Award Finance FAQs

For Post Award financial accounting detail (i.e. reviewing expenditures, commitments, budget) use these reports: Commonly used GM reports for post award reporting

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 SPSponsored Programs (SP) is the coordinating office for all p... 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.

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.”

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.

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 grant(s) or internal order(s) that access is needed for
• Attached departmental approval for the OAV access (note: the department where the grant/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.

*ARAccounts Receivable 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.

See AR Escalation Procedure.

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

1. Go to the Report (under GM Distributed) in Business Warehouse.

2. 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).

3. 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.

4. 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)

5. 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 IPAsInstitutional Prior Approval System are billed by PO number).

Contacts

If you have questions – contact your billing specialist

If unsure of who that is then contact Missy Downs (Director, Cash Management) or Josh Ferreira (Billing Supervisor)

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

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.

View this information as a PDF: Unique-Budget-Actions

Any time a SP Post-Award RAResearch Administrator A Sponsored Programs team member w... requests an update to the status, a statement should be provided to the Set-Up 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. All statuses are manual, that is, the system does not automatically pick a status based on any criteria. While statuses may be updated in SAP only, this has a tendency to break Kuali so status requests by a SP-Post Award RA should be submitted to the Set-Up mailbox to be updated in Kuali and SAP. As the status update is manual, it should be noted that Sponsored Programs could request different status updates that in effect confuse the other department, therefore, notes are helpful so that either team can ask questions. Statuses are updated throughout the day, every day, for a variety of reasons.

Kuali Status: 1

SAP Status: E0002 Pre-Award Billable
Lifecycle Status: Award

This status should be used when an award is not at BU 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.

Kuali Status: 2

SAP Status: E0001 Pre-Award Not Billable
Lifecycle Status: Award

This status should be used when an award is not yet at BU and is therefore an advance account and no billing to the sponsor is allowed. This status does not halt spending in any way.

Accounts that have IPAS for future funds should not be moved to the Pre-Award Not Billable status until they have approval from the Billing Team that all the funds from the current year have been billed.

This status should not be used as a status to move an account into to clear up issues on the path to closing an account, the statuses that should be used to clear up issues is either Central or Pre-Close. See those status definitions below.

Accounts in this status display in all BW reports.

Kuali Status: 3

SAP Status: E0003 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.

Kuali Status: 4

SAP Status: E0004 Pre-Close
Lifecycle Status: Award

This status should be used when an award ending notification is sent to the Department Administrator and the Principle Investigator. This status does not prevent an expense from happening and its use signifies the notice having been sent.

Accounts in this status display in all BW reports.

Accounts in this status display in all BW reports.

Kuali Status: 6

SAP Status: E0008 Central
Lifecycle Status: Closing

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, which means only a journal entry, invoice or refund can process when an account is in this status. If an adjustment to clear an o/e is made by either the department or payroll the status should be updated to Pre-Close, see above. If the action to clear an o/e is a new funding action Award Set-Up will update the status to Approved Award Status. If the action that clears an o/e is an IPAS in anticipation of new funding Award Set-Up will update the status to Pre-Award Not Billable.

Accounts in this status display in all BW reports.

Kuali Status: 7

SAP Status: E0009 Compliance Hold
Lifecycle Status: Closing

This status is used by the Research Compliance Office and halts all activity on an account. This status is used when the Principle 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.

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 and as of March 2016 the following email is sent to the DA for the grant that payroll has been redirected and 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 COIConflict of Interest Learn about BU's Financial Conflict ... 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.

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 then bounce and are not allowed to 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.

Kuali Status: 8

SAP Status: E0010 Closed
Lifecycle 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 are matched. 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.

Kuali Status: 9

SAP Status: E0011 Cancelled
Lifecycle Status: Closed

This status does not allow for expenses to post. 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. 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.

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.

Or you can review the below infographic (link to PDF).

You can also find further information on the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide document.

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, Sponsored Programs Post-Award 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 Research Administrator.
Once carryforward is approved by the Sponsor, Sponsored Programs will add the funds to the next budget year. Sponsored Programs Post Award has already reduced the prior year budget.

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

Research/On-campus
• Research and development activities separately accounted for: NIHNational Institutes of Health R01, P01, P30, U01; NSFNational Science Foundation Awards, etc.
• Research Training: T32, F31, F32, etc.

 
Instructional and training/On-campus

• Training individuals in non-research techniques, e.g. Conference Awards

 
Other Sponsored Awards

• Any sponsored award that is not Research or Instruction, e.g. sending BU students to local high schools to learn to teach

 
All programs/Off-campus

• Not located within BU building, but managed by BU personnel

Related:
F&A waivers

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.

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).

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

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.

Here is guidance and an example on how to calculate a partial adjustment.

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

* Click here to see how this will affect the advance fund center

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.

(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.

• 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 Research Administrator 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 Sponsored Programs that the PI is leaving.

View this information as a PDF: Department-Administrator-Expectations