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Division of Financial Services
Accounting
  • About
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  • Chart of Accounts
    • Transaction String
    • Accounts
      • Sub-Accounts
    • Object Codes
      • Sub-Object Codes
      • Revenue Object Codes
    • Function Codes
    • Fund Groups
    • Charts
    • Organizations
    • Using Sub-Accounts and Sub-Object Codes for Activity Tracking
    • Managing Accounts
  • Topics
    • Abandoned Property
    • Accounts Payable
      • AP Payment Schedule
      • Direct Deposit for Reimbursements
      • Check and Electronic Payments
      • Foreign Currency Payments
      • Help for Payees
      • Help for BSCs
    • Accounts Receivable
      • Interdepartmental Billings
        • Authorized Direct Charge Processors
      • Registering Cornell in an External Entity’s Payment System
      • Writing Off Uncollectable Receivables
    • Deposits
    • External Organizations
    • Gift Funds
      • Indirect Cost on Gifts
      • Receiving Gifts
      • Gift Restrictions
      • Managing Restricted Gift Accounts
    • Interdepartmental Activity
    • Inventory Accounting Guidelines
    • Lease Classification
    • Petty Cash and Cash Drawers
    • Plant Construction Funds
    • Reconciliation Guidelines
      • Reconciling Asset and Liability Object Codes
      • Monitoring Operating Activity
      • Object Code Reviews
      • Correcting Unknown Variances
    • Reserve Accounts
    • Revenue Classification
      • Tuition and Student Fees
      • Government Appropriations
      • Grant and Contract
      • Gifts and Contributions
      • Medical Services
      • Investment Earnings
      • Auxiliary Enterprises
      • Educational Activities
      • Other Sales and Services
      • Interdepartmental Revenues
      • External Organization Income
      • Accounts Receivable
      • Allowance for Doubtful Accounts and Bad Debt Expenses
      • Accruals/Deferred Revenue
      • Revenue vs. Expense Reimbursement
      • Revenue Matrix
    • Transferring Funds
    • Travel Advances and Prepaid Expenses
    • WCM Accounts
      • Processing Entries to WCM
  • Invested Funds
    • Current-Year Long-Term Investment Pool Rates
    • Prior-Year Long-Term Investment Pool Rates
    • Investing in the Long-Term Investment Pool
    • Investment Glossary
  • Year-End
    • Account Reversion
    • KFS Payment Processing E-docs (DV, PREQ, PCDO)
    • Cash Deposits at Year-End
    • Revenue and Expense Year-End Accruals
    • Deadlines
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In this section

  • Transaction String
  • Accounts
    • Sub-Accounts
  • Object Codes
    • Sub-Object Codes
    • Revenue Object Codes
  • Function Codes
  • Fund Groups
  • Charts
  • Organizations
  • Using Sub-Accounts and Sub-Object Codes for Activity Tracking
  • Managing Accounts

Object Codes

In KFS, four-character object codes represent all income, expense, asset, liability, and fund balance classifications that are assigned to transactions and help identify the nature of the transaction. Object codes are defined centrally with broad definitions so that they are available for use by more than one organization. They are specific to a chart and a fiscal year.

Like many things in KFS, object codes are hierarchical to support reporting needs. Object codes roll up to object levels, which roll up to object consolidations. This allows the user to look at account activity at varying levels of detail. Legacy object codes are being converted to either new KFS object codes or sub-object codes, depending on the nature and how the code is used locally. Some sub-object codes may be defined centrally, but generally departments and units can define their sub-object codes to facilitate further distinctions.

  • Search Object Codes
  • Revenue Object Codes

Examples

  • Domestic travel – expense
  • Tuition fees – income
  • Accounts receivable – asset
  • Accounts payable – liability

Key Points

  • Object codes use four alphanumeric characters.
  • Legacy assets and liability accounts become object codes in KFS. 
  • Object codes are defined centrally and can be used by more than one org.
  • Object codes are specific to a chart and a fiscal year.

Object Code Attributes

In the Lookup and Maintenance section of KFS, you can search for an object code number with its attributes.

Required attributes are noted with an asterisk (*). When a magnifying glass icon Magnifying glass icon appears in the e-doc, you can click it to look up information from a list.

Edit Object Code tab

Click image to enlarge

Attribute Description Example
*Fiscal Year Fiscal year of the object code
The Object Code table is based on fiscal year, so each year can have a different set of object codes.  At Cornell, it is unlikely that the object codes will change significantly from year to year.
2011
*Chart Code Chart to which the object code belongs IT
*Object Code A unique code within the chart and fiscal year to which it belongs that describes the nature of the transaction. 6750
*Object Code Name A long descriptive name for the object code that appears on the Accounting Lines tab in financial documents as well as in searches and reports Domestic Travel
*Object Code Short Name A short version of the object code name for use in reporting where space is limited Dom Trvl
Reports to Chart Code

*Reports to Object Code
The Chart and Object Code to which the object code reports.  For example, the object code for Travel in the Ithaca Chart might report to the object code for General Expenses in the Cornell chart.

Note: The Chart field is display-only; the value defaults to the Chart value associated with the Object Code entered.
CU
4300
*Object Type Code Code used to identify an object code as income, expense, asset, liability or fund balance
Multiple values exist for income and expense to support general ledger functionality.
EX
*Level Code A centrally defined summary code for a given set of object codes that identifies the level to which the object code belongs.
This code is useful for reporting since each object code has an associated level code it rolls up to. Selecting the level code will show all object codes within a level.
TRVL
*Object Sub-Type Code Code assigned to similar groups of object codes
Sub-types are often leveraged in KFS to apply business rules or to help with reporting. For example, Object Sub-types are used to identify capital asset object codes.
TR
Historical Financial Object Code This code is useful for tracking when an object code has been changed. n/a
Active Code Select this option if the object code is active and can be used on financial documents. n/a
*Budget Aggregation Code Code that indicates at what level the object code can be used for budgeting
Options:
  • O: Object code level
  • C: Consolidation level
  • L: Level
Note: the current functionality of KFS supports budgeting only at the object code level.
O
*Mandatory Transfers or Elimination Code Code used for the application of business rules where mandatory transfer or elimination codes are either required or prohibited:
  • M: Mandatory transfer code
  • E: Elimination code
  • N: Neither
M
*Federally Funded Code Shows whether this is an object code for capital equipment from the Federally Funded Code list. Examples:
  • N: Non-federally funded, university owned
  • O: Federally funded, university owned
  • F: Federally funded, federally owned
N
Next Year Object Code Object code that represents the object code in the next fiscal year 2012

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