Policy Library

Account Closeout and Financial Reporting

Policy 2116
Revision Date: January 9, 2018
Responsible Office: URA
PDF Version

This policy establishes authority, responsibilities, and timelines for the closeout of sponsored program accounts which includes submitting financial reports to awarding agencies.

Applicability

This policy applies to all individuals, schools, departments, centers, institutes, and programs (“Departments”) that manage sponsored awards.

Policy Statement

  1.  Award Accounts should be closed in a timely manner. Departments are required to have accounts ready to be closed no later than 20 days before the Final Financial Report is due.
  2. University Research Administration (URA) is responsible for submitting all financial reports required under grant and contract agreements.
  3. The University Financial Accounting System (FAS) represents the official book of record supporting all required financial statements.
  4. The Department is responsible for conducting reviews to ensure reported expenditures are authorized and allowable under terms and conditions of awards and are in accordance with University and sponsor policies. Departmental Administrators should review all Sponsored Award Accounts no less than monthly, to provide analysis of expenditure patterns, potential charging errors, and any other concerns to be addressed with the Principal Investigator.
  5. Departments are responsible for providing URA with the information needed to review allowable costs that are to be reported to the awarding agency. This information must be provided at least 20 days before the Final Report Due Date as indicated in FAS.
  6. Financial reports must be submitted by the due date required by the award.
  7. If URA does not receive closeout information from the department at least 20 days before the Final Report Due Date, URA will submit the Final Financial Report based on current approved ledger information. Prior to submitting the Final Financial Report, URA will review for any unallowable expenses and report any unallowable expense to the department. Any unallowable transactions will be transferred to the guarantee account listed in FAS.
  8. In the event that transactions post to an account after a Final Financial Report has been submitted to the agency, URA will transfer said transactions to the guarantee account listed in FAS.
  9. URA is responsible for deleting the award accurately once all reporting requirements have been met and all allowable transactions have posted to the account.

Revision History

December 2017:
• Combined with Policy 2117 – Account Closeout
• Responsible Office and Official updated to URA
• Additions:

  • Timeline for submission of closeout documents to URA
  • Item 5
  • Item 6

Key Definitions

Word/Phrase Definition
Closeout Documents This refers to the Closing Memo and any additional documentation required
by the Post-Award Research Administrator.
Final Report Due
Date		 This date is reflected in FAS and should match the agency’s award
document.
Guarantee Account The guarantee account is a department account provided at the award setup
stage that URA will use to transfer any overdrafts and/or disallowances to if
the department fails to resolve such matters in a timely manner. The
guarantee account number is typically provided on Form 70 by the
Department when the account is created. Expenses charged to the guarantee
account are the responsibility of the department.

 

 Roles and Responsibilities

Governed Party

Roles and Responsibilities
Account
Administrators		 The Account Administrators listed on the account are responsible for
appropriately managing their accounts and providing URA with closeout
documentation in a timely manner.
Departments The school, unit, department, institute, or center is responsible for closing out
accounts in a timely manner and communicating with the Post-Award
Research Administrators to submit financial reports. The Account
Administrators listed on accounts work within Departments.
URA Post-Award
Research
Administrators		 The URA Post-Award Research Administrators are responsible for monitoring
active accounts and reviewing closeout documentation to ensure
expenditures are allowable per University and sponsor policies. They will also
be responsible for submitting all interim and final financial reports.

Related Information

Key Contacts

Name

Email
URA Post-Award Research Administrators awards@lists.uchicago.edu