Subject:                              Time:  9:47 AM
 OFFICE MEMO         Cost of Post-award accounting         Date:  7/16/97

Sonoma State University a primarily undergraduate institution has an
enrollment of 7400 students and for 96/97, $8M annual grants and contracts
volume. Here at SSU an auxiliary corporation the, SSU Academic Foundation,
Inc., handles endowments, scholarships, self-supporting instructionally
related programs and all sponsored programs post-award accounting and
reporting.  We are considering spinning-off the sponsored programs post-award
component including transaction processing, internal and external fiscal
reporting, sponsor liaison etc.,  as an entirely separate administrative and
accounting function; perhaps contracting that service with another auxiliary.
I'm interested in finding out if any you have a similar structure, and if
you've found it possible to identify what the costs of an efficiently managed
post-award accounting office should be in terms of a percentage of total
volume.  Recognizing that there are endless variables in terms of computing
systems costs, administrative structures, and functions included/excluded from
any given model,  still I am interested in any insights you can offer.  As our
plans develop it would be helpful to be able to test our ideas against the
experience of others.  Many thanks for any information you can provide.
Please reply to xxxxxx@sonoma.edu