Chartstring

Chartstring Example

Chartstring – is a combination of data segments that provides necessary information for financial management and budgeting. A complete chartstring includes Business Unit, Account, Fund, DeptID (the lowest level of the Entity Hierarchy), Program (if applicable), ChartField1 (if applicable), and ChartField2 (if applicable). The different segments provide necessary information for strategic financial management and budgeting.

If you don’t know which chartstring to use, contact your manager, Divisional Finance Leader, or Research Administrator.

A complete chartstring includes:

  • Business Unit – will either be 10000 for the Berkeley campus or J0000 for UCOP activity administered on the Berkeley campus financial records and general ledger
  • Account Code –this field describes the nature of the expenses
  • Fund– the source or type of money
  • DeptID – (Department ID) – the cost center where the expenses will be charged
  • Program Code – used to report the broad category of functional activity that incurred the expense; for Contract and Grant funds used to determine if overhead applies to the transaction
  • ChartField 1 – department defined field for reporting; it represents a project, for Contract and Grant funds it is used to track a task, deliverable or fabrication
  • ChartField 2 – department defined field for reporting; it identifies a Principal Investigator or faculty lead, it tracks ongoing financial activity for the reporting, analysis and management of resources related to a faculty member or Principal Investigator

For Contract and Grant funds, there are three additional segments:

  • PC BU– Project Costing Business Unit – if the general ledger business unit is 10000, the PC BU is GM100; for J0000, the PC BU is GMJ00
  • Project – a defined body of work
  • Activity– the funding period(s) mandated by the sponsor

Read more about the Contract and Grants award chartstrings on the Controller's website. 

Chart of Accounts
Visit the Controller's Office website or the Budget Process Chart of Account Guidelines for more information about Chart of Accounts, including:

Account Range

Account Range Classification of Account
10000-19999 Assets
20000-29999 Liabilities
30000-39999 Fund Balances
40000-49999 Revenues
50000-59999 Expenditures
60000-69999 Budget
70000-79999 Operating Transfers
List of BFS Accounts

Chartstrings Job Aid

Review the Chartstrings Job Aid, a brief overview of the Chartstrings Tab, including filters and views, and an example of a full chartstring.

Quick Links

Using chartstrings in PI Portfolio

PI Portfolio Phase 3: Projections is designed to make it easier for you to use your chartstrings in the tool. As of October, 2016, a Chartstrings tab was added, which allows users to get a balance in each chartstring used in a given PI’s Portfolio. It’s also helpful to see at a glance the chartfields being used for this PI. Review the Chartstrings job aid.

Below are some key facts about how you can use chartstrings in the tool.

  • View full chartstring in a Portfolio in Chartstrings tab: In the Chartstrings tab, you can view a list of the full chartstrings associated with the PI's Portfolio and get the balance of each chartstring used. 
  • Filter by Standard or Extended View: View options include ability to remove descriptions (Standard View) or add in Business Unit and Program (Extended View).
  • Exclude expired funds: Customize the tab using the filters at the top of the report. The same set of filters are available on the Portfolio tab, which allow you to exclude expired funds. 
  • Drill into detailed data from Fund Summary: The reports default to the L4 level and you can drill into L7 level, where you can view the chartstring.
  • Copy the full chartstring: You can copy the complete chartstring in the chartstrings tab, if you need to use it as a reference. 
  • Drill down into details: Click on the blue values in the table to drill down into transaction details.
  • Drop down menu of all chartstrings: If you want to edit the chartstring in the Projections tab, there’s a drop down menu for all the chartstrings. The menu includes predictive type; just start typing and the item will come up. For example, in Fund you can type "science" and the science related funds will come up. It will only include science funds related to your portfolio.