SUPERSEDED SECTION - NOT CURRENT
SECTION 570 GRANTS AND CONTRACTS ACCOUNTING
A. General
Grants and Contracts Accounting provides post award administrative and financial support to Principal Investigators, Project Directors and Sponsors.
Grants and Contracts Accounting has the primary responsibility for all activities concerning external and internal audits of sponsored program expenditures and the resolution of audit exceptions. It is the office assigned the responsibility to assure compliance with cost sharing, effort reporting, cost allowability, direct cost allocability, facilities and administrative cost allocability, and subrecipient monitoring.
Grants and Contracts Accounting, in conjunction with the Controller's Office, will periodically issue guidelines regarding special procedures applicable to sponsored programs.
Specific details regarding procedures related to Grants and Contracts Accounting can be found at: http://www.ouhsc.edu/financialservices/Grants.asp.
B. Establishing
a Project
An award notification from an external sponsor can be used to establish a project on a probationary basis, provided an “Application to Establish a Chartfield Value” form (ECAV) is completed. Grants and Contracts Accounting has the authority to deny the establishment of a project if the terms and conditions and billing information for the project are not provided.
A "Application to Establish a Chartfield Attribute Value" form (ECAV) is used to establish projects with no external sponsor or those without a fully executed contract. This form is completed by the requesting department/PI. The section of the form that deals with project information should be completed (including an alternate funding source designated to cover expenditures should the anticipated award not be forthcoming).
If the grant or contract is not fully executed or terms and conditions are not received within 90 days, Grants and Contracts Accounting shall notify the appropriate department and bill the alternate funding source for any charges incurred. Notification should also be made to the Controller, CFO, Vice President for Administrative Affairs and Vice President for Research. This paragraph does not apply to governmentally sponsored grants and contracts.
C. Change in
Project Sponsor
Grants and Contracts Accounting must be officially notified of any change in Project Sponsor. If the project is federally funded or notification is required by the funding agency, correspondence must be submitted through the Office of Research Administration to the appropriate granting agency. A copy of the approval from the granting agency should be submitted to Grants and Contracts Accounting.
D. Changing Time Periods
On a federally-funded or budgeted project, a request for extension must be submitted through the Office of Research Administration to the funding agency, countersigned by an administrative official, and sent to Grants and Contracts Accounting. Upon the sponsoring agency's approval, the time period will be changed on all pertinent documents and on the University's accounting system. For projects that have no firm project period required by a sponsoring agency, the Principal Investigator and/or Project Sponsor can submit a memo, with appropriate justification, to the Office of Research Administration requesting the time period be changed. The Office of Research Administration will forward the request to Grants and Contracts Accounting for processing.
E. Closing an
Existing Project
A sponsored project will be closed when all expenditures have been reported and receivables have been reconciled. Deficit balances as a result of over expenditures or disallowances are the responsibility of the Principal Investigator and his/her department.
F. Billing and
Cash Receipts
It is the responsibility of the Grants and Contracts Accounting Office to prepare and mail the billings (invoices) on all awards, with the exception of clinical pharmaceutical trials. Due to patient confidentiality issues, the department may prepare invoices on these awards. When appropriate, Grants and Contracts Accounting may delegate the preparation of other billings to a department/college; such delegation must be in writing with justification and approved by the Vice President for Administrative Affairs or his/her designee.
All checks received on sponsored programs in
Reporting requirements vary considerably among various federal and non-federal awarding or granting agencies. However, in most instances a final report of expenditures and a technical report are required. The Project Director/Project Sponsor is responsible for filing all technical reports. Grants and Contracts Accounting has the primary responsibility for filing all financial reports.
Grants and Contracts Accounting should review deficits and accounts receivable on a routine basis and should give the Controller and CFO regular updates of deficits and collection efforts. The Vice President for Administrative Affairs and the Vice President for Research should be notified of potential problems related to significant deficits, delinquent funding or collections.
G. Principal
Investigator Responsibility
The principal investigator is responsible to ensure that all activity incurred on behalf of his/her project is allowable and allocable according to terms of the sponsoring agency.
H. Facilities
and Administrative Costs
Facilities and Administrative Costs are the costs incurred by an organization that are not readily identifiable with a particular project or program but are nevertheless necessary to the operation of the organization and performance of its programs. The costs of operating, maintaining and depreciating facilities are types of costs that are usually treated as facilities and administrative costs.
The University periodically establishes appropriate facilities and administrative rates. These rates are negotiated with the University's cognizant agency.
I. Time and
Effort Reporting System
Federal guidelines prescribe various methods to certify that
the compensation charged to its awards represents allowable, reasonable and
allocable costs to those programs. In compliance
with the Office of Management and Budget Circular A-21 "Cost Principles
for Educational Institutions," the Principal Investigator certifies
payrolls on sponsored programs via a certification of time and effort report. The report reflects only the
J. Purchase of
Goods, Materials and Equipment
All purchases of/payments for goods, etc., must follow applicable University Purchasing and Accounts Payable policies.
Adopted 2-9-04. Amended 1-24-07.