Sign North Dakota Travel Agency Agreement Later

Document type sign travel agency agreement north dakota later

welcome to this training program for grant and contract principal investigators at North Dakota State University in this program our focus is on the financial oversight of sponsored projects this program is also recommended viewing for administrative assistance and other support staff that assist principal investigators one of the key points of this program is that good fiscal management of a sponsored project results from a joint effort between the principal investigator department administrators sponsored programs administration and grant and contract accounting the purpose of this program is to create awareness among principal investigators of some of the basic federal and university policies governing sponsored projects there are some limitations to this training it's not possible to cover every situation please contact ndsu's office of grant and contract accounting for further details here is a summary of what will be covered in this program the principal investigator or P I is the focus of this training because of his or her first-hand knowledge of the sponsors requirements the P I is the most often in the best position to know what costs are applicable to the award a change in project scope can be important issue prior approval from the sponsor is required prior written approval is required in the following circumstances prior written approval is also required for these items special rules surround time period extensions permission to extend the ending date of a gram must be submitted to the sponsored programs administration office and must be submitted 30 to 60 days prior to the current ending date of the grant last-minute time extension requests will not work in the next section we will cover direct costs costs transfers travel expenses cost-sharing capital equipment time and effort certification and allowable unallowable costs direct costs must be reasonable and related to the project there needs to be an identifiable relationship between the cost and the project costs that are related to more than one program must be allocated the allocation must be based on the proportional benefit where possible or any reasonable basis when necessary it is important that costs not be assigned to grant projects based on how much the budgeted money is available in a project or any other criteria of that nature the rate of spending over the grant period should normally follow a bell curve pattern which means a lower rate of spending at the beginning and at the end of the project period a large amount of the expenditures near the grant and date is an audit red flag travel expenses must comply with university policies and procedures comply with the fly America Act and should be separately budgeted in the grant or contract account here are some of the basics on capital equipment purchases here are some of the basic points of the disposition of capital equipment items it is critical that grant monies be utilized for the purpose covered by the grant otherwise the cost is considered unallowable unallowable costs are not reimbursable here are a few examples of the most common types of unallowable costs costs transfers are sometimes needed to properly assign costs among accounts funds or projects they should be the exception not routine they must be done on a timely basis a large number of cost transfers is another audit red flag costs transfers must have the appropriate supporting documentation and an informative explanation for example an explanation that merely states something like to correct air is not sufficient federal regulations strictly prohibit transferring costs between grant projects only for the purpose of using up available budgets or other similar reasons of convenience this is a critical point cost-sharing is a Pacific part of the project that is not funded by the sponsor there are two types mandatory and voluntary voluntary cost share is not required as a condition of obtaining the award for effort certification purposes please report voluntary cost share or effort by writing in the project number and percent of effort on the effort certification form then certify and forward to grant and contract accounting here are some other cost sharing rules time and effort certification is an important federal compliance item probably the most important point is that effort certification must be based on how an employee's time was actually spent and not on how the worker's salary costs are distributed in the payroll system although these two factors are generally related here is an overview of the process in the pre-award stage employment terms are established effort is proposed in the budgeting stage in the post award stage the actual salary is charged to the payroll system contemporaneously with activity and the final step is certifying effort this is done after the activity has occurred here are some other key points on time and effort certification and a continuation of the key points please take your signature on the effort form seriously timeliness is also critical late effort forms are another audit red flag in the next section we will review whatever EP I should do Grampy I should be reviewing their pee I reports and other accounting and payroll information to make sure that the charges on the awards are appropriate effort certification reports must be reviewed and approved here are some additional information on effort certification requirements here are some important questions every p I should ask themselves here are some final key points on charging costs to sponsored projects here is a review of some of the most common financial compliance problems at research universities across the country consequences of being out of compliance can be severe and some examples examples of adverse publicity to conclude the program we have four questions for you to consider as a review of the material in this program please read the question think about the appropriate answer after a short time the slide will advance to see the answer thank you for watching you thank you for completing the principal investigator training program for financial oversight of sponsored projects