Introduction to Chartfields
What is a Chart of Accounts?
 System of organizing and identifying
the campus’s funds
 Created and maintained by central
Finance departments (Controller’s,
Budget, Office of Research and
Sponsored Programs)
 Provides a structure for financial
reporting
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PeopleSoft
Chart of Accounts
 Each pot of money is identified by
several pieces of information, called
chartfields
 The set of chartfields is collectively
referred to as a “chartfield string” or
“chartstring”
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Chartfields provide information about
the pot of money
Where did it come from?
Who
controls it?
What can it
be used
for?
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Why Do You Need To Know
About Chartfields?
 Used in Personnel Action forms, travel
vouchers and other campus forms
 Used to look up account balances, to
make a purchase, to reallocate
Procard expenditures, to organize
information in financial reports
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Chart of Accounts:
The Chartfield String
UMBOS
53102 B008300000
A00
S00003020900000
734200
Chartfield - The individual components, or fields, that when
combined make up the Chartfield String.
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Chart of Accounts:
Business Unit
UMBOS
Identifies UMass
5 characters
Identifies Individual
Campuses
Business Unit – Identifies data belonging to the Boston
campus
UMBOS
53102
B008300000
A00
S00003020900000
734200
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Chart of Accounts:
Fund
53102
5 characters
Further detail fund breakdown
1 = State Funds
2 = Non-State Funds
5 = External Grant Funds
GASB classifications
i.e. Restricted, Unrestricted, Loan, Plant,
Endowment, Agency
Fund – Identifies a particular pot of money, such as the
Curriculum Trust Fund (21005) or the State Maintenance
Appropriation (11000) or Federal Grants & Contracts
(53102)
UMBOS
53102
B008300000
A00
S00003020900000
734200
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Chart of Accounts:
Department
B008300000
Campus Identifier
Department
10 characters
Cost Center
Sub-Department
Department – Identifies a particular department or budgetary
subset of a department
UMBO
53102
B008300000 A00
S00003020900000
734200
9
Chart of Accounts:
Program
A00
3 characters
GASB Expenditure Classification
Program – A standardized code indicating how the money is
being used (e.g., for instruction, research, etc.). Used for
external financial reports.
UMBOS
53102
B008300000
A00
S00003020900000
734200
10
Chart of Accounts:
Project/Grant
S00003020900000
Further definition of project or grant
Examples:
A = Financial Aid
E = State Specials, Gift Funds,
Departmental Service Fund
F = Facility Projects
P = Other Campus Projects
S = Sponsored Agreements
UMBOS
15 characters
53102
B008300000
Project/Grant – Used to identify a
sponsored project (a grant
administered by ORSP) or a nonsponsored project, such as a
Facilities project or an internal grant
awarded to staff or faculty.
A00
S00003020900000
734200
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Chart of Accounts:
Class
5 characters
Class – UMB does not use this field; it will be blank.
UMBOS
53102
B008300000
A00
S00003020900000
734200
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Chartfields Used to Identify
Departmental Funds





Business Unit (GL Unit, Set ID)
Department
Fund
Program
Project/Grant (in specific cases)
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Related Fields
 SpeedType:
 A six-digit, randomly generated number used
as a shortcut for a particular chartfield string.
 Can be entered in various PeopleSoft pages in
place of the entire chartfield string.
 A timesaver.
 Called “SpeedChart Key” in Requisition
 HR Account Code:
 Consists of the speedtype with a B in front of
it.
 Used on Personnel Action forms.
 Generated only for those chartfield strings
used for payroll purposes.
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Chart of Accounts:
Account
734200
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
= Asset
= Liability
= Fund Balance
= Fund Addition
= Fund Deduction
= Revenue
= Expenditure
6 characters
Detail Item – e.g., Office &
Administrative Supplies
Account – Used to identify type of goods or services in a requisition
and a purchase order. Used to organize information in monthly reports.
UMBOS
53102
B008300000
A00
S00003020900000
734200
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How to Locate Your
Department’s Chartfields
 Navigate to inside.umassadmin.net
 Click on Finance
 Point to Reference and click on
Chartfield Lookup
 Select Business Unit = UMBOS
 Enter your Department ID (B + first 4
digits)
 Click on Get Data
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