0101 Overview

This chapter establishes the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) financial policies relating to the use of cost centers. Cost centers are used to accumulate costs incurred by area of responsibility or geographic region and are symbolized by a four-to-six-digit code used to identify organizational elements throughout VA. Cost centers are used differently dependent on whether the office has transitioned to the modern Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution, VA Integrated Financial and Acquisition Management System (iFAMS), or remains on the legacy system, FMS.

Key points covered in this chapter:

• VA will maintain a cost center structure to facilitate the correct identification and recording of costs;
• VA will use proper cost centers to identify the office or sub-organization as part of the accounting record for financial transactions; and
• VA will continuously update cost centers as necessary due to changes in the organization or other factors.

0102 Revisions

Section	Revision	Office	Reason for Change	Effective Date
0103	Added Manpower Management Services (MMS)	OFP (047G)	MMS will be 1st line reviewer for additions, deletions, and modifications to cost center requests	November 2023
Appendix B	Updated pdf and excel Cost Center request forms	OFP (047G)	Additional fund field added supporting data interface requirement	November 2023
Appendix B	Cost Center request process update	OFP (047G)	Payroll Data Accounting Transparency effort led by Integrated Project Team (IPT)	November 2023

0103 Definitions

Budget Object Codes – Categories in a classification system that present obligations by the items or services purchased by the Federal Government. For more information see Volume XIII, Chapter 2 – Budget Object Codes.

Cost Center – A mechanism used to accumulate costs incurred by area of responsibility or geographic region. Cost centers are represented by a four-to-six-digit code used to identify organizational elements throughout VA, e.g. 301000, [Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA)] Executive Director.

Financial Management System (FMS) – VA’s legacy core accounting system. FMS is scheduled to be replaced by iFAMS, a modern Momentum-based ERP solution configured for VA.

Obligation – A legally binding agreement that will result in outlays, either immediately or in the future.

VA Integrated Financial and Acquisition Management System (iFAMS) – The modern Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution VA will migrate to from the current financial system, FMS. iFAMS is a Momentum-based solution configured for VA which provides increased operational efficiency, productivity, agility, and flexibility. The new solution also provides additional security, storage, and scalability.

0104 Roles and Responsibilities

Under Secretaries, Assistant Secretaries, Chief Financial Officers, Fiscal Officers, Chiefs of Finance Activities, Chief Accountants and Other Key Officials are responsible for ensuring compliance with the policies and set forth in this chapter. These parties and their delegates submit requests for the addition, deletion, or modification of cost centers.

Manpower Management Services (MMS) is responsible for the review and approval of the addition, deletion, or modification of cost centers.

Office of Financial Policy (OFP) is responsible for updating the appropriate appendices of this chapter with changes on a quarterly basis.

0105 Policies

010501 General Policies

1. Cost centers represent an amalgamation of organization, function, type of procurement (travel, commodities, etc.), project, and in some cases may represent an individual employee.
2. VA will maintain a cost center structure to facilitate the correct identification and recording of costs in accordance with Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standards (SFFAS) No. 4, Managerial Cost Accounting Standards and Concepts.
3. VA Administrations and Staff Offices utilizing the legacy system, FMS, will use cost centers in conjunction with budget object codes to capture cost information associated with VA’s activities. VA may use any cost center with any budget object code in the legacy system unless specific restrictions are noted in the description of the cost center and/or budget object code. When restrictions are enacted for a specific combination, VA will ensure the legacy system is configured to disable its use.
4. VA Administrations and Staff Offices which have transitioned to the modern ERP solution, iFAMS, will utilize several other data elements in lieu of cost centers to facilitate the correct identification and recording of costs. In iFAMS, cost centers fall outside of the accounting classification structure (ACS). The FMS Cost Center (FMScctr) field in iFAMS is a required/mandatory data element used to support activities of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Managerial Cost Activities Office (MCAO) which utilizes the same structure as FMS cost centers. They will be captured on documents underneath the iFAMS Accounting Templates.
5. For additional information on the classification of accounting data in FMS and iFAMS see Volume II, Chapter 1 – VA’s Accounting Classification Structure. For additional information on VA’s compliance with SFFAS No. 4 see Volume XIII, Chapter 3 – Managerial Cost Accounting (MCA).

010502 Cost Center Structure

1. VA will group cost centers by Administrations and Staff Offices. The following are VA’s major cost centers:
   • 1000   General Administration Central Office Staff
   • 1102   Office of Construction and Facilities Management
   • 1200   Office of the General Counsel
   • 1300   Assistant Secretary for Policy and Planning
   • 1400   Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration
   • 1510   Office of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Equal Opportunity
   • 1600   Office of Administration
   • 1700   Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs
   • 1800   Assistant Secretary for Management
   • 1900   Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology
   • 2500   Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Legislative Affairs
   • 2600   Pershing Hall
   • 2900   Office of Operations, Security and Preparedness
   • 3000   Veterans Benefits Administration
   • 4000   Inspector General
   • 5000   National Cemetery Administration
   • 6000   Revolving Supply Fund
   • 6013   Office of Acquisition, Logistics and Construction
   • 7000   North Chicago and Navy Health Clinic – Great Lakes
   • 8000   Veterans Health Administration
   • 8100   Research
   • 8200   Direct Medical Care – VA Facilities
   • 8300   Direct Medical Care – Non-VA Facilities
   • 8400   Administrative Support
   • 8500   Engineering and Environmental Management Support
   • 8600   Miscellaneous Benefits and Services
   • 8800   General Post Fund
   • 8860   Credit Reform
   • 8900   Revolving Funds
     Refer to Appendix A: Cost Center Listing for VA’s complete listing of designated cost centers.
2. VA will process additions, deletions, or modifications to the current cost centers as required. Any changes will be committed to both the legacy system and the modern ERP solution concurrently. Refer to Appendix B: Cost Center Request Process for additional information.

0106 Authorities and References

• Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standards (SFFAS) 4, Managerial Cost Accounting Standards and Concepts
• Volume II, Chapter 1- VA’s Accounting Classification Structure
• Volume XIII, Chapter 3- Managerial Cost Accounting (MCA)

0107 Rescissions

VA Financial Policy Volume XIII, Chapter 1 – Cost Centers, October 2020.

0108 Policy Approval

This policy was approved by the VA Chief Financial Officers’ Council on November 16, 2023.

Appendix A: Cost Center Listing

This appendix contains the current cost center listing. Files are updated quarterly, or as needed, to ensure consistent application VA-wide. Questions concerning additions, deletions, or modifications of cost centers should be directed to VA Cost Center/Budget Object Code Requests (cc-bocrequests@va.gov).

Vol XIII Ch 1 Appendix A

Appendix B: Cost Center Request Process

Cost Center Request Form  (see file below and Figure 1) is a PDF request form that will be used by VA Administrations and Staff Offices to request additions, deletions, or modifications to the cost center structure. The requester will be responsible for correctly completing the request form, ensuring that all applicable fields are populated (including the requester’s digital signature), and for forwarding the form to their supervisor for review and digital signature (the row directly beneath the cost center sections). The supervisor will forward the request form via e-mail to the Office of Human Resources Management’s Manpower Management Service (MMS) via VACO MMS Systems (Outlook). Requests submitted directly to OFP without Manpower approval are to be returned with instructions to forward to the servicing Manpower Office for initial review and validation.

The PDF request form allows for requests of two separate cost centers. In the event more than two changes are required, the requester will complete the XLSX file (below and Figure 2) in addition to the PDF file. When both files are used, the requester will complete all fields in the top section, through “Reason for Cost Center or Change.”  The two cost center sections will be left blank, instead being completed in the XLSX file. The requester will complete the “Stakeholders Notified (Y/N)” section, sign, and route both files to their supervisor.

MMS reviews, verifies, and approves the request. If additional information is needed for approval, the MMS reviewer will contact the requester via e-mail and work with them to resolve any issues. When approved, MMS will send notification of approval to OFP. OFP will review the request for FMS attributes and forward the request form to VACO FMS Services via VACO 047E7 (Outlook) , VACO ETA/IFCAP Request (Outlook) with corresponding Service Now ticket, EHRIS CRM Portal for HR SMART establishment with a cc to the requester and supervisor and an iFAMS ITRN ticket via the iFAMS CRM Portal for update to the Payroll Crosswalks and Reference Table.

FMS Services, IFCAP, and HR SMART representatives will process approved requests and notify all parties via Outlook that the request has been processed. Please Note: The latest version of the request form that must be used is Cost Center Request Form Version 2 – October 2023. To fill out the form correctly, we highly encourage use of the ORGN and SORG tables in FMS.

Cost center Request Form (PDF)

Cost Center Request Form Version 2

Figure 1: Cost Center Request Form

Cost Center Request Form – High Volume (XLXS)

Cost Center Request Form – High Volume

Figure 2: Cost Center Request Form – High Volume

All applicable fields of the request form (or optional XLSX) must be completed. Below is a description of the required fields for the Cost Center request forms.

1. Name of Person Making Request – Last Name, First Name, Initial
2. Requester E-Mail Address
3. Requester Work Phone Number
4. Request Date
5. OFP Request # – To be completed by the OFP group.
6. File Name – To be completed by the OFP group.
7. Type of Request – Place an “X” in the appropriate box – New, Update, Deactivate, Delete
8. Reason for Cost Center or Change
9. Cost Center
10. Clone – If new, an existing cost center which mirrors the configuration of the requested cost center must be provided.
11. Administrative Office (AO)
12. Budget Fiscal Year (BFY)
13. Long Name – 30 characters maximum.
14. Short Name – 12 characters maximum.
15. BFY(s) Required – All fiscal years the cost center is required to be active in FMS.
16. Effective Date
17. Fund – The Fund Code is the agency-defined code value for a fund. It is a shorthand code entered on transactions and enables the derivation of the Account Identification codes required for reporting externally to Treasury and OMB.
18. Payroll FMS (Yes/No) – Mark yes if the cost center will be used for personnel actions.
19. HR SMART (Yes/No) – Mark yes if the cost center will be used for transactions interfacing with HR SMART.
20. Description – Provides a description of the intended use of the cost center. Descriptions can include restrictions on use of the cost center, for example, limiting the cost center to a specific station and/or fund. OFP may request modification of descriptions provided by the requester in order to maintain consistency.
21. Stakeholders Notified (Y/N) – Confirmation that the requester has notified the appropriate offices within the Administration or staff office of the requested change and has received concurrence.
22. Requester Name / Title – Type in the requester’s name and their title.
23. Signature of Requester (Digital) – Include the requester digital signature – then forward the document to the supervisor for their digital signature. Note: If digital signature is missing, the request form will be returned.
24. Date Signed (Requester) – Type in the date. This field should be completed prior to Signature of Requester (Digital).
25. Supervisor Name / Title – Type in the supervisor’s name and their title. The supervisor should fill in this information when request has been received from the requester.
26. Signature of Supervisor (Digital) – Include the supervisor digital signature – then forward the document to the OFP approver for their digital signature. Note: If digital signature is missing, the request form will be returned.
27. Date Signed (Supervisor) – Type in the date. This field should be completed prior to Signature of Supervisor (Digital).
28. OFP Approver Name / Title – Type in the OFP approver’s name and their title.
29. Signature of OFP Approver (Digital) – Include the OFP approver digital signature.
30. Date Signed (OFP Approver) – Type in the date. This field should be completed prior to Signature of OFP Approver (Digital).
31. Comments/Notes – Any additional information may be added to this section, for example, additional points of contact.