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Chartfield and Department Code Online Help
There are two key structures that are important for both recording and reporting financial information:
- Chart of Accounts
- Department Code
The Account Fund Profile (AFP) system is the tool that UCSF uses to maintain the chart of accounts and department code information.
Chart of Accounts and Chartfields
The UCSF chart of accounts is a 33-character coding string that consists of seven individual segments called chartfields.
NCA or Natural Class Account (6-digit value)
- Identifies the classification or nature of the accounting transaction (e.g., office supplies). NCA codes are grouped by Balance Sheet (Assets, Liabilities, Fund Balance) or Profit and Loss (Revenue, Expenditures)
- Refer to NCA Attributes for more information.
Fund (5-character value)
- Identifies the source of the money
- Refer to Fund Attributes and DPA/Fund Attributes for more information.
Fund Year (2-digit value)
- Used with sponsored projects to record and track revenues and expenditures by year (1 st year is 01; 2 nd year is 02, etc.).
DPA or Department Account (6-digit value)
- Designates the function and primary owner of the activity and identifies the unit responsible for monitoring activities and expenditures. Mission functions include Instruction, Teaching Hospital, Academic Support, Public Service, and Student Aid. Support functions include Maintenance/Operation of Plant, Institutional Support, Student Services, and Auxiliary Enterprises.
- Refer to DPA Attributes and DPA/Fund Attributes for more information.
Program Code (5-character value)
- Helps track financial activity across one or more Funds, NCAs, or DPAs Program codes are used in four primary ways: (1) to track a particular type of departmental expenditure or revenue, (2) to track committed cost sharing (program code , (3) to identify financial transactions between fund balance accounts and unexpended balance NCA/Funds (program code starts with an “X”), (3) to identify CAAN or Capital Asset Account Numbers (program code starts with a “Z”).
- Refer to Program Code Attributes for more information.
Project ID (6-character value)
- Used only with sponsored projects that are processed within the Research Administration System
- Automatically assigned during chartfield validation
Activity (1-character value)
- Used only with sponsored projects that are processed within the Research Administration System
- Automatically assigned during chartfield validation
Department Code
In addition to the Chartfield structure, UCSF maintains an organizational structure referred to as the Department Code (DepCode).
All DPAs, Funds, and Program Codes include the Department Code (DepCode) as an attribute, which is used to report information by organizational units. In some financial and administrative systems, Department Code is used to determine a person’s access to information.
Department Code information is maintained in a subset of the AFP system.
There are four type codes that indicate a department’s level in the reporting hierarchy.
- Campus is the top level. The Chancellor is the only department at this level.
- Control Points are the next level in the hierarchy and report directly to the Chancellor.
- Departments are the next level in the hierarchy and report to Control Points.
- Divisions are the next level in the hierarchy and report to Departments or other Divisions.
Refer to Department Attributes for more information.
This page last updated on: Monday October 22 2007
