Does your unit incur expenses for food, beverages, business meals, catering services, or other similar purchases? If so, keep the following points in mind to ensure these expenses are recorded to the proper account code, which is important to ensure compliance with state reporting requirements:
- Any purchase of consumable food supplies for official university business should be charged to account code 124300, Food Supplies. Examples would include:
- Bagels, donuts, coffee, cookies, soft drinks, snacks, prepackaged refreshments purchased from the shelves of a grocery store.
- Food items purchased from a bakery which did not require a special order to be placed.
- Any purchase of business meals should be charged to account code 142500, Business Meal – Payment to Vendor. Examples would include:
- Meals with business associates, university guests, donors, or professional colleagues where university business is being discussed.
- Boxed lunches delivered by a local sandwich shop (or any other kind of food which requires a special order to be placed) for a required business meeting held over the lunch hour.
- Any purchase of catering services from either an external vendor or another university unit should be charged to account code 142520, Catering Services – Payment to Vendor. An example would include:
- Professional catering services (such as plated dinner service) provided by an external caterer or a university catering department at an official university event.
- Any payments to a vendor (such as a restaurant, café, or cafeteria) for the purchase of a meal during a job interview with a prospective employee should be charged to account code 141850, Interviewee Expense – Payment to Vendor. An example would include:
- Payment to a restaurant for the cost of a meal consumed during a job interview between a university employee and the prospective employee.
- Any purchase of food or beverages for resale purposes as a part of a self-supporting operation should be charged to account code 187100, Purchase of Goods for Resale. Examples would include:
- The purchase of food and beverages for resale purposes at a university cafeteria or at a university event (such as drinks or snacks purchased for resale at a performing arts center event).
- Any purchase of food used for university research purposes (as opposed to human consumption) should be charged to account code 124000, Scientific and Laboratory Supplies. Examples would include:
- The purchase of food items which a university professor is researching or food purchased to feed the laboratory animals which are being held for research purposes.
Contact
For further details, reach out to the applicable subject matter experts who can be found by searching on “Account Codes” within the Business and Finance Who to Ask list.
