Comptroller's Office  Policies and Procedures Manual
Effective: 01/01/2000	Revised: 02/02/2009

CMP 202: Establishment of Dept/Units

To provide a procedure for the establishment of new Dept/Units

University policy

All university Dept/Units except sponsored project Dept/Units and facility services Dept/Units. See CMP 211, "Sponsored Project Dept/Units," for a description of a sponsored Dept/Unit.

"Facility Services Dept/Units" are handled differently from other Dept/Units. See description below.

The university's accounting system consists of numerous individual Dept/Units (i.e., responsibility centers) designed to record and report transactions related to specified activities (see Advantage Activity types and codes below). The reporting needs of a particular department may change as the activities of the department change. When the reporting needs of a particular department are not readily met using the currently assigned Dept/Units and revenue and expense codes, establishing a new Dept/Unit may be necessary. Communication between the department, Budget Office, and the Comptroller's Office can determine what additions, changes, or enhancements in the reporting structure are appropriate.

The Budget Office and the Comptroller's office have responsibility for establishing Dept/Units and the procedures for requesting new Dept/Units other than sponsored project Dept/Units.

General Guidelines

The Department the new Dept/Unit should request the new Dept/Unit by e-mail or memo through their chain of command (this includes their Area Contact Representative listed in CMP 204-04) to the Budget Office. In your request, please answer the following questions:

WHO - Who will be the Dept/Unit manager, and who will be receiving reports other than the Unit manager?

WHAT - What is the name of the new Dept/Unit and what type of activity will it be engaged in (see list below)?

WHEN - When is the new Dept/Unit to become effective?

WHERE - Where will the new activity be reporting? If the Dept is already established, what Dept will the organization be assigned to? If a new Dept is to be established, what jurisdictional area (ie. President, Provost, Vice President, etc.) will the new Dept/Unit be reporting to?

WHY - Why (purpose, necessity, etc.) do you need the new activity?

AND,

HOW - How will this new activity be funded?

The information requested is used for:

1. determining whether a new dept/unit needs to be established within the context of reporting and accounting requirements including expense classification by activity type.

   and

2. obtaining background data, which becomes part of the Dept/Unit's permanent file if a new adept/unit is established. This permanent file information is retained in the Comptroller's Office for future reference.

Account Request Form http://www4.nau.edu/pair/Budget/Forms/newacctrequest.doc

The application form is self-explanatory; however, each subject area on the form is described below.

1)    Dept Title

The title of the new Dept/unit needs to describe its responsibilities and activities; limited to 30 characters.

2)    Purpose

The purpose of the requested new Dept/unit needs to include, as appropriate for each situation, a description of:

1. The departmental activities requiring establishment of a new dept/unit. The activities should be associated with NAU's activity reporting codes.
2. The state of development these activities have reached (i.e., occurring under existing Dept/Unit or planned future activity)
3. The remaining steps for the activities to become fully operational, and when these are expected to occur
4. Why the existing  dept/unit(s) cannot meet the department's accounting needs.

3)    Date new  dept/unit should start.

4)    Department the new  dept/unit should reside in

5)    Sources of Revenue

The sources of revenue for the proposed  dept/unit, including revenue that may be generated by the a dept/unit (e.g., sales and service income) must be listed. Indicate all sources of revenue considering the following restrictions:

1. Grants or Contracts: If the  dept/unit is for an externally funded project, i.e., a grant or contract, and/or special reporting to a donor is required, contact the Sponsored Projects Office. The  dept/unit may need to be set up by Sponsored Projects Office. 
2. Departmental Gifts: All gifts to the university must be processed through the University Advancement..

6)    Types of Expenditures

Indicate the types of expenditures that will be incurred by this new  dept/unit (see CMP 430, "Expenditure Coding," for additional information).

7)    Establish new Sub-Unit's

If the department desires to account for expenditures at a level of detail lower than the dept/unit or object/sub-object code, the department may establish sub-units for the new dept/unit. The establishment of sub-units should be discussed with the Budget officer in the Budget Office.

The Budget Office then completes a Request to Authorize a New Department and sends it to the Assistant Comptroller. The Assistant Comptroller reviews the request and approves what fund and activity (program) that the new  dept/unit is to be established in. The Accounting Manager then establishes the new  dept/unit in Advantage. The Accounting Manager notifies the Budget Office that the  dept/unit is established. The Budget Officer sets up all object codes and revenue sources needed and notifies the department that the new dept/unit is complete and ready to use.

Dept/Unit Activity Coding

Dept/Units are assigned an activity code that most closely represents the expense activity of the dept/unit.  Established activity codes are used for financial and other reporting purposes.  The activity codes are designed to correspond with the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) functional expense classifications (see table below).  Each Dept/Unit is assigned an Activity Code as part of their Accounting Template (ACTPL page in Advantage) and expense budget (BQ80LV3 page in Advantage).

Facilities services requires the establishment of a new  dept/unit for each new project. They fill out an account request form, which is entitled "Advantage Fund/Dept/Unit/Setup Sheet" with the following information:

1. Date
2. Requested by:
3. Dept Manager
4. Phone Contact (for questions)
5. Funding Source--(1)
6. Funding Source--(2)
7. Project/Dept Title
8. Project Number
9. Total Estimated Project Cost
10. Estimated Completion Date of Project
11. Other Information

A copy of the Capital Project Request and Authorization Form should be attached to the account request form and sent to the Budget Office. The Budget Office reviews the request and assigns an  dept/unit number to the request. The request is then sent to the Comptroller's Office. The Accounting Manager assigns an activity code and then sets up the dept/unit and activity in Advantage. The  dept/unit is set up as a multi-year (MY) account so the GDES and GDE2 tables (Grant Description Tables) must also be updated. The copy of the Capital Project Request and Authorization Form is given to the Comptroller's Office, for tracking of Capital Projects. The Comptroller's Office notifies the Budget Office that the  dept/unit is set up. The Budget Office then sets up the object codes and revenue sources needed and notifies Facilities Management that the  dept/unit is ready for use.

For more university accounting systems information, see:

1. CMP 204-01, Additions/Changes/Deletions in Unit Managers/Authorized Signers
2. CMP 204-02, Additions/Changes/Deletions in Advantage User IDs
3. CMP 211, Sponsored Project Dept/Units
4. CMP 303, Gift Deposits
5. CMP 430-01, Expenditure Object Codes