Chart of Accounts

The Chart of Accounts (COA) is the coding structure through which financial transactions are handled. The COA consists of seven segments representing organizational structure and specific financial information. Each segment represents a specific type of information. All seven segments are required to process financial transactions. Please call the Financial Office (495-4607) for further information.

Click on any of the segments to see information related to that segment.

• Chart of Accounts Validator
• Tub
• Org
• Object
• Fund
• Activity
• Sub-Activity
• Root

Tub

The Tub represents the school or administrative part of Harvard. It answers the question: which part of the University owns the transaction? The Law School's tub is 265. Tub values for other parts of the University can be obtained from the Financial Office.

Org

The Org represents the department within the Law School which owns the transaction. A complete list of HLS Orgs can be found below.

• Org List (Excel format)
• Org List (PDF format)

Transactions are coded at the Org level. Parents are roll-ups of multiple Orgs for ease of preparing financial reports. For a simplified list of codes or for any questions you may have please call the Financial Office at 495-4607.

Object

The University has a common object code structure. Object codes will track the kind of transaction that is involved. For a list of the commonly used object codes please use the link listed below.

• Expense Object Code List

For a complete list of codes or for any questions you may have please call the Financial Office at 495-4607.

Fund

Fund tracks where the money is coming from. The most common used fund at the Law School is 000001. However, not all Orgs use this fund. There are different types and ranges of funds in the chart of accounts.

Please check with the Financial Office (495-4607) for any questions you may have regarding funds.

Activity

Activity tells us what project or effort the money is being used for. Many Orgs will use a generic activity. Others, who want to track multiple projects or undertakings, will use several Activities.

New Activities can be set up as needed. The Org manager should contact Paul Upson (495-4607) to make such a request.

Sub-Activity

Sub-Activity is dependent on Activity and tracks a discrete task within an Activity. The default value is 0000.

New Sub-Activities can be set up as needed. The Org manager should contact Paul Upson (495-4607) to make such a request.

Root

The root tracks the faculty or building related to the transaction. The default value is 00000. A faculty root must be used on photocopy orders, on all faculty allowance charges and on all sponsored research charges. For a list of faculty root values click below.

• Faculty Root List (Excel format)
• Faculty Root List (PDF format)

A building root must be used with all construction operations and maintenance. For a list of building roots click below.

• Build Root List (Excel format)
• Build Root List (PDF format)

For a simplified list of codes or for any questions you may have please call the Financial Office at 495-4607.

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