Master and associate accounts are used in ledgers 5, 6 and 7 when a reporting relationship must be established between subsidiary ledger accounts. Examples of such master/associate account relationships are: 

• a grant with on-campus and off-campus components that must be separately tracked for indirect cost purposes;
• a major program project grant that is allocated to several different investigators; or
• a major gift or bequest that is allocated to different departments or individuals. 

The blocking in ledgers 5, 6, and 7 provides for master account/associate account relationships. An example of a master/associate relationship might be a federal grant or contract that the University has decided to break into several pieces for reporting or management purposes. (Each piece might be administered by a different researcher, or each piece might take place in different locations.) A master account would be established in the ledger 5–2XXXX range, and the associated pieces of the grant would be placed in the 5–30000/5–99899 range. Normally, expenditures are made only against the associate accounts, not against the master account. The master account can hold any budgetary authority not yet delegated to the associates, but spending would normally take place only in the associate accounts. 

Associate accounts are established in a range of numbers outside the range for master accounts, and, for reference, the master account number is printed on the AM090 (Account Statement in Whole Dollars). FAS report AM095 can be run to pull together the various associate accounts for reporting by using either the map code or the master account number. The following is the master/associate blocking: