General ledger accounts (GLs) are account numbers used to categorize types of financial transactions. Most GLs are revenues, expenses, and transfers. A “chart of accounts” is a complete listing of every GL account in an accounting system.
Following is the numbering structure for a general ledger account number.
Many Names, Same Information
GL, General Ledger, Cost Element, Commitment Item, Revenue Element, Account -- at the University, all of these terms are names for the same thing – a general ledger account or GL. In SAP, GLs are known as “cost elements.” The BCS budgeting system and Business Intelligence reports call them “commitment items.”
GLs are 6 digits long and each digit provides information. Revenue postings start with 4; expense postings start with 5. A GL starting with an 8 is a transfer of funds from one area of UNL to another -- usually from one funding source to another – and occurs infrequently. The second, third and fourth digits represent the major, minor and subcategories; and the fifth/sixth allow for a more detailed breakdown. For example, the numbers in GL 531100 indicate the following: 5 indicates an expense transaction, 53 is operating supplies, 531 is general supplies and 5311 is office supplies. An office supply purchase may be posted to the GL of 531100, or to a more specific category in that range.
Resources
The following resources are available in Sapphire. Viewing requires TrueYou authentication:
- The most used documents are: Expenditures, Revenues and Transfers -- If you open these documents electronically, you can then use the keyboard shortcut “Control F” to find something in the electronic file, rather than printing the document and manually searching pages.
- The GL Account Code Structure summarizes GL categories.
- Detailed lists of all GLs and additional documentation may be found in the Sapphire folder found at SAP Documentation>Financial.