Departments

Guidelines as Basis for Standardization

Guidelines as Basis for Standardization & COA Governance Process

(O)rg; the “who”
Describes lowest level of operating unit with an ongoing budget.

• Has a program leader accountable for the use of the budget (director, chair, manager)
• Has people assigned
• Generally has multiple programs and assigned space
• Rolls up to the next level of financial accountability (e.g. sub–department or department)

(P)roject and (T)ASK; the “why”
Describes an activity or program for which funds are being used

• Projects should have budgets.
• TASK should be used as a “sub–project” , with an upper case format
• TASK can serve as an independent reporting variable (e.g. name of clinician, a calendar year) in limited cases (see COA manual)
• Project and TASK should never be used for purposes covered by other segments

(A)ward; the “funding”
Describes source of funds

• Awards exist within Source Groups. These Source groups include:
  • Operating sources include:

    General Appropriations (GA) – annual university funding	Special Programs (SPPRO) – special use accounts
    Sponsored Agreements (SPAGR) – sponsored research awards	Expendable Gifts (EXPOP) – operating gift accounts
    Designated for Specific Purposes (DESOP) – university funding with a purpose	Endowment (ENDOW) – ongoing endowment funds

  • For other source groups please refer to online source hierarchy

(E)xpenditure Type; the “what”
Describes the detailed classification of income or expense items.

• Should provide valuable reporting information and have regular annual activity
• ET’s roll up to the Minor levels which are used for budgeting and reporting purposes
• The use of “Miscellaneous” and “Other” expenditure types should be minimized

Last Updated: July 24, 2009 (jp).