New York University School Of Medicine

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New York University School Of Medicine

• Grant Management
• Improving Timeliness and Accuracy of Cost
  Allocations
• May 2005

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Grant Management?

• Principal Investigator (PI) has grant A, which
  terminates 9/30, as well as a discretionary
  account
• PI receives a new grant B, which begins 7/1
• Research costs continue to be charged to grant
  A despite some of the costs relating to new
  grant B
• The laboratory becomes very active, and timely
  cost allocations are not performed
• The PI initiates stop-gap transfers to B and
  the discretionary account, but not enough to
  avoid a deficit

3
Grant Management? (Contd)

• Grant A terminates in deficit, now forcing hard
  look at what can be transferred out
• To properly reconcile, grant A charges needs to
  be fully identified and allocated
• PI now needs to examine who was charged to each
  grant, for what period, and the functions they
  performed
• Retro-active transfers processed involving all
  accounts

4
Grant Management ? (Contd)

• Grant B is now due to terminate 6/30 and
  research is soon to be completed
• PI goes on vacation
• Upon PIs return, in August, FA is looking for
  assistance to balance out and report on B, due
  September 30th
• PI now wants to transfer costs off of the
  discretionary account to Grant B
• The cycle continues

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Grant Management Scenarios
Ideal
Research, Financial Programmatic Management
Timely Reporting Completed
A W A R D
Research, Less Financial Programmatic
Management
Material Adjustments Required
Late Reporting
Less Than Ideal
Compliant Reporting Window
Non-Compliant Reporting
Budget Year
Timeline
90 Days
Beyond 90 Days
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Utilization of Cost Transfers
Untimely P-Card Allocation
Insufficient Compliance Knowledge
Unexpected Late Charges
Lack of Interdepartmental Cooperation
Routine Allocations
Cost Transfers
Slow Response to Issues
Late Award and Account Set-Up
Temporary Salary Transfer
Untimely Grant Review
Lapse in Financial Analyst coverage
NOTE Must be timely to be acceptable
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Ensuring Timely Cost Allocation

• Expedited account set-up and authorization with
  the Sponsored Programs Office(SPA)
• Merged restricted funds accounting with financial
  analyst(FA) group to promote system redesign
• Instituted bi-monthly forecasts, improved
  coverage among FAs, online CPPs, and
  utilization of grant spending report for billing
• Focus group meetings with departmental
  administrators
• Help involve PIs in grant administration
• Assist in getting PI to act proactively
• Offer more PI training

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Ensuring Timely Cost AllocationPhase II We
Need Your Assistance!

• Restrict/Limit use of cost transfers
• Federal guidelines state cost transfers MUST be
  processed within 90 days
• Non-compliance could result in
• Loss of privileges such as StaplesLink and
  P-Cards
• PI having to cover costs from other funds
• Forfeiture of grant balances(referenced in cost
  transfer)

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Projected Spending Report Graph