Plant Construction Funds

A Project Approval Request (PAR) is required for all construction projects greater than $100K. For more information, see the PAR guidelines.

To determine if the PAR expenses are capital or non-capital in nature, see Appendix C: Flow Chart, Capitalizing Construction Projects in University Policy 3.9, Capital Assets. 

Account Setup Process

1. Once a PAR is approved, Facilities and Campus Services (FCS) initiates a new account request. See Account Attributes, below.
2. Plant Accounting reviews and approves the new account request, as appropriate.
3. FCS originates a request for payment based on the vendor’s invoice, which has been reviewed and approved by the project manager or delegate, and sends it to a BSC.
4. The BSC either approves or denies the request, after reviewing the following:
   1. Items being charged
   2. The payment amount
   3. Backup information
5. When the project is complete, FCS notifies Plant Accounting, who creates an asset.
6. If the asset is placed in service prior to final completion of a project and a temporary certificate of occupancy has been issued, Plant Accounting will process a partial capitalization on the account.

Account Attributes

• Capital projects:
  • Organization Code: CAXX
  • Fund Group Code: PL
  • Sub-fund group code: PLCIP – Construction in Progress
  • Higher Ed Function Code: P000 – Plant
  • Building Code: XXXX
• SUNY funded projects only:
  • Sub-fund group code: PLSUCF
  • Sub-fund program code: CUMG (CU) or SUNYMG (SUNY Managed)
• Non-capital projects:
  • Organization Code: CAXX
  • Fund Group Code: GN
  • Sub-fund group code: GNDEPT
  • Higher Ed Function Code: 4800 – Operations & Maintenance

Capital vs. Non-Capital Costs

One way to distinguish between what is a capital transaction and what is a non-capital transaction is to think about what can be depreciated as an asset, or whether or not it is a consumable item.

These items are non-capital and cannot be depreciated as an asset. The university has a sub-account (NONCA) within the project for these non-capital costs.

Some non-capital costs include:

• Food
• Custodial and office supplies 
• Recruitment
• Training
• Federal unallowables

Fabricated Equipment

Fabricated equipment is equipment built on-site, but not purchased in final form. This scenario falls under the purview of Capital Assets.

For further information or assistance regarding this scenario, please review University Policy 3.9, Capital Assets.

In addition, you can also contact Capital Assets.

Accounting Guidelines

PLCIP and PLSUCF accounts contain construction (CAPC) and expense object codes. When creating an asset, the construction and expense object codes are reversed and moved to an acquisition (CAPA) object code. If there are non-capital expenses within the project account, the non-capital expenses remain in a NONCA sub-account and will not be capitalized.

The acquisition object code total is capital.

To determine the full cost of a project: Acquisition total + NONCA object codes total = Full project cost. The asset and depreciation are recorded in a PLCAPT account.

Capital Project funding must be available so that Plant Accounting can transfer the balances out of the proper accounts to the capital project accounts at the time the PAR account is approved.

Payments from Project Construction Funds

Some issues to be on the lookout for include whether or not the payment is charged to a capital or non-capital account. Different object codes are used for each. Object codes that are construction object codes are those that can only be used in the capital accounts. They begin with 393X. If it is a capital account, then the code cannot be used in anything other than a PLSUCF – noting state-funded projects; and a PLCIP – noting projects funded by other sources.

Payment requests for improvements to a lease that the university has entered into must be added as a leasehold improvement and depreciated for the duration of the lease. The costs must total at least $100,000, and lease agreements that contain improvements paid for by Cornell need to be recorded in a PLCIP account.

Capital Project Funding Guidelines

The university has established capital project funding guidelines that must be followed. See the Capital Project Funding Guidelines on the Capital Planning Resources page. Also see Internal Borrowing Guidelines for information on effectively using capital resources, including debt financing.

For further information or assistance, please contact Plant Accounting.