General Accounting

Account Code Definitions

Definitions of terms as commonly used in the University of Delaware Accounting System

Account Code: An identifying sequence of numbers used to accumulate accounting entries (transactions). In the University system, a 10 digit number (13 digits for Assets & Liabilities).
Accrual: An entry which records an expense at year end where the expense has been incurred by the fiscal year end, but the disbursement of cash has not occurred. Generally is used with wages and purchases to insure a charge is entered in the year in which it was incurred.
Allocated Account: Unrestricted account, designated for a particular purpose. These funds are not part of the annual budget, but may carry from year to year. Accounts start with digits 1-5, 1-6, 1-7, 2-5, 2-6, 2-7 in the University system. The account balance is expressed as cash available.
Asset: An entry (or account) which records the property or other items of value of the University, such as cash, investments, accounts receivable, and equipment.
Budget: A plan for expenditure (and revenue) of an account, generally used to control the account.
Cash Balance: The net result of assets minus liabilities, or equity of the University. A revenue increases assets and hence equity, while an expense decreases assets and hence equity.
Contract or Grant Account: A restricted account in which a limited term project is designed to meet specific sponsor objectives. Accounts are controlled by budgets for the project.
Credit: An entry to an account which increases resources available in an expense or fund account (appears as a revenue or negative expense).
Debit: An entry to an account which reduces resources available in an expense or fund account (appears as an expense or negative revenue).
Departmental Obligation: A commitment of account funds for a purpose such as travel, not recorded in the accounting system, but nonetheless is a planned future reduction of funds (expense).
Encumbrance: A memorandum entry or note to the account administrator that funds have been obligated, but not yet expensed. Most commonly refers to pending purchase orders.
Expense: An entry (or account) which records the outflow of assets from the University such as payroll charges, payments to contractors, and rent.
Fiscal Year Account: A designated, restricted or current budget account in which revenues and expense are accounted for as fiscal-year-to-date and the accumulation is restarted each year.
Fund: An account or series of accounts reflecting resources of the University for unrestricted or restricted purposes.
Liability: An entry (or account) which records the debts of the University such as invoices payable, bonds payable, and payroll taxes payable.
Object Code: Those digits added to the end of each account code, which describe the source of revenue or nature of expenditure of each individual transaction.
Project-to-Date Account: A designated or restricted account in which revenues and expenditures accumulate for the life of the project. Accounts are controlled by budget with no cash balance shown.
Restricted Account: An account in which the general or specific purpose is dictated by a donor or sponsor external to the University. These accounts start with digit 3 (Federal) or 4 in the University system, and may be controlled on a budget or a cash available basis.
Revenue: An entry (or account) which records the inflow of assets to the University such as student tuition and interest earned.
Transaction Code: A three- or four-digit code appearing on the account statement to point to the office which made the transaction. This code is not part of the account code, but rather is assigned to the subsystem generating the transaction.
Unrestricted Current Operating Budget Account: An account, usually budgeted, to accumulate revenues or to accumulate expenses for a particular purpose and/or department. In the University system, these accounts start with digits 1-0, 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 2-0, 2-1. This type of account has an available budget balance (budget minus activity) rather than a cash balance. Budget and activity are closed on June 30 and restarted on July 1.

General Accounting

University of Delaware

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URL of this document :http://www.udel.edu/genacct/
Last updated August 4, 1999
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