An account is a unique record for each type of asset, liability, equity, revenue and expense. Each account in the Chart of Accounts is typically assigned a name and a unique number by which it can be identified. A Chart of Accounts (COA) is a listing of the names of the accounts that the University of Windsor has identified and made available for recording transactions in its general ledger.
The UWinsite Finance system has the flexibility to tailor its chart of accounts to best suit our needs, including adding accounts as needed. The UWinsite Finance users can submit requests for a change to the Chart of Accounts, including requests for new Programs, new Classification codes, or edits to existing fields in the Chart.
See Files section on the right for a spreadsheet that outlines the existing COA structure.
The University of Windsor has a COA consisting of 8 segments with each segment defined as follows:
Fund (2 digits)
Funds segmentis the way that we identify the various different business functions of the University as a whole (i.e., Operating Fund, Research Fund).
Department (4 digits)
Department segmentis a group of accounts based on the University’s organizational structure as defined by the HR/Payroll system data. A department generally has a Dean, Head, AAU, VP or Executive Director.
Program (5 digits)
Program segment is a segment to distinguish the different ongoing activities of a department. To meet the definition of a Program, there would typically be no known end date for the activity.
- Programs can include items previously tracked as “business units” to further break out Departmental funds.
- Programs also include Trust and Endowment funds.
Project (6 digits)
Project segmentis for tracking Grants and Capital, Repairs and other Special Projects. To meet the definition of a Project, there must be an end date.
Natural Account (5 digits)
Natural Account segmentis what we previously referred to as Object accounts (i.e., Salaries, Supplies, Travel). This segment answers the “what” questions, as in “what did you buy?” or “what type of revenue did we receive?”
Classification (3 digits, alphanumeric)
Classification segment is a way to track funds across the institution to disaggregate costs for central planning and budgeting purposes (i.e., Professional Development Funds).
Interfund (2 digits)
Interfund segment is the system created segment that allows the financial statements to balance when transactions happen across Funds. When large entries are used amongst multiple funds, this segment will be used to balance the funds against each other. This is an automatic function within the system.
Future Use (3 digits)
This is the segment that has been ‘saved’ for a future expansion of COA 2.0.