 10000 – General Fund 20000 – ERF Federal Fund |
Financial Operations’ Accounting Services provides information about the Funds 10000 and 30000 – 90000. Sponsored Programs provides information for Funds 20000 and 25000. |
| Department (Who) 173500 |
An academic or administrative unit that has programmatic, operations, and fiscal (including budgetary) responsibility. | Identifies who is responsible for the transaction. Each unit has its own Dept ID. | 184500 – Physics Department | In M-Pathways, the Department is represented by the Dept ID field. |
| Class (Why) 22000 |
Groups of related activities directed toward the accomplishment of a set of identifiable objectives established by the University. | Indicates the purpose of the transaction according to the University’s mission statement. | 11000 – General Academic Instruction 21000 – Departmental Research |
For information about using Class values, see the Policy on Indirect Cost Recovery (Excluded) Expenditures. |
| Program (Tool) 10000 |
Group of related activities, cost centers, revenue centers, responsibility centers, and academic programs. | Represents different areas of business activity for the department. | OPERA – Operating 11204 – Masters Students |
Alphabetic Program values identify common University-wide activities. A list of these values can be found in the University-wide Program Values document. Numeric Program values identify activities that occur within a department or school/college. They are established per request of the department, but can be used by other departments. |
| Project/Grant (Tool) F123456 |
Used to accumulate financial information on a set of activities. | Also tracks your department’s financial activity, but with one difference: the activity only occurs for a specific time period. | F001005 – NASA Grant N001298 – State of Michigan Grant |
Used for contracts and grants, gifts, construction projects, and unit-defined projects that have a limited time span. |
| Account (What) 618350 |
Used to record and summarize financial transactions, such as assets, liabilities, fund balance, revenue, or expenses. | Identifies what you are buying or what type of revenue you are receiving. | 450006 – Appropriation Supplies and Other 510200 – Professional and Admin 615020 – Postage |
The Financial Operations website contains an exported version of the Valid Account report with additional information about whether the Account value is acceptable to use with the Fund value in a transaction. |
Business Process
To learn which ChartField fields and values to use for transaction and reporting purposes, check with your Department Manager, Unit Budget Administrator, or Single Administrative Point of Contact (for Project/Grants).
Related Links
The Account Value Prefixes document helps identify the kind of Account value (e.g., Revenue, Expense, etc.) and its use in University business. Knowing this information helps you determine which values you need for a particular activity.
Complete information on all ChartField values can be found in the CFE101 - Introduction to ChartFields and the CFE201 - Intermediate ChartFields eLearning courses.