It is important that the budget established at the time of the award reflects as closely as possible the required expenditures to complete the project. OR will work closely with the PI to ensure that the award budget meets the investigator’s, as well as the sponsor’s, requirements. Once established, expenditures within each category must remain within the budget unless a budget transfer is made. Each PI should monitor grant activity through reports available from Self-Service Banner. Please contact the Office of the Controller for more information on Self-Service Banner.

All accounting functions and financial reporting are performed in Research and Sponsored Programs Accounting under the Office of the Controller through the Office of the Vice President for Finance. The Director of Research and Sponsored Programs Accounting will assign an Accountant to perform the accounting functions and to assist the PI in managing the research account. The PI, however, is the Account Manager and is responsible for ensuring that all expenditures are reasonable, allowable, and allocable under the terms of the award, and that the account remains within the budget.

Frequent, tardy, or insufficiently justified transfers raise serious questions about the propriety of the transfers themselves, the overall reliability of the grantee’s accounting system, the ability of the PI to manage the account, and the adequacy of the internal controls. This also applies to budget revisions.

Budget Revisions - When a change is to be made in the budget of an existing grant or contract, the PI must request a transfer of funds through the Office of Research. The OR will determine whether or not the University has the authority to rebudget the funds, and, if not, will request approval from the sponsor. Most sponsors provide good flexibility in rebudgeting research funds and the transfers can be approved by the OR. Other sponsors, however, provide no flexibility to the University and require that the sponsor approve all transfers. The University cannot approve transfers which are not in compliance with the terms of the award. The PI’s request to transfer funds must include full justification for the transfer. The transfer must be necessary to the conduct of the research project and the request must explain why there are excess funds in one category and why they are needed in the second category. Transfers strictly to spend funds remaining in the account are not justified. When the transfer is approved, OR will notify Research and Sponsored Programs Accounting to make the transfer. Expenses should not to be charged against the anticipated funds transfer until the rebudgeting has been completed.

Cost Transfers in Awards Budgets - Transfers of costs from one project to another are occasionally necessary to correct bookkeeping or clerical errors in the original charges. Also, closely related work may be supported by more than one funding source and a transfer of costs from one source of funding support to another may be proper, provided that the cost is an allowable charge. Frequent, tardy, or insufficiently justified transfers raise serious questions about the propriety of the transfers themselves, the overall reliability of the grantee’s accounting system, the ability of the PI to manage the account, and the adequacy of the internal controls. This also applies to budget revisions.

Consequently, all such transfers must be made promptly after discovery of the errors, and, when possible, prior to submission of the final financial reports to the sponsor. The transfer must be supported by documentation which contains a full explanation of how the error occurred and a certification of the correctness of the new charge. The requested transfer must be reviewed and approved by the Research and Sponsored Programs Accounting Office. All expense transfers should be made within 90 days of the original charge.

Overexpenditures and Disallowances – The PI must work closely with the Accountant to correct any overexpenditures or disallowances as soon as possible after they have occurred. If they have not been corrected within 90 days after the termination of the award, the expenses will normally be charged against the department or college of the PI. Appropriate notification of such charges, properly documented, will be made to the PI and other academic offices by Research and Sponsored Programs Accounting and the Office of the Controller through the Office of the Vice President for Finance.

Matching Funds - Notre Dame’s accounting system does not currently have the capability to track funds from several sources within a single account. Therefore, matching funds provided by the college or department are not expended through the grant account. If the award specifies that the University provide matching funds from the college or department, the PI must work closely with the Accountant to ensure proper documentation is maintained to verify that the matching requirements have been met. The documentation required may vary by the type of expenditure and source of the funds. Therefore, if there are any questions, the PI and Accountant must work together to ensure the requirements are met. Matching funds provided by the Office of Research are budgeted and spent from separate cost share funds linked within Banner to the grant fund.

Date last revised 01/07/05