At 03:57 PM 2/28/97 -0400, you wrote:
>This a question for those institutions which have separate Grants Accounting
>and Sponsored Programs departments.  Would you please let me know how the
>following three tasks are handled by your institution? We are trying to
>determine which tasks are best handled by Grants Accounting and which tasks
>are best handled by Sponsored Programs Post Award.
>
>1. Time and Effort  Reporting:
>Who has the responsibility for generating your institution's Time and Effort
>reports and ensuring that the Investigators sign their Effort Certification?
>Does your Grants Accounting office or your Sponsored Programs-Post Award
>office do this?

>The Grants Accounting (Treasurers) Office furnishes the Time and Efforts
Report Logs to the PI for completion and signatures by both PI and if
applicable the department head.

>2. Documenting March Requirements:
>Who has the responsibility for providing documentation to your institution's
>Grants Accounting department that grant match requirements have been met
>(for example, providing copies of purchase orders for equipment).

>For a direct match, we enter the University's share directly into the grant
as an upfront revenue source.  That is drawn on, as expenditures hit the
grant fund, according to the percentage of match required.  For cost sharing
that is departmental or external, the PI is required to compile the
documentation for the cost share.  The Grant Accountant assists in
determining what needs to be copied/kept.  Before the final expenditure
report is sent out the PI and Grant Accountant meet to determine if all is
in order and that all matches have been met.

>3. Ensuring That Funds are Available Before a Grant Purchase is Processed:
>Does your institution have a system for ensuring that enough funds are in
>the grant budget before allowing a grant purchase order to be processed? If
>so, what is your system and which department handles this?
>
>When the University receives official documentation that a grant was
awarded, we set up a separate fund for the grant and enter the approved
budget into it.  If the grant is for multiple years we enter either the
amount for the entire grant or for an annual period, determined by the grant
award.  As long as a purchase order is completed correctly, it will
automatically flow through this specific fund.  If at anytime a specific
budget line is overspent, an insufficient funds flag will cause the PO to be
forwarded to the Grant Accountant's approval queue for review and
questioning.  We use SCT Banner as our financial software package.
>
>
>Laurie P. Chamness                    Phone:  (803) 953-5673
>Grants Administrator                   FAX:    (803) 953-6577
>College of Charleston              E-mail: xxxxxx@cofc.edu
>Charleston, SC  29424
>
Elaine Gayman                                            ^---^
Grant Accountant                                         (o o)
University of Scranton                                     v
phone:  717-941-6263                                    (>   <)
Fax:  717-941-7976                                      (     )
email:  xxxxxx@lion.uofs.edu                            ^ ^