Account Info

The account (also referred to as a cost object) is the account you are looking to charge. This often varies based on the department, the item purchased, and other things. If you are not sure which to use, please confirm with the Senior Financial Officer.

When completing the section of the p-card form that calls for the account:

1. Type in the account that will be charged, as well as the general ledger (G/L).

The G/L is used to broadly categorize the transaction and is necessary to allow MIT to properly review spending areas and manage the budget. See Commonly used GLs and Commonly confused GLs for lists to reference.

If you find you’re chosen GL falls on the list of things that shouldn’t be charged to a p-card, it’s technically already too late to make any changes as the purchase has already happened. If you see this, simply submit the documentation as normal, try to avoid it the next time, and don’t be too surprised if you get an email from us!

If you are purchasing on a research account, keep in mind that there are several specific, additional G/Ls that are unallowable for them, as well.

After you type in an account and G/L, your page will update:

2. Depending on the account or G/L used, you may be asked to reload the page. Reload the page if the Helper Text, which is automatically filled out, asks you to, as doing so will change the fields that will display in the rest of the form:

If you typed an account incorrectly, you’ll get a message in the Helper Text area telling you to review:

3. Next, type in the amount that will be charged to each cost object.

If only using one cost object, input the full amount of the transaction:

If using more than one cost object, input that cost object on the next line and split the amount of the transaction between cost objects as desired.

4. Complete the justification:

A justification is a brief but required statement explaining the benefit of the purchase to the institute or research project. See All about justifications for how to do this correctly—if it’s done wrong, your p-card form may be rejected.

If the meeting g/l is used, the following fields will appear after you click the Reload button:

If the food g/l is used, the following field will appear after you click the reload button

Complete all of these fields.

For expenses for a meeting (including food and beverages) to be allowable on a federal award, the meetings primary purpose must be dissemination of technical information beyond MIT, and it must be necessary for successful performance of the award. Events like group dinners, for example, are not allowed on research and should be charged on a discretionary account.

MIT’s policy on this can be found on the Research Administration Services’ website.

If a research account is used, the Names of person(s) transaction was purchased for field will appear after you click the Reload button:

This field is for indicating who the items were purchased for (not who did the purchasing) in order for the finance team to determine if the person(s) receiving the benefit of the purchase have effort on the account(s) in question.

See Purchasing on a Research Cost Object for full details on what is counted as effort on a research account.

Additionally, make sure your justification abides to the right standards.