Procedure: 1-4

Effective: August 1, 2001

Owner: Accounting Services

Latest Revision: March 12, 2009.

Procedure 1-4a (a supplement to this procedure) covers Sponsored Program Project or Award Expenditures

Scope

This procedure covers reviewing and certifying transactions processed against projects and awards administered through the Integrated System Grants Accounting module (GA). The purpose of the Monthly Review is to identify and correct mistakes in a timely manner. Any unusual transactions must be reported promptly to the appropriate dean, department head, or central financial office.

This procedure does not cover reconciling accounts administered through the Integrated System General Ledger module. (See Financial Procedure 1-5, "Monthly Review of GL Project Activity").

This procedure does not cover the monthly review of Sponsored Program Project or Award expenditures. (See Financial Procedure 1-4a, a supplement to this procedure.)

System References [Top]

Oracle Reports Using Discoverer
Procedure 1-3, "Requesting an Alternate Reconciliation Schedule"

Policy [Top]

Policy I.A.1, "Internal Controls"
Policy II.B.2, "University Reviews and Reconciliations"
Policy II.C.1, "Records Retention and Disposition"

Responsibility [Top]

The Project Reviewer is responsible for reviewing each expenditure charged to a Project/Task/Award (PTA) combination in the University's Integrated System to ensure its accuracy, and to ensure that sufficient source documentation, in the form of paper, or data residing in the integrated System or its supporting systems, is available.

The Project Manager acts as an approver and is responsible for verifying the legitimacy, appropriateness and necessity of transactions recorded against their Project/Task/Award (PTA) combinations in the University's Integrated System. Two separate signatures are required for each unique PTA combination,: that of the reviewer and of the approver.

The Award Manager is responsible for monitoring the budget and actual balances for their Awards in the University's Integrated System.

Distribution [Top]

Project Reviewer
Project Manager
Award Manager
Principal Investigator

Ownership [Top]

The Associate Comptroller for Accounting Services is responsible for ensuring that this procedure is necessary, reflects actual practice, and supports University policy.

Activity Preface

These reviews must be performed at least once a month (by the 10th business day) for the previous month's activity. The review must be conducted for each Project/Task/Award (PTA) combination, or Award, for which you are responsible.

Project Reviewer

1. Gather and review the following information:

• prior month expenditure reports with any notations for corrections, etc.
• department records related to expenditures for this Project/Task/Award combination

2. Log on to Oracle Discoverer and run the following reports:

IS.FM_Project BBA Summary
Purpose: Comparing Budget to Actual and Commitment Amounts at the Project level. You can review current budgeted amounts and compare them to actual and commitment amounts. This report may be run for any accounting period range.

IS.FM_Expenditure Detail by Project
Purpose: Review of actual and commitment expenditure transactions at the Project level. You can review actual and commitment transactions for a Project funded by one or more award(s). This report may be run for any accounting period range.

See hints on selecting parameters for printing these reports.

Note: This is the minimum number of reports needed to conduct the review activity. Many additional Predefined Reports are available in Discoverer to assist in conducting further activity analysis. For example, you may choose to run the IS.FM_Project BBA by Expenditure Type report if additional detail is needed to support the BBA summary.

3. Use the checklist provided below to organize your review. Links connect to policies and more detailed information, and will open in a separate browser window. This checklist is provided as a resource. It does not need to be completed for each PTA combination, nor does it need to be signed. Although not required, it is recommended that one printed copy be kept each month for all projects in an area. (If some checklist questions do not apply, simply mark them as n/a.) A printer friendly version of this checklist is also available.

4. When conducting a review, the Discoverer reports must be printed, and all detail transactions must be checked for appropriateness, accuracy, and the existence of supporting documentation. The Reviewer must verify that all transactions are correct and sign and date the report(s). The Reviewer is also responsible for following up on any transactions that remain outstanding for more than one accounting period.

Note: In some departments, different people may be responsible for different aspects of this review. Where appropriate, more than one person may sign off on the detail transactions by signing the report next to the line item(s) they reviewed.

Note: Projects that have no activity (meaning no transactions) during the month must be printed, signed, and dated by the Reviewer. The Reviewer is also responsible for filing the documents by PTA, or in such a manner that allows the report relating to a particular accounting period to be readily retrieved and presented when requested for audit review. These records must be maintained in accordance with the University record retention policy. No second supervisory review is needed of these reports, but they do need to be reviewed by someone in a responsible position to ensure that no inappropriate activity occurred on the account.

Project Manager

1. University policy requires that a separate individual (the Approver), who has authority and responsibility for the funds, also sign and date the report(s) to certify that the reports are accurate, and that the transactions are reasonable and necessary.

2. Once the review is completed, the report(s) and supporting documentation must be assembled and filed by PTA, or in such a manner so that all materials relating to a particular transaction, or accounting period, can be readily retrieved and presented when requested for audit review. These records must be maintained in accordance with the University's record retention policy.

Award Manager

1. Gather and review the following information:

• documentation for any deposits or other transactions which may require adjustments to award budgets or installments
• the actual grant or contract award notice, or other information noting any specific requirements or restrictions for this award (if applicable)

2. Log on to Discoverer and run the following report:

IS.FM_Award BBA by Award Manager [History]
Purpose: Summary of Project activity at the Award level. You can review Budget, Actual and Commitment totals at the Award level for all projects funded by an Award. This report may be run for any "Closed" (History) accounting period range.

Note: This is the minimum number of reports needed to conduct the review activity. Many additional Predefined Reports are available in Discoverer to assist in conducting further activity analysis.

3. Review budget and actual totals and take corrective action as necessary. Award Managers are expected to monitor their awards and to manage to established budgets.

4. Sign, date and file the reports by accounting period, along with notes on any corrective actions. This information may be requested as part of an audit review.