Sub-Accounting Policy

January 2025 

The primary purpose for sub-accounting is to obtain granularity of expenditures by fiscal year. If additional measurement is desired, the financial representative in the VP area is able to distribute, monitor and maintain budgets per sub-account. 

I. Creating New Sub-Accounts

  1. New sub-accounts can be created at any time of the year. However, it is strongly encouraged to set them up only as needed. Contact the Accounting Manager in the central Accounting Office if you have questions on whether to set one up or not.
  2. Sub-accounts can only be created under two circumstances defined hereunder. If these circumstances are not met, creating a new master account with sub-accounts is an alternative
    1. If the existing master account is already sub-accounted, or
    2. If the master account has just been created and has not yet incurred any transaction activity, including revenue, labor, purchase requisitions, or expenditures.
  3. Due to their unique nature, accounts outside of the BU cost center 28-102022-XR-XX (i.e., universitywide program accounts) cannot be sub-accounted.
  4. To request sub-account creation, email the Accounting Department at business@binghamton.edu stating the desired master account and sub-account.
    1. Copy the Accounting Manager, Vicki Metritikas in Human Resources, and the financial representative in your VP area.
    2. If applicable, include a list of employees that should be charged to the new sub-account.
  5. Accounting will notify the requesting department, central Budget Office, and Human Resources once the sub-account is created and activate in the SUNY Financial System. The requesting department shall ensure student time sheets and payroll commitments are updated through Human Resources, as needed.
  6. All sub-accounted master accounts will be assigned a -99 sub-account by default. The -99 sub-account may not be used for purchase requisitions, p-cards, or labor assignments. The -99 sub-account may only be used for revenue and allocation transactions. 

II. Purchasing Implications

  1. All new purchase orders will have to be coded to a sub-account. The master account -00 and subaccount -99 may not be used. SUNY FMS will not allow a requisition to be created using the -00 master account. Additionally, if a requisition is created using the -99 sub-account, the Purchasing Office will contact the department for an alternate sub-account.
  2. When creating a requisition using a sub-account that lacks sufficient allocation, the requisition will not be rejected. The user may receive a warning message that there are not enough funds available. This is soft error that may be overridden.

III. Budget Implications

  1. The Budget Office loads allocation to the default sub-account (-99) if an account has been subaccounted.
  2. The financial representative for each VP area (or their designee) will be responsible for sending an allocation transfer request to budget@binghamton.edu from the default sub-account (-99) to each subaccount (-01 through -98).
  3. Additional information can be obtained by reviewing the State Operating Budget policy #200

IV. Revenue Implications

  1. Revenue will be posted to the default sub-account (-99) if an account has been sub-accounted.
  2. In very limited cases, when required by state or other mandated reporting, a department may request permission for revenue to post in another sub-account. Approval will be granted on a case-by-case basis. 

V. Expenditure & Labor Implications 

  1. Labor expenditures posting as a result of the automated bi-weekly payroll process will post to a subaccount even if there is not a budget and/or there is a negative cash balance. This is built into the functionality of the SUNY Financial System to avoid clearing large volumes of transactions every pay period.
  2. If labor expenditures default to the default sub-account (-99), or are charged incorrectly, transfers to a specific sub-account will not be completed until the employee鈥檚 labor distribution in the SUNY HR System has been properly coded and charged directly to the correct sub-account. Once the employee record has been updated, send an expenditure transfer request to business@binghamton.edu including screen shots from BI with the incorrect expenditure postings and all pay periods that require correction.