Chart of Accounts

Capital University’s Chart of Accounts (COA) is a listing of all account numbers in the University’s financial system that allows departments to track revenues and expenses that impact their budgets. It also allows the University to record our assets (e.g. cash, investments, buildings), liabilities (e.g. debt, accounts payable), and net assets. This information is used as the basis for financial reporting and decision making.

Account Number Structure

The COA is a 20 digit chart of account which has 5 components. The components are as follows:

• Fund: 2 digit that identifies the source of funding for your transaction
• Location: 2 digit that identifies the campus incurring the expense. Note there is a forth location identifying general University expenses that cannot be associated to anyone campus.
• Department: 6 digit number identifying your administrative unit.
• Object: 5 digit number that describes the transaction taking place. (e.g. Supplies, travel, salary, etc.)
• Activity: 5 digit number that identifies restricted accounts, projects, student organizations, trips as well as provides for an optional tracking of activities specific to your department.

Fund Numbers

Reference Guides & Code Descriptions

These resources will assist you in identifying and selecting the various components to build your accounts.

• Quick Reference Guide - Instructional (PDF)
• Quick Reference Guide - Non-instructional (PDF)
• Department and Activity Number Look Up (XLSX)
• New Expense Code Descriptions (PDF)
• New Revenue Object Code Descriptions (PDF)

Training & Resources

The following downloadable tools, training video and quick reference guides are designed to improve understanding and make using the new chart of accounts as easy as possible for you.

Introduction to the Chart of Accounts (PDF) COA FAQ (PDF)

Training Video