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Monitoring Expenditures

Last updated on June 19, 2019 12 min read Manage an Award & Financials - Monitoring Expenditures

Reviewing Accounts

As a best practice, everyone responsible for sponsored research expenditures should be reviewing their reports on a regular basis utilizing the Business Warehouse reports.

Resources for Account Review

Some things to look for:

After-the-Fact Review

Use the BU Comptroller’s Resources for After-the-Fact Review, including guidelines and templates.

  • Do you recognize all of the individuals who were paid? Is anyone missing?
  • Are the salary charges correct?
  • Are your subrecipients invoicing?
  • Do you have an appropriate burn rate? i.e. spending too fast or too slow?
  • Is the budget amount correct?
  • Are there any expenses you do not recognize?
  • If you had foreign travel on your federal award, are you compliant with the Fly America Act?
  • Did any expense on your award require sponsor prior approval? Did you retain said approvals?
  • Were all expenses for goods and services received during the period of performance?
  • Do you have a NIH annual progress report due within the next quarter? Do you have more than 25% of the current year budget unspent?
  • Are expenses reasonable, allowable, and allocable?
  • Where and how do I move an unallowable cost?

      Running Reports

      Sponsored research activity consists of expenses charged to BU Grants in SAP that begin with 50 (Federal) or 55 (Non-Federal). The following table summarizes those transactions that require approval by Research Accounting.

      Capital EquipmentApproval Required
      Salary Adjustments / Cost Transfers *Approval Required
      Subrecipient InvoicesApproval Required
      Journal Entry – Cost Transfers
      (Transaction Code “ZK” or “ZV”) Journal Entry – Original Charges not via ISR (Transaction Code ZJ)
      Approval Required (except when the adjustment is between two IO on the same SAP grant or when the adjustment is to correct a GL within the same IO)
      Internal Service Requisitions – Original Charges
      (i.e., Service Center Billings)
      No Approval Required
      Non-retroactive First-time Pay to any Funding SourceNo Approval Required
      All Other InvoicesNo Approval Required

      *For the purposes of this policy, Salary Adjustments / Cost Transfers include any retroactive revisions to salary and wage distributions and are requested in the “Personnel Actions” under the “Manager Self Service” tab in the SAP Business Warehouse.

      Salary and Wage Expenses

      Visit the effort reporting page for more salary resources

      Salary Tool

      The Sponsored Programs Post Award team has created a Salary Tool to help you decipher the appropriate amount to charge to Sponsored Research accounts for those individuals who earn more than the DHHS Cap. Within this tool are four tabs so it is important to ensure you are using the correct tab based on the employee status. You should only fill in the yellow boxes; the rest of the sheet will fill in automatically based on formulas. If you have any questions around this sheet, please reach out to your Sponsored Programs Post Award RA.

      View Tool

      Rebudgeting

      Rebudgeting may be required throughout the life of the project. In some cases, re-budgeting will have to be approved by the sponsor. In some cases, departments want to re-budget their award in order to align budget with expenditures. This is not a requirement by the sponsor, however, it is something that departments can work with their Sponsored Programs research administrator to achieve. Listed below are common examples of when a sponsor requires such a re-budget:

      Change of Scope

      If the Principal Investigator changes the scope of the award, a rebudget to achieve the new goal may be necessary. The change in scope and the budget request must be submitted through the Sponsored Programs research administrator for sponsor approval.

      Most common changes of scopes:

      • PI is leaving the project for 90 days or more
      • PI is changing their effort by greater than 25%
      • A subcontract is being added that was not in the initial budget

      Equipment

      Equipment and Property Management

      Learn more about equipment management and access important forms on the Property Management Website.

      If your award restricts the use of equipment or is specific to the piece of equipment you can purchase and you need to make a change, this requires Sponsor approval and must be submitted through the Sponsored Programs research administrator. If the equipment is over the capitalization threshold and was not originally budgeted, regardless of whether or not sponsor has to approve, some schools require the re-budget to be approved by their Dean as the re-budget will have a negative impact on the facilities and administrative cost return to the school. For questions about Equipment, please contact your Sponsored Programs RA and Property Management.


      Upon monitoring all of your expenditures, if an error is discovered, please refer to the cost transfer policy.

      Key Contacts


      Additional Expense Monitoring Activities

      Cost Transfers and Salary Adjustments

      A grant cost transfer is an after-the-fact reallocation of a direct expense, either salary or non-salary, to or from a sponsored project. Learn about how to comply with BU’s policies around these processes.

      Effort Reporting

      Ensure that you comply with Uniform Guidance and BU requirements as it relates to reporting effort spent on sponsored projects.

      Subrecipient vs Contractor Payment

      Learn the different processes involved in making payments to subrecipients, contractors, and consultants.

      Financial Research Expenditure Dashboard (FRED)

      The Financial Research Expenditure Dashboard (FRED) is a tool to assist Department & Grant Administrators (DAs) in managing their research dollars.

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