Best Practices – Tracking Cost Share in the Berkeley Financial System

UCOP Contract and Grant Manual Chapter 5, Cost Sharing, requires the campus to have a centralized tracking system to capture committed cost share amounts. To comply with this requirement, the Berkeley Financial System (BFS) offers several options that can be utilized to track cost share. Options include the use of ChartField1 or ChartField2 if these fields are not already being used with the fund associated with the sponsored award. If these fields are already being used to track other award related information (i.e. Principal Investigator, or project year), departments may choose to use a designated Dept ID code for tracking cost share commitments. Each of the options is discussed below.

By using one of these options, departments will have the ability to track cost share commitments using BAIRS reports. As a best practice, the BAIRS reports should be run on a monthly basis. Departments should review the reports to ensure that all cost shared expenses are allowable, comply with the terms and conditions of the award, and meet the requirements of OMB A-110 and A-21. The reports also may be used to monitor progress towards fulfilling the cost share commitment and as an aid in completing the Cost Share Contribution Report. See the campus policy on cost sharing.

Using ChartField1 to Record Cost Share

The purpose of ChartField1 is to identify an activity that has a beginning or end date, involves multiple funds, or is one of several similar activities within a fund, such as cost share. The length of the field in BFS is 6 characters. The first two characters are the Department prefix. The remaining four characters may be assigned by the department in a manner that would allow them to identify the cost share related to a specific fund. Guidance on how to add ChartField1 to a chartstring is available.

Once the ChartField1 has been established to record cost share associated with a particular sponsored award, departments should assign that particular ChartField1 to all eligible transactions so that they are correctly recorded in the general ledger.

Using ChartField2 to Record Cost Share

ChartField2 is an optional field in BFS for use by departments to classify transactions. The length of the field is five characters. The first two characters are the department prefix. The field is alphanumeric, and is set up and maintained by the department. ChartField2 is used to track activities which cannot be captured in other chartfields. Many research departments use ChartField2 to identify the Principal Investigator or track costs, such as cost share. Guidance on how to add ChartField2 to a chartstring is available.

Once the ChartField2 has been established to record cost share associated with a particular sponsored award, departments should assign that particular ChartField2 to all eligible transactions so that they are correctly recorded in the general ledger.

Using Dept ID to Record Cost Share

If ChartField1 and ChartField2 are not available to use for tracking cost share, departments may choose to use a designated Dept ID code for tracking cost share. Dept ID identifies the lowest budgetary unit (also referred to as "cost centers") to which financial transactions are recorded. Length in BFS is 5 characters. Guidance on how to request a new Dept ID is available.

Once a Dept ID code has been designated to record cost share associated with a particular sponsored award, departments should assign that particular Dept ID to all eligible transactions so that they are correctly recorded in the general ledger. The use of a designated Dept ID may also necessitate the use of a ChartField1 or ChartField2 to further define the sponsored award.