One of the functions of the Research Accounting office is to make the financial reporting and financial transaction portions of your job easier. Information flow is critical and the month-end report is the starting point to keep things on track with the finances of your project.
Month-end Reports – At the beginning of each month, the principal investigator and financial manager receive the previous month’s financial reports via email.
Overdrawn/Expired Notices – Research Accounting provides monthly notices, including one that informs the PI if an index is overdrawn, has expired or is about to expire.
Unpaid/Outstanding Invoice Notices– Research Accounting notifies the principal investigator when an invoice with the sponsor/awarding agency is unpaid after 60 days.
Payroll Certifications – Research Accounting will distribute payroll certification forms for you to verify that the ratio charged to the sponsored agreements reflects an individual’s effort.
Overdrawn Payroll Notices – The payroll office generates biweekly reports of projects that are either overdrawn or expired and have active employees.
Other Notifications – There
are a number of other notifications that will help you manage
your project. (top)
Month-end Reports
At the beginning of each month the principal investigator and financial manager will receive the previous month ’s financial reports via email, including several attachments:
- Budget vs. Actual Summary reports (FYGOR501B)
- Transaction Detail Reports (FYGDOR003A)
- Open Encumbrance Report (FYPOR003B)
- Labor Reports (HYOPAYE001A)
The department coordinator will receive several additional attachments for the month-end reports:
- Budget vs. Actual Summary reports (FYGOR501B)
- Transaction Detail Reports (FYGDOR003A)
- Open Encumbrance Report (FYPOR003B)
- Labor Reports (HYOPAYE001A)
You can read more about how to interpret these reports. (top)
A review of the Transaction Detail Reports provides the individual transactions by the source document number. The source document number can be the PO#, the travel voucher #, the check request #, etc. It is especially important to verify that all charges that occurred to your index were expected. Please keep in mind that data entry errors can happen at every stage of the expense process and mistakes happen, no one knows what expenses should be charged to your account other than yourself. If you notice any errors contact your Departmental Coordinator and/or Research Accounting for assistance.
A review of the Budget vs. Actual Summary reports provides information by individual account code and the balance in the index overall. This report can be used to make sure expenses are in line with the original proposal budget and that the expenditures in total have not exceeded the amount awarded/budgeted. If you have a question about whether or not a request for budget modification is needed please contact your Departmental Coordinator, Research Accounting or Research & Sponsored Programs.
A review of the Open Encumbrance report provides a listing of all the open or outstanding purchase orders for each index. This report should be used to verify that the encumbrances on the index are for your project. Also, to verify that there are no invoices that needs to be applied to the outstanding encumbrances. If all invoices have been applied and there is still a balance in an encumbrance the purchase order needs to be disencumbered and closed. Please contact the Departmental Coordinator, Accounts Payable and/or Research Accounting for assistance.
A review of the labor reports provides the individuals who have been compensated/paid from each sponsored project index. This report can be used to verify that all employees paid from the project were expected to be paid from the project. If it is noticed that an employee who is not working on the project is being paid from the project contact your Departmental Coordinator, Payroll and/or Research Accounting for assistance. (top)
How to read your month end reports
The Research Accounting office provides principal investigators/financial managers with monthly notices, including whether an index is overdrawn, has expired or is about to expire. The notices also include information about ways to resolve the situation.
Department chairs and deans also receive a notification listing the projects in their areas that are overdrawn, expired, or expiring soon.
These reports are received near the middle of each month. For
questions on any report contact Research Accounting at 7-2244.
Unpaid/Outstanding Invoice Notices
Research Accounting notifies the principal investigator when an invoice to the project sponsor remains unpaid after 60 days from the due date. The notice informs the principal investigator that Research Accounting is in contact with the sponsoring agency and asks whether there are any circumstances surrounding the nonpayment. In some cases, Research Accounting will ask the Principal Investigator to collect information regarding the outstanding receivables. The department chair and dean also receive notices of invoices that are unpaid after 60 days. (top)
Research Accounting generates and distributes payroll certification forms for the principal investigator’s signature. This procedure complies with federal regulations outlined in OMB Circular A-21. The form verifies the ratio charged to the sponsored agreement represents a reasonable estimate of the work performed by the employee during the period indicated on the report.
The reports need to be signed by the employee, principal investigator, or responsible official(s) using suitable means of verification that the work was performed. If an individual is no longer in the employ of the university, that should be noted on the form.
Payroll certifications are distributed each semester (for faculty) and each month for non-faculty. This is a federal requirement. (top)
The Payroll office generates biweekly reports notifying the
principal investigator of overdrawn or expired projects that
still list active employees. The notices list the project and
the name(s) of employees and include information on how to
proceed.
Other Notifications
Unless otherwise noted, email is used for all notifications.
New/Additional Funding – This notice
will include an index number and a project budget arranged
by account code for each index within the project. The email
indicates the person in Research Accounting to contact if you
have any questions or concerns.
Closeout Reminders – As a project expiration date approaches,
Research Accounting will contact the principal investigator to determine a
course of action to close the accounts. Federal projects typically require
60 to 90 days; however, there are circumstances where the deadline may be as
short as 30 days.
Expenditure Approval – The Research Accounting office approves all expenses charged to research accounts. From time-to-time, Research Accounting may request additional information from the principal investigator and/or departmental coordinator. Documenting these expenses are done with an eye toward satisfying an internal or external audit.