Grant Management FAQ
Prepare a Proposal
Proposal Development
Can faculty use their regular CVs for their biosketches?
Where should the scope of work be included?
Budget justification vs budget narrative? Are these always the same thing or sometimes different- if they are different are both always required, or sometimes only one?
Are there budget templates?
Cost Share
NIH Shared Instrumentation Grants (SIG) do not call the institutionally required support cost share, does this fall under the cost share policy?
Although the solicitation of NIH Shared Instrumentation Grants (SIG) does not use the specific words “Cost Share,” this is still considered cost share and does fall under the cost share policy.
Does “over-the-cap” salary go through approval process?
What is “In Kind” cost share and how is it handled?
In Kind cost share is when there is no financial accountability for support. This is most often equipment or space use, but not always. In Kind does not require approval but should still be noted in pre-award stage in order to confirm status.
What is the difference between CRC and BUMC workflow?
CRC Cost Share is coordinated through the Office of the Vice President and Associate Provost for Research. Approval is less about regulation and more about appropriate funding mechanisms and accounting procedures. BUMC Cost Shares are handled on a school/college level.
Why is there a percentage field on the Cost Share Form?
Occasionally, if the budget is subject to change or not finalized, cost sharing may be quoted as a percentage of the award. Either the dollar amount or the percentage field can be used.
Subawards
What's the status of my outgoing subaward?
Why does it take so long for a subaward to be issued?
- Subaward actions don’t enter the queue until the BU account is set up
- Subaward RA has to obtain documents and attestations from the subrecipient – often requiring a great deal of follow-up
- Subs under uncommon or non-fed prime sponsors require custom agreements
- Last minute edit requests are often more laborious than they sound and may require account updates or greatly altered agreement language
How do I get my subaward processed faster?
- Be on the lookout for a confirmation email from a Subaward RA and respond right away. We send one email for every action.
- Forward any updated subaward budgets/documents to your SP RA as soon as you get them
- If you’ve been working with a contact not listed in the subaward proposal, send those contact details to your SP RAResearch Administrator A Sponsored Programs team member w...
How can I help foreign/small entity subrecipients avoid hold ups?
- If they do not already have one, the subaward recipient needs to establish a UEI at SAM.gov
- Make sure SP has the appropriate subaward administrative contact person
- Take extra care in reviewing statements of work and budgets for subawards.
- If subaward cannot work on a cost reimbursement basis and will need advance payments, ask your SP RA how to kick off that process ASAP
Do BMC collaborations require subcontracts?
• Different DUNS/UEI numbers
• Different EIN/Tax IDs
• Different negotiated F&A and Fringe rates
• Different Annual Audits
• Different Proposal and Accounting Systems
Faculty who are paid via Boston University are assigned a “home” institution that dictates where they are expected to submit their proposal through when they are a named investigator. To find this information, use the home institution lookup.
To help answer any questions you may have we created scenarios that provide guidance on how they should be handled. If there are additional questions, please contact your BU or BMC Pre Award RA so we may help make the determination and add to this guidance.
How to find the remaining balance on an outgoing subaward
This report works well regardless of the number of outgoing subawards on a grant. If you are interested in reviewing only the outgoing subaward balances, type “08 Subawards” in the sponsored class field on the variable screen, do no change dates!
When the report is done move either Reference Document Number or Text to the first column and add subtotals by Reference Document and by G/L Commitment Item. This will show you how much is unspent by outgoing subaward, and how much is subject to F&A and how much is not subject to F&A.
Remember Business Warehouse (BW) and SAP do not create commitments for salary, fringe or F&A. You could remove the columns for Doc Type, Reference Line, Vendor Invoice, PO Number and SC Number if your report is for subawards only.
BUworks offers classroom training on BW reports as well as online resources BW Help Guide List
What do I do if my subrecipient requires an advance payment?
See Subaward Advance Procedures
Subaward Advance Request Form (fillable PDF)
Initiating Advance Account | |||
Department | Budget Office | Sponsored Programs Pre-Award | Sponsored Programs Post-Award |
· Inform Sponsored Programs they are working on a subaward that requires Advance Payment · Submit new Cost Center request to Budget Office and SP Post-Award | · Work with SP Post-Award to coordinate Funds Center being used for Advanced Payments, creating a new Funds Center if necessary
| · Incorporate appropriate invoicing and reporting terms in subaward agreement | · Work with Budget Office to coordinate Funds Center being used for Advanced Payments
|
Making Advance Payment | |
Department | Subrecipient |
· Work with Accounts Payable (AP) to pay initial advance payment once award is executed and first advance for request is received.* Process payment using the AP Disbursement Request, not the Subrecipient Invoice Disbursement Request. The advance must be charged to the advance fund center using g/I 517525 | · Send monthly financial reconciliation to department (Reconciliation may be less than initial payment) |
* Click here to see how this will affect the advance fund center
Reconciling Accounts | |
Department | SP Post-Award |
· Review and approve financial analyses timely · Processes Cost Transfer entry: To charge the grant after receipt and review of all applicable financial analyses, the Department Administrator (DA) will need to Initiate a cost transfer journal entry using document type ZK (Grant Cost Transfer) or ZV (Grant Cost Transfer over 90 days). – The debit is to the grant using subaward expense g/Is 517510 and/or 517520, as appropriate. – The credit is to the advance fund center using the subaward advance g/I 517525 – The Text Field must include the subrecipient’s legal name and Fund Reservation Number (450000XXXX) – The journal entry must include the attached financial analyses Below is an example of a ZK entry (within 90 days of the initial advance posting date). * The date of the advance is in the text field along with the actual name of the subrecipient. * In order to reduce the commitment on the FRN you must enter the FRN in the field titled Earmarked Fund with the ten digit FRN that begins with 45. * Add the FRN line number so that the correct line is reduced. This information can be found in the GM report Grant Document for Commitments. See Cost Transfer Procedure for guidance. | · SP Post-Award Officer reviews entry and approves accordingly ensuring the subrecipient’s name is a part of the JE text field and financial reconciliation is attached · Compliance performs a bi-monthly review and will conduct a desk review based on funds spent · AVP will run quarterly report and reach out to departments when advance payments have not been reconciled against |
Comments:
- Request should provide a justification for the advance and detail the kind of advances requested. For example, is subrecipient requesting an advance of 90% of funds up front? An advance of some smaller portion of the subaward, with the rest to be invoiced on a standard costs-incurred basis? Advance of funds on a particular schedule?
- SP Post-Award Recommendation: We strongly recommend that not all funds be advanced: a hold-back of at least 10% is recommended. This final 10% would be paid only on receipt and approval of subrecipient’s final report, final invoice and final financial report.
- The department must devise a specific plan for payment that complements that request, including timing and amount of advances, and any extra required reports (including their frequency and who they should be submitted to within the department)
- All subrecipients must submit an Itemized financial analysis on a monthly basis; departments should not send additional advance payments until the proceeding advance is spent.
- SP (Sub RA) will work with PI and Department to incorporate into the subaward agreement reporting terms any specific milestones related to the advance payments the PI/Department may wish to include.
Managing an Award
Billing, salary and adjustments
How should I complete a salary adjustment or salary cost transfer for a faculty member with accrual?
The system calculates accrual automatically, so departments should be aware of this when entering the amount on PA15 to ensure they are moving the correct amount. The Grant will be charged the amount on the PA15 x 1.3334 (accrual).
How do you find the salary amount?
If you are using a GM report to find the amount to move, you need to know that this amount is including accrual and is not the correct amount to put on the PA form. You need to do this calculation: 0.666 x GM amount.
If you are using a PA report to find the amount to move, the amount on the PA15 is the correct monthly salary that should be moved. (Note: It doesn’t take into account accrual which will be done automatically in the system and show up on the GM report as salary x 1.3334)
EXAMPLE
Effective 10/1/18
The department was moving $1,583.33/month from a departmental account to this non-federal grant. The amount that they entered on the PA form was $1,583.33:
When you look at the PA15 after this posted, you will see that the amount charged to this grant each month on the PA15 is only the $1,583.33:
But, when you look at a grant/funds management report rather than at a personnel report, the amount per month is the $1,583.33 x 1.3334, or $2,111.11:
*Please note that when we invoice the sponsor, they are billed for the amount shown on the GM / FM report, which includes the accrual.
I thought all the Award money would be available up front, when do we get the money?
Grant | GM Billing Rule | Invoice Form Name | Letter of Credit | Sponsor Award Number | Grant Valid from | Grant Valid to | Project Start Date | Project End Date | Sponsor | Award Status | Cum Budget | FY 2018 Cum Expenditures Per. 11 | Cum Billed | AR Balance | |
Ex. 1 | 5020xxxx | 3 RRB-Incurred Expense | Not assigned | DHHSP | 5678 | 05/07/2018 | 03/31/2019 | 05/07/2018 | 03/31/2020 | NIH/National Institute of Mental Health | Approved Award | 300,000.00 | 15,173.58 | 15,173.58 | |
Ex. 2 | 5020xxxx | 3 RRB-Incurred Expense | ZGM_STANDARD_INVOICE | # | 13141516 | 02/01/2018 | 08/31/2018 | 02/01/2018 | 08/31/2020 | Harvard School of Public Health | Approved Award | 10,000.00 | 2,157.16 | 1,516.99 | 973.45 |
Ex. 3 | 552xxxx | 5 Milestones | ZGM_STANDARD_INVOICE | # | 9101112 | 05/01/2018 | 04/30/2020 | 05/01/2018 | 04/30/2020 | ABC, LLC. | Approved Award | 200,000.00 | 100,000.00 | 200,000.00 | |
Ex. 4 | 5520xxxx | 7 Manual Billing | Not assigned | # | 1234 | 01/01/2014 | 06/30/2018 | 01/01/2014 | 06/30/2020 | Commonwealth of Massachusetts | Approved Award | 9,000.00 | 9,000.00 |
Glossary
GM Billing Rule column
- RRB-Incurred Expense: cost reimbursable account. Award agreement requires invoices based on the expenses posted to the account.
- Milestones: milestone account. Money could be received a few different ways. All of the money could be sent at the beginning of the award, invoices may be required after certain milestones or tasks are met/completed, payments could be sent on a payment schedule.
- Manual billing: manual account. Similar to milestone, money could be received a few different ways OR this designation could be used to correct the billing rule FROM cost reimbursable or FROM milestone. Unfortunately, if there is an error in the billing rule, we cannot change it once cost reimbursable or milestone has been selected. Our only recourse is to change to manual to avoid confusion moving forward.
Cum Billed: Refers to the amount of revenue billed to date, if not all invoices have been paid there will be an open balance in column titled “AR Balance”
AR Balance: Accounts Receivable balance, this is the value of any unpaid invoice.
Examples
The rows in the table above correspond to the explanations below (Ex. 1-4).
Example 1: RRB Incurred Expenses
This account is cost reimbursable and on Letter of Credit. This means that we can ask the federal government for reimbursement online and typically receive the reimbursement within 2-3 days of the request. As this is cost reimbursable we are only requesting reimbursement for the expenses posted to the account through a specific period of time. For example: April 2018 expenses are requested for reimbursement in May 2018. In this example there are no May expenses posted at the time this report was run.
Example 2: RRB Incurred Expenses
This account is cost reimbursable and requires a BU Standard Invoice be sent to the sponsor. The type of invoice required can be found under Invoice Form Name. We have billed the sponsor a total of $1516.99 however $973.45 is still unpaid at this time. As not all invoices have been paid the sponsor thinks we have only spent 543.54 as of the date this report is run ($1516.99 – 973.45). Sponsors typically pay in 30-60 days.
Example 3: Milestones
This account is a milestone account. In this case, all of the revenue has been booked and we have received all the money for the award. This is evident by the fact that the Budget is equal to Revenue and there is no open AR balance. We cannot tell from this picture whether this award requires invoices based on a met milestone or if all the money was sent up front. We would need to read the award agreement to make that determination. What we do know is that we have all of the money for the award as of now so no further action is needed for this award at this time. That could change if the budget is increased and new funds are added to the award.
Example 4: Manual Billing
This account is manual. Further review of the award agreement is needed in order to determine how the money is received. There has been no revenue generated (Cum Billed is $0).
Does my Grant impose a salary cap?
Salary cap restricts the amount of direct salary an individual may charge to an Award. You can find more information on salary cap here: Effort Reporting
There are several sponsors that routinely apply the DHHS salary cap, including NIH, SAMHSA, HRSA, CDC, and AHRQ (see list below). Note: There are an increasing number of sponsors, including non-federal foundations, who are applying a salary cap. Care should be taken to ensure each sponsored program is reviewed for compliance with salary cap requirements, including their effective dates.
List of sponsors commonly applying a salary cap:
(This list is illustrative, not exhaustive)
Federal Sponsors
- National Institutes of Health
- Administration for Children and Families
- Administration for Community Living
- Agency for Health Care Research and Quality
- Center for Disease Control
- Health Resources and Services Administration
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
- Administration
- Food and Drug Administration
Non Federal Sponsors
- Anesthesia Safety Foundation
- Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
- Michael J. Fox Foundation
- Edward P. Evans Foundation
- Multiple Sclerosis Society*
- Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute*
- Susan G. Komen Foundation*
*These sponsors are imposing a cap limit other than the DHHS amount
Why is my account charged fringe when it has non-benefit employees?
The rate concept is to match a similar group of employees with the benefits provided to that group. While on an individual basis, an employee may not participate in all benefits, the use of benefit rates serves to apply an average percentage to all employees within the same group/category.
At BU we use a pooled rate, which consists of costs for the benefits provided to a particular category of employees. At BU our categories are Professional, Non-professional, and Graduate Students; and do not differentiate between full and part-time. The pooled rate is why your account is charged the full fringe rate, whether or not the employee on it is full or part-time receiving partial benefits.
Using a fringe benefit rate decreases administrative burden and simplifies accounting for fringe benefits. The same fringe benefit rate will be used for both budgeting and charging purposes, which will improve the budgeting process for all the institution’s funds and standardize benefit costs across employee groups.
How do I calculate a partial adjustment on a SARF?
Here is guidance and an example on how to calculate a partial adjustment.
What GL should be used for tuition on courses taught outside of Boston University?
Note: Courses are defined as lasting longer than one week, usually for a semester.
If the duration of the “course” is less than one week and the description contains words like “workshop” or “conference” then the conference GL should be used. The department should use the Concur Travel Card to book this and they can use the Tuition IO on their training grant if this is a charge to the training grant.
For information on trainee expenses (payroll, stipend, and tuition) you can find guidance on the Monitoring Expenditures page.
How to charge tuition to sponsored research accounts
How do I make adjustments for terminated employees?
When will Sponsored Programs, Post Award do a JV Upload on behalf of the Department?
- Transfer of non-salary expenditures from one Internal Order to another Internal Order within the same Grant Number or;
- Transfer of non-salary expenditures from one Grant Number to another Grant Number when the first Grant Number was put into a Cancelled Status.
This process is for non-salary expenditures only; departments must manage all salary expenditure transfers through HCM as journal entry of salary is not allowed. It should be noted that if Departments wait too long to move salary expenditures, they will have issues with Human Resources so ensure entries are performed timely.
For non-salary expenditures only, the Department must fill out this template accordingly of items that need to be moved. Once filled out in its entirety, this template should be emailed to their Post Award Officer.
Post Award Officer will upload the document accordingly using the template and email request as back-up. In instances where a ZV is required (> 90 days), PI approval must be included on e-mail request to Post Award Officer.
Post Award Officer will let DA know once entry has completed workflow.
Carryforward
What happens when an Award has automatic carryforward? When do I get a new IO number?
Automatic Carryforward
If your Sponsor allows unspent funds from one budget period to another within the same competitive segment, typically, Boston University will allow you to keep the same Internal Order number for the life of the competitive segment and spending should continue without restriction.
If carryforward is allowed between segments without Sponsor approval, Post Award Financial Operations will reduce the budget for segment 1 and increase the budget for segment 2 when the Sponsor approves the financial report for segment 1.
Sponsored Approval Required
If your Sponsor does not allow automatic carryforward, you will typically get a new Internal Order number each budget year. After the annual close out is completed, the Principal Investigator initiates the request for carryforward working with their Sponsored Programs Award Officer. Once carryforward is approved by the Sponsor, Sponsored Programs will add the funds to the next budget year. Post Award Financial Operations has already reduced the prior year budget.
How to prepare the final financial report for an award with automatic carryforward
Financial Report Preparation:
Report expenses as of the budget end date – in SAP this is the Sponsored Program/Grant End Date, not the Project End Date. Report all open commitments as of the end date as unliquidated obligations if/when possible. Some sponsor templates have a place to report unliquidated obligations, others do not but a note could be added to address this.
The following actions are eliminated:
- Need for new sponsored program number each year.
- Need for IPAS for to request an advance account (note – requesting an extension in the end date could prevent correct tracking of the financial report being due).
- Transfers of expenses from one sponsored program to another on the same SAP grant will no longer be needed.
- Adding carry-forward budget will no longer be needed and re-budgeting the added carry-forward will be eliminated.
- Need to issue new FRNs and the carry-forward actions for those FRNs.
View this information as a PDF Annual-Financial-Reporting-with-Automatic-Carry-Forward
Carryover
What is the difference between carryover and carryforward?
There is no difference, they are synonymous.
How is carryover added to my account?
Automatic carryover is done by the SP-Post Award RA as soon as the FFR or Final Invoice is accepted by the Sponsor. Within the last fiscal year, NIH has started to send BU notifications of when an FFR has been accepted. This should improve the timing of automatic carryover. SP-Post Award only adds carryover to the Other Direct and F&A budgeted line items. If the department wants to rebudget from Other Direct, they must work with their SP RA.
When carryover requires prior approval, the request is initiated by the PI/DA and submitted by the SP RA. Depending on the sponsor and when carryover is requested, approval can take weeks or months. Once BU receives official approval, the addition of the carryover to the budget is processed by the SP RA and reflected in the internal AN sent within 5 business days. As part of the closeout of the previous I/O, SP reduced the unspent amount confirmed for the FFR submission. This will show up in BW Reports as “Closeout Bottom Line.”
What is considered obligated/committed funds? Is “cumulative obligated amount” the same as the amount available to spend?
Expenses are considered to be committed and/or obligated if they were incurred prior to the budget end date but have not yet posted to the account. Examples include: pending Subaward invoices from pass thru entities; outstanding vendor invoices from work incurred or; consultant invoices for work completed but not yet invoiced for.
Cumulative Obligated amount is not always the amount available to spend. In cases where carryover is restricted the cumulative obligated is the cumulative amount awarded to BU but may not be the amount available to spend of carryover from previous years was not approved.
Why Does BU setup separate IOs for each year when carryover is not automatic?
BU is required to segregate funds in order to ensure appropriate reporting of expenditures.
If your Sponsor does not allow automatic carryover, you will typically get a new Internal Order number each budget year to ensure that the funds for the new year of the project are only used for that purpose. After the annual close out is completed, the PI/DA initiates the request for carryover working with their SP RA.
Once carryover is approved by the Sponsor, SP will add the funds to the next budget year and the newly established IO#. SP has already reduced the prior year budget.
See “How is carryover added to my account?” for additional details.
What is the BU process for getting the funds carried over into the new grant number?
Is negative carryover allowed?
Yes, if your award is under expanded authority* then you can carryover a negative balance into the next project period. Check with your SP RA if you are unsure if your award has expanded authority.
* Federal administrative requirements allow agencies to waive certain cost-related and administrative prior approval; these are known as expanded authorities. In 2001, NIH extended these authorities to all NIH awards except for the provision to automatically carry over unobligated balances; therefore the term “expanded authorities” has been replaced with “NIH Standard Terms of Award”. See Administrative Requirements-Changes in Project and Budget-NIH Standard Terms of Award for more details.
When can you move carryover spending to a discretionary account?
Depends on the grant and the sponsor. Typically this is the case if you have a fixed price agreement and have completed the work and have funds remaining. Typically this happens with the closeout of industry clinical trials. Once a trial is complete and all expenses have been confirmed and charged to the account, the balance is moved to an account determined at the PI’s discretion, typically a discretionary account. Please note that if a PI has over expenditures in other accounts, SP will not move the available balance until all accounts are in good standing.
What if you aren't going to use your carryover in the next year and plan to continuously carrying over funds so that you can use the money in your NCE?
Each year must be programmatically described in RPPR and clear justification of the carryover each year is key. Plans must match programmatic progress and budget and should be reflected in the RPPR.
Is there a template to request carryover?
There is no standard template to request carryover. Consult your SP RA for assistance.
Who helps me with my carryover request?
SP Post-Award RA will assist the department by confirming the remaining balance total; the PI and Dept. Administrator should work with their SP RA on the actual carryover request to the sponsor.
When should I submit my carryover request?
PI initiate the process, soon after the FFR is submitted, however the carryover cannot be approved until the FFR is approved. Once the department has confirmed the award ending balance, SP Post-Award can begin the process of completing and submitting the FFR and/or Final Invoice. The due dates vary amongst Sponsor. The department should begin working on their carryover request after they have confirmed the ending balance with SP.
How much carryover should I request?
The PI should only request those funds that he/she can appropriately tie to the aims, objectives of the award.
Can I continue to spend while waiting for carryover approval?
Yes, but at your own risk. If the carryover is not approved, the expenses become unallowable and the PI or department must reimburse the University. If the carryover is approved, the DA will have to do cost adjustments in order to reflect the expenditures on the correct IO.
Are carryovers denied, and for what reasons?
On occasion, carryover requests are denied or reduced. SP has seen carryover requests denied due to inadequate justification for future spending of the carryover funds. A large balance may also make it appear as though the project was not progressing at a timely rate or that the remaining funds are not needed.
Where can I find whether an award has automatic carryover?
You can reference the internal AN, however SP advises that you always go to the sponsor’s award notice and review the terms and conditions. If you need help, your SP RA will be happy to assist you.
For NIH awards, when automatic carryover is indicated in the Notice of Award (NOA) but the carryover funds remaining are above the 25% threshold, during the annual reporting period does this require prior approval?
No, when the NOA indicates automatic carryover, we do not need to seek approval from NIH to carryover these funds into the next budget period. When the RPPR is submitted, it should be indicated that the balance is above the 25% threshold and provide a corresponding justification of how the funds will be used in the next grant period. When NIH issues the next year NOA that is their indication of approval. NIH could request additional justification as they review the RPPR or reduce the award if the justification of why the balance exceeds 25% is not adequate.
If BU is the prime recipient of a NIH award where carryover is automatic and we have issued subawards, do you automatically have to grant carryover to your subrecipients?
BU’s default is to automatically grant carryover unless our PI specifically requests carryover to be restricted.
How do I manage incoming subawards to BU when carryover is not automatically granted by the Prime/PTE?
This situation is the same as if BU received a Prime award that did not have automatic carryover.
Is it possible for the prime recipient/pass through entity to have automatic carryover but have it restricted in the subaward issued to BU?
Yes. Sponsors are required to flow down all Terms and Conditions, however, prime recipient/pass through entities are allowed to add restrictions at their discretion. A common restriction is not allowing automatic carryover even when the Prime Sponsor allows it.
Can spending be “shutdown” for subcontracts (in or out) when the year-end period is approaching?
For incoming subawards to BU, departments can ask SP to put an account into SP status to prevent spending as needed. Typically this will happen when the Sponsor does not pay out outstanding invoices and the department is concerned with continued spending resulting in over expenditures. SP can make this change once the final invoice is submitted to the Prime recipient.
For outgoing subawards, spending is monitored and “shutdown” by the review and approval of the invoices submitted by the subrecipients. If the invoice exceeds the amount awarded in the sub agreement issued by BU, the PI/DA/SP would not approve the invoice to be paid.
Effort Reporting
How do I explain effort to a new PI?
BU gathers this information through effort reporting and PAR certification. Effort is the amount of time an individual spends on any project or award.
What is the difference between payroll or labor distributions, effort reports (PARs) and effort certification?
Payroll or labor distributions are the sum of an individual’s compensation that is withdrawn from sponsored programs. Effort reports (PARs) are an extract of all payroll system charges for a given employee during the effort reporting period, as recorded on the date the PARs were generated. Certification of an effort report (PAR) represents an employee’s agreement that the effort expended on sponsored projects and other activity for which they were compensated by BU is accurate, allowable, and properly allocated.
Effort is not just a verification of the salary or payroll distribution charged to sponsored projects; committed cost-sharing effort must also be included in effort reports.
What is the difference between percent of base salary and committed effort, such as when someone has an academic appointment with research release time?
Here is an example. If a Professor’s base is $100,000 and they have one course release (each course being worth 20% of the base), they would be budgeted as $80,000 in the school and $20,000 on an unnamed grant.
- Scenario A: At some point a grant is awarded, and it has 10% effort budgeted; they cannot charge the $20,000 (20% of base), they can only charge $10,000 (10% of base). If the release is budgeted in the Spring and the grant started in the Fall and effort is 10% for the full FY, they have to charge the effort equally over the two semesters even though they didn’t budget that way. The department then has to cover the $10,000 that is not covered by the grant, and so “loses” money.
- Scenario B: The grant that is awarded has 25% effort. The department charges the grant $25,000 (when they only budgeted for $20,000) which creates an extra release, or savings of $5,000, for the department and they “make money” on this as long as the budget office allows them to keep excess release.
What is the difference between real percent effort spent, based on actual salary vs reported effort spent based on DHHS cap?
The reported effort that prints out on the PAR is calculated by taking the formula: Amount charged to Award / Employee Full Salary.
The difference between the Printed Effort on the PAR and the “real” effort that the individual performed is considered cost share.
You can see an example in this informative video about the Salary Cap
How do you differentiate effort vs compensation when PARs are generated from payroll (ie limit on NIH fellowship stipends)?
How is summer effort for 9-month faculty handled?
How do I get an manual PAR?
How is overbase shown on a PAR (e.g. a grad student covering night labs, or a Professor teaching an MET class)?
Overbase payments (if paid via a PAR eligible wage type) will show up as part of the Salary % number.
How do we handle UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program) students?
Corrections, Adjustments and Transfers
When is it appropriate to do a cost transfer or payroll adjustment using a Journal Entry?
- Corrections of overpayment credits to be confirmed by Payroll.
- When a payroll record cannot be corrected any other way as confirmed by BUworks.
- Correction of vacation payout to be processed by SP only.
A revised PAR, or manual PAR, may be required for any of the actions above.
How do I correct non-service stipends?
- If the end date of the non-service stipend is in the past (considered historic) the only correction action available is via journal entry.
- If the end date of the non-service stipend is not in the past (not considered historic) the correction is done via a new non-service stipend.
What if I didn’t receive a PAR but worked on sponsored awards during the reporting period?
Effort Reporting and Cost Share
What do I need to know about cost share on AHA grants, and BMC clinic time/non-BU accounts?
BMC Clinic time and/or non-sponsored BU accounts are referenced accordingly in Section III. Services Provided to Boston Medical Center (as Vendor).
For Faculty with salary over the cap on an DHHS Grant, should “cost share” be indicated on the Proposal?
How do I deal with obligated and unobligated cost share? (e.g. How do you report effort when there are funding shortfalls and actual effort exceed compensated effort?)
Employees can always have more effort than salary. When this occurs, the difference has to be added to cost share.
How do I deal with voluntary committed and voluntary uncommitted cost sharing on effort reporting? (e.g. joint appointments?)
A PI commits effort on an award proposal, expends the effort but doesn’t take the compensation (i.e. voluntary committed cost sharing), how should this be represented on the PAR and what approvals are required?
What resources are available for determining pay and cost share for faculty above the salary cap?
F&A
What is an F&A rate?
What are Modified Total Direct Costs?
Which costs are excluded from Modified Total Direct Costs?
MTDC is defined as total direct costs less the following expenses:
- Room and / or board allowance (GL account 517200)
- Patient services (GL account 516300)
- Moveable capital equipment costing $5,000 or more (GL accounts 571400 and 571420)
- Subcontract costs (GL account 517520) exceeding $25,000 on each subcontract
- Student aid (GL accounts 520100-524999)
- External rent (GL account 576100-576120)
- Alteration and renovation costs
What F&A rate should I use?
How do I know if I need to use the stepped-up rate?
To determine if your account uses the stepped-up rate, you can run the Budgets vs Actuals report, which shows IOs/SP, and bring in free characteristic “Overhead Key” to see what the value is for stepped rates B001, B002, or B003. (For reports that contain IO/SP if the overhead key is not a free characteristic it can be added as a property characteristic.)
There are different negotiated rates depending on the type of activity. Here are a few examples of what the categories include:
- Research/On-campus
- Research and development activities separately accounted for: NIH R01, P01, P30, U01; NSF Awards, etc.
- Research Training: T32, F31, F32, etc.
- Training individuals in non-research techniques, e.g. Conference Awards
- Any sponsored award that is not Research or Instruction, e.g. sending BU students to local high schools to learn to teach
- Not located within BU building, but managed by BU personnel
Instructional and training/On-campus
Other Sponsored Awards
All programs/Off-campus
Related: F&A waivers
How does F&A get to an account?
Fringe
How does Fringe get to an account?
At BU we use a pooled rate, which consists of costs for the benefits provided to a particular category of employees. At BU our categories are Professional, Non-professional, and Graduate Students; and do not differentiate between full and part-time. Students paid hourly at Boston University are not assessed a fringe rate on Sponsored Research accounts. The pooled rate is why your account is charged the full fringe rate, whether or not the employee on it is full or part-time and regardless of whether or not that employee elects to receive benefits.
Fringe rates are applied via a daily assessment in BU’s financial system, SAP at the date level and not at the transactional level.
GM Reports in Business Warehouse
What GM report should I use? What do the GM reports do?
For Pre Award detail (i.e. submitted proposals and funded awards, award activity, etc), use these reports: Sponsored Program report guidance here.
For Post Award financial accounting detail (i.e. reviewing expenditures, commitments, budget) use these reports: Commonly used GM reports for post award reporting.
How to find Grants Management Business Warehouse training
BW Help Guide List.
How to see the detail of an account that belongs to you but you are not the Primary Investigator
System Security
At Boston University, system security is set up by individual employees. Some BU employees have access to both salary and non-salary expenditures while others may just have access to non-salary details. Within Sponsored Research, PI’s and Department Administrators who are listed as such at the Grant level, are able to view all expenditures based on their security access at the Grant and corresponding SP IO level. This includes viewing details based on their security access to SP IO’s that may be listed under a Co-I name in a different department.
Co-I’s who are listed as such with their own SP IO number that are in a different department than the PI listed on the Grant, will still be able to see all of the details of the SP IO based on their security access.
For example, in the Table below, PI Smith within Biology is able to see all expenditures within both IO numbers, as he is the owner of the Grant. Co-I Brown within Chemistry, is only able to see expenditures as they relate to his IO# 9500654321.
PI Smith | Grant# 12345678, IO# 9500123456 | Biology Department |
Co-I Brown | Grant# 12345678, IO# 9500654321 | Chemistry Department |
Setting accounts up in this manner allows administrators to manage their own expenditures when they are in different departments.
In some instances though, separate SP IO’s are not created; therefore, the Other Authorized Viewer (OAV) role is an option. See below for “How to become an Other Authorized Viewer.”
How to become an Other Authorized Viewer
Other Authorized Viewer
Within Kuali and SAP is a mechanism that allows BU employees to gain access to Sponsored Research Internal Order numbers outside of their current Cost or Funds Center via the Other Authorized Viewer (OAV) role. This mechanism is appropriate for a small number of accounts, not access to an entire Fund Center. Please note that OAV access is restricted to the internal order/sponsored program only. OAV access cannot be added on the grant level.
Individuals who are assigned as an OAV will have the same security access to those Sponsored Research Internal Order numbers outside of their current access as they do within their own cost or funds centers. For instance, if the BU employee has access to payroll within their cost or funds center, when they are assigned OAV to other accounts, they will have access to payroll within those other accounts as well.
How to become an Other Authorized Viewer
IS&T has created documentation found here on how to gain OAV access.
The following steps should be taken by your departmental DSA (To find your DSA, navigate to the “Find your DSA” portion of this webpage):
- Submit request through ServiceNow (send email to ithelp@bu.edu)
- Specify the internal order(s) that access is needed for
- Attached departmental approval for the OAV access (note: the department where the sponsored program account is housed)
IS&T will assign the ticket to the Operations Team within Sponsored Programs where approval will then be granted. SAP will be updated right away but the Business Warehouse will be updated the next day.
How to use the “GM Master Data - Revenue & AR” Report
*AR appears on the report if BU is awaiting payment. Usually if the invoice isn’t paid within 60 days then the Billing team follow up with the Sponsor, this gets escalated through the Billing team if unpaid, and then the Department gets notified, and PI would need to reach out to Sponsor/Sponsor contact to see what the holdup is.
Why is it useful?
GM Master Data – Revenue & AR report is useful to Department Administrators, specifically when they are reviewing the health of an account. It gives DAs a tool to see open AR (awaiting payment) on Grants, and reduces risk associated with accounts because it’s possible to check that the sponsor is paying BU the invoiced funds so we don’t spend more than we are being compensated for.
How to run the report
- Go to the Report (under GM Distributed) in Business Warehouse.
- It is important to run this report on a grant basis (50xxxxxx or 55xxxxxx) in order to accurately reflect the open AR. Do not run it on Sponsored Program (IO) level (9500xxxxxx or 955xxxxxxx).
- If running for time period… the Period FY field should follow the Month #/Year (e.g. 03/3017 for September 2017 bc FY starts in July which is 01/2017 etc). For Key Due Date, put the date you want to see AR as of (if looking in the past). If you want to see to present, leave as is since the current date prepopulates.
- Pull in “Fund” from free characteristics and filter out cost share (2000001082, 2000001083 or 2000001086) and program income (2000000013). (*Can’t see cum billed on these, GL is excluded will only show GL 460010 – Sponsored Research Revenue. Program income is booked to 460020 or 460030)
- If you want to see the open AR on an IO basis, you will need to add in the free characteristic “Order” instead of Sponsored Program IO.
Tips
- You can create a formula to calculate the amount paid and the amount of unreimbursed expenses.
- When closing an account – view the report to check cum billed (ie revenue), expenses, and budget all equal the same amount, and check that AR is zero.
- AR should never be more than what’s billed on the account.
Example
Below is an example where we created a calculation and added columns for paid amount and unreimbursed expenses.
In this example we are waiting on payment for a large portion of the award, so in this case we need to shut off spending on that account until we receive the payment, the risk being that BU would have to write off the AR if it’s unpaid.
In this example we have pulled in the “Order” characteristic and so you can see the AR balance by Order. This is helpful to use for awards with billing set up on a budget period (e.g. VA IPAs are billed by PO number).
Contacts
If you have questions – contact your billing specialist
If unsure of who that is then contact Missy Downs (Associate Controller, Research Financial Operations), Tom Cummings (Associate Director, Cash Management), or Kristen Donovan (Associate Director, Research Finance)
How to find how much money is left on an Award
This report works well as you can add specific data fields, such as sponsored class or overhead key. Your Available Balance is calculated by removing commitments, including those commitments that BW cannot capture such as salary, fringe on that salary and F&A on any direct cost item that is a commitment, and actual expense from the budget. You should always confirm if commitments are valid.
For purposes of confirming how much of the money left is available for PI usage you should remember that outgoing subaward commitments cannot be used by the PI unless or until either the subaward is deobligated and/or a final invoice is received from the subawardee.
Remember BW and SAP do not create commitments for salary, fringe or F&A.
BUworks offers classroom training on BW reports as well as online resources: BW Help Guide List.
How to find Unique Budget Actions using the BW Budget vs Actual Report
Report 1 – Grant Budget Details:
At the variable screen enter the eight digit Grant number that begins with either a 50 or 55. You can also enter the ten digit Sponsored Program number that begins with the either 950 or 955; however, we recommend using the Grant number as you will get the details of all the Sponsored Programs associated with the grant when you use Grant number.
At the variable screen enter the eight digit Grant number that begins with either a 50 or 55. You can also enter the ten digit Sponsored Program number that begins with the either 950 or 955; however, we recommend using the Grant number as you will get the details of all the Sponsored Programs associated with the grant when you use Grant number.
Important to Note: Period/Fiscal Year applies to all finance categories in the report. If you are only interested in seeing budget actions you can remove the expense categories from the report. You can also limit the Period/Fiscal year display through the filtering function if you are looking for an item in a particular month or period. Running wide open as described above allows you to see all activity, you can always drag unwanted information out once you have everything.
Grant Statuses – What are they, when are they used, and how do they impact expenses and reports?
All statuses were not created equal and no status is automatic. Additionally, statuses are assigned to a lifecycle status which is a grouping of statuses. The Business Warehouse (BW) only displays the status at the GRANT (50 or 55) level, not the Sponsored Program or Internal Order Level. Statuses can be applied at the Sponsored Program level in Kuali but only at the grant level do the statuses carry through to the BW. The only internal order statuses that have any meaning in SAP are Approved Award, Compliance Hold, Cancelled, and Closed.
Any time SP Post-Award requests an update to the status, a statement should be provided to the Account Maintenance team as to the nature of change along with the Post-RA’s initials and date. Initials and dates need to be added in case there are any questions so the appropriate person can be contacted. Statuses are updated throughout the day, every day, for a variety of reasons.
Award Status: Pre-Award Billable
This status should be used when an award has not been executed by both parties but the sponsor has requested billing anyway. This is an unusual status and does not halt any expenses.
Accounts in this status display in all BW reports.
Award Status: Pre-Award Not Billable
This status should be used when an award has not been executed by both parties and is considered an advance account and no billing to the sponsor is allowed. This status does not halt spending in any way. Accounts that have IPAR for future funds should not be moved to the Pre-Award Not Billable status until they have approval from the Cash Management Team that all the funds from the current year have been billed. This status should not be used to clear up issues. The statuses that should be used to clear up issues are either Central or Pre-Close. See those status definitions below. Accounts in this status display in all BW reports.
Award Status: Approved Award
This status should be used when an award has been received and is fully executed.
Accounts in this status display in all BW reports.
Award Status: Pre-Close
This status should be used when an award ending notification is sent to the Department Administrator and the Principal Investigator. This status does not prevent an expense from happening but it prevents new commitments from being created.
Accounts in this status display in all BW reports.
Award Status: Central
This status is used when an account has had the final financial report or invoice submitted; when the account is overspent by more than $25K or at the request of the department in order to halt spending. Nothing can post to this account unless the action is initiated by SP Post-Award or Cash Management, which means only a journal entry or invoice can process when an account is in this status. If an adjustment to clear an over expenditure is made by either the department or payroll, the status must be updated to Pre-Close, see above. If the action to clear an over expenditure is done by adding new funding, the Account Maintenance team will update the status to Approved Award. If the action that clears an over expenditure is an IPAR in anticipation of new funding, the Account Maintenance Team will update the status to Pre-Award Not Billable. See Status above. Accounts in this status display in all BW reports.
Award Status: Spending Hold
This status is used to pause spending on an award due to a Notice of Award term violation. Principal Investigators or other Key Personnel should refer to the Award Notification or Notice of Award for more information, and direct any additional questions to their Pre-Award Officer.
Award Status: Compliance Hold
This status is used by the Research Compliance office and halts all activity on an account. This status is used when the Principal Investigator or other Key Personnel have not yet completed their financial conflict of interest training and forms. Accounts are moved to this status before the anniversary date of new funding. No charges are allowed when an account is in this status. This status halts all billing and receipts as well. For awards in this status there is an error message directing individuals to the Research Compliance office for assistance in clearing. Payroll will be redirected to the home fund center of the grant with the following email sent to Department Administrators (DA) for the grant that payroll has been redirected. This memo alerts them to watch the account so that when the hold is lifted expenses can be moved to the account.
Example Memo
Dear Department Administrators:
This is to let you know that the following Action(s) were blocked due to a Compliance Hold (ch) status on the grant. SP-Post Award has verified with the COI office that the Compliance Hold could not be lifted today and the payroll action was redirected to the home fund center of the grant. Any payroll action that is not redirected halts the entire payroll run so we have no other option available to remedy this circumstance.
As soon as the compliance hold is lifted you can process a Salary Cost Distribution Form to correct the posting. The department/grant administrator is copied on the email notification that the hold was lifted.
Please see the detail below and fund center that was charged.
Date | Payroll Cycle | SP/IO | Grant | Block | Action |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Individual/UID | 9500301234 | 50202134 | ch | redirect to 2574050000 |
2 | Individual/UID | 9550309876 | 55204567 | ch | redirect to 1242050000 |
If you have any questions about the nature of the compliance hold please send an email to coi@bu.edu.
Sincerely, Sponsored Programs
Sponsored Programs does not have the authority to correct accounts in this status; however, if the payroll correction period is closed for updates. SP Post-Award will be forced to update the status to allow the expense to post and then place the account back into Compliance Hold. Fringe and F&A will not post until the hold is lifted. General Accounting and SP-Post Award coordinate this effort so that fringe and F&A post for month-end.
Accounts in this status do not display in GM Faculty reports but will display in all other BW reports. Legacy Account number(s) is/(are) removed from the Crosswalk.
Award Status: Closed
This status is used when the account is Financially Closed and Budget = Expenses = Revenue and AR balance is $0.00 and all revenue and AR match. This status is typically applied at the grant level, but can be used at the internal order level only when final billing for the internal order has completed. This status prevents all postings.
When the grant has only one internal order then the grant should be moved to closed status when the Budget = Expenses = Revenue and AR balance is $0.00 and all revenue and AR are matched.
Accounts in this status do not display in GM Faculty reports but do display in all other GM reports. Legacy Account number(s) is/(are) removed from the Crosswalk.
Award Status: Cancelled
This status prevents all postings. This status is used when an internal order or grant is set up incorrectly. This status can only be used when there are NO expenses or commitments on the grant or internal order, whichever is being cancelled. This status cannot be used if there were prior expenses that were moved off. i.e. if you see $0 in any field, this status cannot be used. If there are expenses or commitments on the grant or internal order, whichever is being cancelled, the commitments must be closed and expenses must be moved. Once that happens the grant or internal order, whichever is being cancelled, is then moved to Closed status.
Why is my account in compliance hold status?
Whether or not salary can be charged to an Award during the compliance hold period is reviewed on a case by case basis with SP Post-Award working with Compliance.
What are the account numbers used in SAP?
Or you can review the below infographic (link to PDF).
No Cost Extension
Does a NCE have to be 12 months?
Can you end your project earlier than the new end date?
Yes, SP will submit the FFR once it is done. PI/DA should notify the SP Pre- and Post-Award RAs if the project is ending earlier than expected.
What happens if your renewal gets awarded and you have a NCE?
Current award ends once the new award is issued, there will be no overlap.
The PI has had verbal communication with Sponsor, how do I provide documentation?
Email communication to SP for their file and indicate that you would like this to be put with the permanent record.
Is it possible to get 2nd NCE when there isn’t much money left, but a lot of work to accomplish, such as manuscript and publications?
Providing a clear justification give you the best chance at a 2nd NCE.
How often is NCE denied, and for what reasons?
It is rare for a sponsor to deny a first or second NCE, but a Sponsor might deny a NCE request due to inadequate progress. It is important that the NCE justification is detailed and provides a clear explanation as to why additional time is needed.
What if you do not have enough money to pay your PI for the same level of effort?
Document in the IPAR justification that the key personnel will be reducing effort. Sponsor prior approval might be needed if the reduction in effort is significant.
During NCE, do you have to ask for permission to reduce effort for key personnel?
It depends on the sponsor guidelines and award terms. The key is to be detailed and tie the time needed to what is remaining to accomplish.
As the Subrecipient, how can BU confirm or initiate a NCE? Do you have examples on other ways you have initiated NCE requests as the subrecipient?
When BU is the subrecipient, the NCE approval will come in the form of an amendment to our existing subaward, extending the project end date as appropriate. The NCE request itself is initiated by working with your SP RA, who will collect the necessary justification and contact the appropriate individual at the sponsoring institution.
Research Computing Buy In
What is pre-vetting of Research Computing Buy-In and how does this affect the Department level?
Can I use Research Dollars for the IS&T Buy-In Program?
How do I know if the Sponsor allows BU to hold title?
If my portion of the server is only $500, why is this still considered Moveable Capital Equipment (MCE)?
How do I know if the aggregated cost of the server is greater than $5,000?
What if I didn’t budget for storage space in my grant proposal?
What if my Sponsor does not give BU title to the equipment (i.e. contracts), and I need storage space?
Sponsor Agreements
How do I know if I need prior written approval from the Sponsor?
You can also find further information on the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide document.
What is the difference between a grant, contract, and cooperative agreement?
Treatment of Unallowable Charges
What if an unallowable charge is discovered on a project?
Upon monitoring all of your expenditures, if an error is discovered, please refer to the cost transfer policy
Review the Charging of Direct Costs to Sponsored Awards Procedure for reasonableness, allowability, and allocability of charges.
Miscellaneous
What do I do with unused supplies on a federal grant?
(a) Title to supplies will vest in the non-Federal entity upon acquisition. If there is a residual inventory of unused supplies exceeding $5,000 in total aggregate value upon termination or completion of the project or program and the supplies are not needed for any other Federal award, the non-Federal entity must retain the supplies for use on other activities or sell them, but must, in either case, compensate the Federal government for its share. The amount of compensation must be computed in the same manner as for equipment. See § 200.313 Equipment, paragraph (e)(2) for the calculation methodology.
(b) As long as the Federal government retains an interest in the supplies, the non-Federal entity must not use supplies acquired under a Federal award to provide services to other organizations for a fee that is less than private companies charge for equivalent services, unless specifically authorized by Federal statute.
Disposition of unused supplies
The options are: (1) complete a cost transfer to remove the items from the Award; (2) transfer the items to another Federal Award; or (3) sell the items (please see BU Sale of Equipment policy). Removing the item from the Award will compensate the Federal Government for their share.
What are Department Administrators responsible for when managing a Sponsored Research Award?
- Ensure master data, or account set up data, matches the award agreement and is what you expected
- Charging expenses to the account in a timely manner
- Coordinating salary expense with appropriate payroll coordinator(s)
- Coordinating supply orders with appropriate staff in charge of making orders
- Review Sponsored Research account(s) on a monthly basis to ensure that all payroll and supply type orders posted as directed
- Work with Property Management when the award includes fabricated assets, when an asset is being tagged for the first time, or when an asset is being disposed
- Ensure all expenses charged to an award meet the period of performance test
- Payroll expenses fall within the period of award and are not prior to the start date or after the end date of the project or budget period depending on Notice of Award
- Services provided fall within the period of the award and are not prior to the start date or after the end date of the project or budget period depending on Notice of Award
- Goods are delivered and in good working order within the period of the award and are not prior to the start date or after the end date of the project or budget period depending on Notice of Award
- Process adjustments for non-payroll expenses when errors occur using the proper document type
- ZK = Cost Transfer (moving expenses from one project to another project)
- ZV = Cost Transfers greater than 90 days old
- ZJ = Re-allocation of cost (moving expenses from one Internal Order to another Internal Order within the same Grant number)
- Review subaward invoices against the subaward approved budget and PI to ensure that expenses are consistent with work performed to date
- Obtain Progress Reports from subawardees as required by the agreement
- Work with Internal Service Providers and Sourcing to close open commitments as soon as orders are received if applicable; this should be done quarterly at a minimum but ideally monthly
- Assist with distribution, gathering, and submission of Personnel Activity Reports (PARs) semiannually.
- Ensure that reports are completed per Sponsor requirements: monthly, quarterly, semiannually, annually
- All Sponsored Research invoices are submitted centrally by the Cash Management
- All Sponsored Research financial reports should be worked on together by both the SP Post-Award Officer and the Department Administrator. Where required, SP Post-Award will submit final financial reports as needed; final invoices are considered financial reports in some cases
- Principal Investigators are responsible for the completion and submission of all Scientific and/or Technical Progress reports to the Sponsor
- In the event a Principal Investigator (PI) leaves Boston University notify both Sponsored Programs and Post Award Financial Operations that the PI is leaving.
View this information as a PDF: Department-Administrator-Expectations