Financial Management

Upon receipt of award, RDS and OSR review and compare each award budget to the proposed budget. Differences between the two require a revised budget from the department.  If a revised budget is not received within 3 business days, OSR will set up a budget with a proportional reduction or a “skeleton” budget, as appropriate, to ensure that awards are set up in a timely manner. Note that lack of a detailed budget may cause issues downstream, so departmental personnel are strongly encouraged to provide a detailed budget to OSR as soon after receipt of award as possible. Differences between proposal and award budgets that are greater than 10% are discussed with the PI and departmental grants manager to determine if a revised scope of work is required. If it is, OSR will contact the sponsor to facilitate that change.

Financial management of sponsored research award dollars is the responsibility of departmental administrative staff, in collaboration with the Sponsored Projects Financial Operations (SPFO). The GMS Budget to Actuals Report (BAR) is generally used by departmental grants managers to obtain information about sponsored research spending accounts. Financial issues or inquiries concerning cost transfers or expenses charged to the account, invoices to the sponsor, payments to subcontractor, financial reporting and auditing should be directed to the relevant analyst in SPFO.