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Definitions

 

  • Reference

    This number corresponds to a source document in the University accounting system.

  • Vendor

    This identifies the person or entity that received the payment from the University.

  • Accounting Date

    This is the date the expense was paid.

  • Account

    Description of expenditure type in the University general ledger.

  • Classification

    This identifies the purpose of the expense.  The University follows NACUBO’s (National Association of College and University Business Officers) Financial Accounting Reporting Manual for Higher Education definitions of Function Expenses for expenditure classification (class).   Below is a listing of possible classification or class codes:

     

Instruction

The instruction classification includes expenses for all activities that are part of an institution’s instruction program. Expenses for credit and noncredit courses; academic, vocational, and technical instruction; remedial and tutorial instruction; and regular, special, and extension sessions are included.

The instruction classification includes the following subclasses:

General Academic Instruction

This subclass includes expenses for instructional activities that are associated with academic offerings.

Vocational/Technical Instruction

This subclass includes expenses for formally organized instructional activities that are associated with activities characterized as vocational/technical.

Community Education

This subclass includes expenses for formally organized instructional activities that do not generally result in credit toward any formal postsecondary degree or certificate.

Preparatory/Remedial Instruction

This subclass includes expenses for formally organized instructional activities that give students the basic knowledge and skills required by the institution before they can undertake formal academic course work leading to a postsecondary degree or certificate. Such activities, which are supplemental to the normal academic program, generally are termed preparatory, remedial, developmental, or special educational services.

 

Research

The research classification includes all expenses for activities specifically organized to produce research, whether commissioned by an agency external to the institution or by an organizational unit within the institution. Subject to those conditions, the classification includes expenses for individual and/or project research as well as that of institutes and research centers.

Institutes and Research Centers

This subclass includes expenses for research activities that are part of a formal research organization created to manage a number of research efforts. While this subclass includes agricultural experiment stations, it does not include federally funded research and development centers, which are classified as independent operations.

Individual and Project Research

This subclass includes expenses for research activities that are managed within academic departments. Those activities may have been undertaken as the result of a research contract or grant or through a specific allocation of the institution’s own general resources.

 

Public Service

The public service classification includes expenses for activities established primarily to provide non-instructional services for the benefit of individuals and groups that are external to the institution. These activities include community service programs (excluding instructional activities) and cooperative extension services. Included in this classification are conferences, institutes, general advisory services, reference bureaus, radio and television, consulting, and similar non-instructional services to particular sectors of the community.

The public service classification includes the following subclasses:

Community Service

This subclass includes expenses for activities organized and carried out to provide general community services, excluding instructional activities. Community service activities make available to the public various resources and special capabilities that exist within the institution.

Cooperative Extension Service

This subclass includes expenses for non-instructional public service activities established as the result of cooperative extension efforts between the institution and outside agencies.

Public Broadcasting Services

This subclass includes expenses for operation and maintenance of broadcasting services operated outside the context of the institution’s instruction, research, and academic support programs.

The following broadcasting services are excluded from this subclass:

  • Broadcasting services conducted primarily in support of instruction, which should be classified in the ancillary support subclass of academic support
  • Broadcasting services operated primarily as a student service activity, which should be classified in the social and cultural development subclass of student services
  • Broadcasting services that are independent operations, which should be classified in the independent operations/institutional subclass of independent operations.

 

Academic Support

The academic support classification includes expenses incurred to provide support services for the institution’s primary programs of instruction, research, and public service. It includes the following activities:

The academic support classification includes the following subclasses:

Libraries

This subclass includes expenses for organized activities that directly support the operation of a catalogued or otherwise classified collection.

Museums and Galleries

This subclass includes expenses for organized activities that provide for the collection, preservation, and exhibition of historical materials, art objects, scientific displays, etc. Libraries are excluded.

Educational Media Services

This subclass includes expenses for organized activities providing audiovisual and other services that aid in the transmission of information in support of the institution’s primary programs of instruction, research, and public service.

Ancillary Support

Ancillary support activities usually provide a mechanism through which students can gain practical experience.

Academic Administration

This subclass includes expenses for activities specifically designed and carried out to provide administrative and management support to the academic programs.

Academic Personnel Development

This subclass includes expenses for activities that provide the faculty with opportunities for personal and professional growth and development to the extent that such activities are formally organized.

Course and Curriculum Development

This subclass includes expenses for activities established either to significantly improve or to add to the institution’s instructional offerings.

Academic Computing Support

This subclass includes expenses for formally organized academic support information technology.

 

Scholarships and Fellowships

The scholarships and fellowships classification includes expenses for scholarships and fellowships—from restricted or unrestricted funds—in the form of grants that neither require the student to perform service to the institution as consideration for the grant, nor require the student to repay the amount of the grant to the funding source. In public institutions, they may result from selection by the institution or from an entitlement program. The classification also includes trainee stipends, prizes, and awards. (However, trainee stipends awarded to individuals who are not enrolled in formal course work should be charged to instruction, research, or public service.)

The scholarships and fellowships classification includes the following two subclasses:

Scholarships

This subclass includes grants-in-aid, trainee stipends, tuition and fee waivers, and prizes to undergraduate students.

Fellowships

This subclass includes grants-in-aid and trainee stipends to graduate students. It does not include funds for which services to the institution must be rendered, such as payments for teaching.

 

Auxiliary Enterprises, Auxiliary Enterprises—Other, and Other Self-Supporting Enterprises

An auxiliary enterprise exists to furnish goods or services to students, faculty, staff, other institutional departments, or incidentally to the general public, and charges a fee directly related to the cost of the goods or services. The distinguishing characteristic of an auxiliary enterprise is that it is managed to operate as a self-supporting activity.

The auxiliary enterprise classification includes the following subclasses:

Infirmary

This subclass includes expenses for student health services.

Housing

This subclass includes expenses for student housing.

Vending and Concessions

This subclass includes expenses related to vending and concession expenses.

Parking

auxiliary enterprise activities primarily intended to provide a service to the faculty, staff, or both. Such activities include faculty-staff parking.

Athletics

This subclass includes expenses for an intercollegiate sports program when the program is as self-supporting.

Other Auxiliary

This subclass includes expenses for auxiliary enterprise activities primarily intended to furnish goods and services that are related to the higher education mission. Customers for these goods and services generally are not students, faculty, or staff.

 

Operation and Maintenance of Plant Expenses

The operation and maintenance of plant category includes all expenses for the administration, supervision, operation, maintenance, preservation, and protection of the institution’s physical plant. These expenses include items such as janitorial and utility services; repairs and ordinary or normal alterations of buildings, furniture, and equipment; care of grounds; maintenance and operation of buildings and other plant facilities; security; safety; hazardous waste disposal; property, liability, and all other insurance relating to property; facility planning and management.

The operations and maintenance of plant classification includes the following subclasses:

Physical Plant Administration

Activities related to the development of plans for plant expansion or modification, as well as plans for new construction, should be included in this subclass.

Building Maintenance

This subclass includes expenses for activities related to routine repair and maintenance of buildings and other structures, including normally recurring repairs and preventive maintenance.

Custodial Services

This subclass includes expenses related to custodial services in buildings.

Utilities

This subclass includes expenses related to heating, cooling, light and power, gas, water, and any other utilities necessary for operation of the physical plant.

Landscaping / Grounds Maint

This subclass includes expenses related to the operation and maintenance of landscape and grounds.

Major Repairs and Renovations

This subclass includes expenses related to major noncapital repairs, maintenance, and renovations.

Safety and Security

This subclass includes expenses related to security; earthquake and disaster preparedness; safety, including environmental safety; and hazardous waste disposal.