New Chart of Account Information Seminar

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New Chart of Account Information Seminar

• Whats all the fuss about?

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New Chart of Accounts Information Seminar
Agenda

• Why the change
• Summary of Chart of Account Changes
• How to use the new Chart of Account
• What are Activity, Time and Location Codes
• What to do to prepare for the change
• What to do if you want a new code
• Resources

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Why the Change?

• Process to develop a new Chart of Accounts
• Extensive consultation with community in Spring
  of 2003.
• Meetings with Executive Officers, Financial
  Officers, and other stakeholders.
• Meetings with Faculties, CSBO, Facilities,
  Student Accounts, Library, etc.

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Why the Change?

• Results of Review
• Foundation of current Chart of Accounts
  (account-fund-org/project) has served the
  University well.
• Current Chart of Accounts is reasonably
  understood by the community.
• Any changes to the Chart of Accounts should add
  functionality and should not reduce existing
  functionality.

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Why the Change?

• Results of Review
• Existing Chart of Accounts encourages the
  proliferation of projects and orgs. The
  university currently has some 5,000 projects and
  orgs. There was a need to consolidate.
• Consensus among the community that projects/orgs
  should have additional granularity. That is,
  various transactions within projects and orgs
  should be coded beyond the account level.

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Why the Change?

• Results of Review
• Concern that the University requires more than
  the 10 funds available through the use of a
  single digit fund code.
• Where possible, any changes to Chart of Accounts
  should be optional, at the users discretion.
• Simplicity to reduce keying and inconvenience to
  the community.

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Why the Change?

• Results of Review
• Regulatory authorities are becoming increasingly
  demanding in the quality of reporting they
  require.
• Users of the Chart of Accounts are also becoming
  increasingly sophisticated and require more
  sophisticated data from the universitys
  financial system.

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Why the Change?

• Results of Review
• Additional Chart of Account codes need to be
  adaptable to user needs and should allow users of
  the finance system creativity.
• Existing Chart of Accounts required modification
  to drive IT security needs.

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Why the Change?

• Solution
• Retain the existing base of account-fund-org/proje
  ct.
• Recognize the diverse needs of users in the
  community and allow the community the options and
  flexibility in selecting what additional Chart of
  Account codes that they require to properly
  manage their units.
• Introduce three new optional codes
  activity-time-location.

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Why the Change?

• In Summary
• We retained what the community knows and what has
  worked.
• We have created additional optional fields, which
  are designed to give the community additional
  choices to manage their units.

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Effective May 1, 2004 COA goes from three up to
six codes
 
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Funds expandable from 10 to 999Org/Project
combined into Cost Centre
 
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More codes available to describe transactions
New
 
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Summary of COA changes
Account Code
No changes
Fund Code

• Fund Code changes from one to three digits
• Simple rule add two zeros to existing fund
  number

Examples Fund 1 becomes Fund 100 Fund 2 becomes
Fund 200
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Summary of COA changes
Fund Exceptions

• Fund 3 moves to Fund 2
• Schulich Executive Development
• Osgoode PDP
• Atkinson Continuing Education
• YUELI
• Misc. Faculty Projects

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Summary of COA changes
Fund Exceptions

• Fund 3 moves to Fund 1
• Special Academic Projects with restricted funding
• Fund 3 to Fund 2
• Special Academic Projects with unrestricted
  funding

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Summary of COA changes
Cost Centre For vast majority of users, the
current org/project/grant number becomes a Cost
Centre with the same number
Examples Old New Org 123456 . Cost
Centre 123456 Project 599999 . Cost Centre
599999
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Summary of COA changes
Cost Centre Exceptions
Fund 4 and 5 multi funded grants (CFI and
PREA) Consolidated under cost centre number
beginning with 5xxxxx
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Summary of COA changes
Cost Centre More Exceptions
Fund 1 special purpose projects with 25xxxx
numbers Renumbered in 180000 to 190999 range for
consistency
Old New Project 250251 .. Cost centre
182003
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Summary of COA changes
Cost Centre More Exceptions
Non Credit programs Schulich Executive
Development Osgoode PDP Atkinson Continuing
Education
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Summary of COA changes

• Example
• Existing Orgs in Fund 3 Non Credit program
• 351111 Project Management Program, Course
  English, held in fiscal 2003 in Toronto
• 352222 Project Management Program, Course Math,
  held in fiscal 2003 in Toronto
• 353333 Project Management Program, Course
  Accounting held in fiscal 2004, in Halifax

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Summary of COA changes

• Org 351111 - Proj Mgmt Program, Course English,
  Fiscal 2003 in Toronto
• Cost Centre Activity Time Location
• 359999 120001 F2003 00001
• Org 352222 - Proj Mgmt Program, Course Math,
  Fiscal 2003 in Toronto
• Cost Centre Activity Time Location
• 359999 120002 F2003 00001
• Org 353333- Proj Mgmt Program, Course Accting,
  Fiscal 2004 in Halifax
• Cost Centre Activity Time Location
• 359999 120003 F2004 00002

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• Summary of COA changesActivity, Time and
  Location (ATL)
• Three new Codes have been introduced - Activity,
  Time, and Location. These new fields will allow
  the Community additional flexibility in tracking
  transactions
• Code use is optional.

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How to use new Chart of Accounts Line Fund
Acct CC Activity Time
Location 1 X 2 X X 3 X X 4 X X 5 X X X
6 X X X 7 X X X 8 X X X X
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What are Activity, Time and Location Codes
Activity DefinitionUsed to track
courses/seminars/projects/ scholarships/conference
s And/or to identify specific transactions
within a Cost Centre or an Account.
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How to use new Chart of Accounts Activity code
combinations Line Fund Acct CC Activity
Time Location 2 X X 5 X X X 8 X X X X
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• Activities
• Examples of where Activities could be used
• Your department has been given a new project to
  manage.
• You can create a new cost centre or manage the
  project within your existing cost centre using an
  activity code. Your decision will depend upon how
  you want to maintain and delegate signing
  authority, carryforwards, budget for the project
  and provide eReport access to users.

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• Activities
• Example
• I.T.S. is assigned a new project - Finance
  Upgrade project to run.
• Option 1
• Set up a new cost centre for the Finance Upgrade
  project assign responsibility, signing
  authority, eReport access and prepare a budget.
  Charge all expenses to that cost centre.
• Option 2
• Set up an Activity called Finance Upgrade. Charge
  the expenses to I.T.S.s existing cost centre and
  use the new Activity code

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• Activities
• Example II of where Activities could be used
• Various departments within your faculty/unit will
  be incurring expenses for a shared program that
  you want to track.
• You can create a new cost centre and have the
  departments charge to it or you can have them
  charge the expenses to their own cost centre and
  use the activity code to track the program
  expenses.

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• Activities
• Example
• Finance has launched an In-house training
  program.
• Option 1
• Set up a new cost centre for the In-house
  training program Assign responsibility, signing
  authority, eReport access and prepare a budget.
  Charge all expenses to that cost centre.
• Option 2
• Set up an Activity called In-house training
  program. Charge the expenses to each departments
  existing cost centre and use the new Activity
  code.

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• Activities
• Example III of where Activities could be used
• You want to track expenses or revenues where no
  account code exists.
• Since no account exists, Activity, Time and/or
  Location could be used. The code(s) you would
  select would be dependent on how many levels you
  want to break down the transaction.

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• Activities
• Example
• I have advertising expenses for placement in
  newspapers and magazines (account 335100) and you
  want to identify which newspapers and magazines
  the costs pertain to.
• You could create several Miscellaneous Activity
  codes called Macleans, Globe and Mail, The
  National Post, etc., to use with account 335100.

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• Activity
• The code has been developed as a smartcode
  which means that each character in the field has
  a meaning.
• Six-character field definition
• 1xxxxx defines the activity type
• x23xxx defines the domain
• xxx456 describes the activity

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• Activity
• Activity Type
• The first character of the Activity code - Yxxxxx
  defines the activity type. So far eight types
  have been created.
• 0xxxxx Research item codes (Research Accounting
  use only)
• 1xxxxx Courses (Non credit courses more than
  several days in duration)
• 2xxxxx Scholarships (Used with account code
  8xxxxx)
• 3xxxxx Courses/Seminars (No more than several
  days in duration)
• 4xxxxx Projects (Limited term)
• 5xxxxx Miscellaneous/Conferences (Not otherwise
  described)
• 6xxxxx Activity (Events held by Cost centres)
• 7xxxxx Account (A further breakdown of the
  account )

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• Activity
• Domain
• The next two characters - xYYxxx serve to define
  whether the activity has been created
  specifically for one units use or available for
  all users of the Finance system.

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• Activity - Domain
• The codes developed to date are as follows
• Code Responsibility
• X00xxx Research Accounting
• X10xxx Presidents Division
• X11xxx Advancement Services
• X15xxx CNS
• X17xxx Telecommunications
• X20xxx Finance Division
• X23xxx Campus Services and Business Operations
  (CSBO)

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• Activity - Domain
• The codes developed to date are as follows
• Code Responsibility
• x40xxx x59xxx Academic Division
• x80xxx - x89xxx Academic Division
• X40xxx Faculty of Education
• x41xxx Atkinson
• X42xxx Faculty of Arts
• X43xxx Faculty of Pure and Applied Science
• X44xxx Osgoode Law School
• x45xxx Glendon College

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• Activity - Domain
• The codes developed to date are as follows
• Code Responsibility
• X60xxx Students Division
• X65xxx Student Financial Services
• X66xxx School of Kinesiology and Health
• x70xxx x79xxx Unassigned
• x90xxx x99xxx Used by all areas within
  university

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• Activities
• Activity Description
• The last three digits - xxxYYY describe the
  particular activity. The description is defined
  by the user and the number is assigned by Finance
  based on the next available number in the Finance
  system.

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• Activities
• Research items
• Code Description
• Research Accounting
• 000001 Research Account Item 1
• 000002 Research Account Item 2
• Courses
• Code Description
• Atkinson
• 141001 Trauma Respnse Prog-Prov Dev
• 141007 CiiAN Dispute Resolution

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• Activities
• Miscellaneous
• Code Description
• Osgoode Law School
• 544000 LLM General
• 544100 CLE General
• Activities
• Code Description
• Atkinson
• 641200 CADE Conference
• 641201 CADE Pre Conference

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What are Activity, Time and Location Codes Time
DefinitionA period of time. It will describe
when an activity is held or revenue or expense
was incurred. It can be a day, month, session,
calendar year or fiscal year.
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How to use new Chart of Accounts Time code
combination Line Fund Acct CC Activity
Time Location 3 X X 7 X X X 8 X X X X
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What are Activity, Time and Location CodesTime -
Examples You want to track fees and expenses by
calendar year.Coding - Account/Fund/Cost
Centre/TimeYou want to track in an existing
cost centre, conference costs by fiscal
year.Coding - Account/Fund/Cost
Centre/Activity/TimeYou want to breakdown
assets by year acquired.Coding -
Account/Fund/Cost Centre/Time
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What are Activity, Time and Location CodesTime
The code is optional.The five digit code can
be an alpha or number code or it can be a
combination of both.
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What are Activity, Time and Location Codes Time
Codes Already CreatedCode DescriptionB1203 Be
ginning December 2003FALLL FallSPRNG SpringFA
L04 Fall 2004WIN04 Winter 2004M0007 Month of
JulyF2004 Fiscal Year 2004
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What are Activity, Time and Location Codes
Location Definition A place either internal
to the University or its satellites or an
external location. It will describe where an
activity is held or revenue or expense was
incurred.
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How to use new Chart of Accounts Location code
combinations Line Fund Acct CC Activity
Time Location 4 X X 5 X X X 8 X X X X
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What are Activity, Time and Location
CodesLocation The code is optionalCode is a
numeric five digit number Internal and
satellite locations are based on
building/location codes created by Facilities
Planning FPCFPCs three digit code translates
into Finances five digit code by adding two
zeros.
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What are Activity, Time and Location
CodesLocation - Examples You want to track
repair and maintenance costs associated with a
building.Coding - Account/Fund/Cost
Centre/LocationYou want to group a programs
course revenue and expenses held at a certain
location.Coding - Account/Fund/Cost
Centre/Activity/Location
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What are Activity, Time and Location
CodesLocation - Examples You want to track
book returns during Fiscal 2004 at both the
Glendon and Keele bookstores.Coding -
Account/Fund/Cost Centre/Time/LocationYou want
to breakdown assets by location.Coding -
Account/Fund/Cost Centre/Location
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What are Activity, Time and Location
CodesLocation

• Internal and satellite location codes range
  between of 00200 to 00599.
• External location codes range is 00600 to 000999.
  
• If you require a new location
• Internal codes - Lynda Staples in Facilities
  Planning
• External codes Steve Dewar in Finance

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What to do to prepare for change

• Understand impact of the new Chart of Account on
  your operations.
• Determine if the three additional codes,
  Activity, Time and Location would benefit your
  transaction codes.
• Ensure all forms provided by you to the Community
  accommodate the new Chart of Accounts.

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• What to do to prepare for change
• Use the redesigned Finance forms for payments,
  journals and deposits dated May 1st and onwards.
  The forms are available on Finances website,
• All units who utilize the electronic journal
  upload facility will need to use the redesigned
  Excel spreadsheet for transactions dated May 1st
  and onwards, and
• Payroll changes provided to HR prior to April 30,
  effective after May 1st do not need to be updated
  for the COA change. Payroll changes received
  after May 1st must be in the new Chart of
  Accounts.

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Where can I find the ATL codes?The listing
posted on Finance Website (updated daily)What
if you want a new code?Between now and May 1,
2004 contactSteve Dewar, Mgr Finance Reporting
x55877 or dewars_at_yorku.ca
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• Questions