Federal sponsors using the draw-down payment method are implementing various guidelines that may restrict UNC’s ability to draw for expenses not recorded in a timely manner in ConnectCarolina. Therefore, the Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) is providing a reminder on posting expenses for sponsored projects.
Expectations for Posting Expenses
All expenses must be posted to the project in ConnectCarolina within 60 days of the project end date or prior to the final report due date on awards with earlier deadlines as required by the agreement. This is regardless of the KK end date which is a system-generated deadline used as a control in ConnectCarolina to prevent expense transactions from hitting projects without additional review.
Applicable Expense Types:
- All personnel and other direct expenses
- Subrecipient payments
- Outstanding cash advances. Outstanding cash advances will not be reported in the final financial report. Timely reconciliation of cash advances is essential – domestic advances must be reconciled within 60 days of receiving the advance, and 90 days for foreign advances. Please see OSR Operating Standard 500.14 – Cash Advances for more information.
Pending Expenses
During the closeout process, keep your OSR Sponsored Projects Accountant informed on any pending expenses. All pending expenses to be included in the final financial report must include the accompanying ConnectCarolina transaction IDs – such as voucher, journal, and/or PAAT number.
Parking Expenses
As a reminder, “parking” an expense on a project when the expense benefits another project is unallowable. Under no circumstances should a cost be placed on a project that it does not benefit as expenses could be reported incorrectly and as a result, negatively impact reimbursement by the sponsor. Unallowable expenses charged to a sponsored project must be removed and charged to the appropriate funding source.
For more information on expectations pertaining to expensing and financial reporting please see OSR Operating Standard 600.04 – Sponsored Project Expenditures Accounting. Applicable expenses not paid by the sponsor must be covered by departmental funds. Below are examples of the consequences for failing to comply with Federal and University guidelines with timely expense posting.
Example 1 – NIH Award on Letter of Credit
Ended: 8/31/2021
Final Reported 12/15/2021
Scenario
SPA included expense on FFR per department’s closeout request; however journal to move expense posted to the project on 2/14/2022.
Result: Funds no longer available for drawdown and expense covered by department funds.
Example 2 – NSF Award on Letter of Credit
Ended: 8/31/2021
Draw total is the final report for NSF
Scenario
Late expense approved mid-November 2021 stating sponsor had strict closeout deadline for 12/31/2021; however, expense was not posted to the project until January 2022.
Result: Funds no longer available for drawdown and expense covered by department funds.
Please contact your department’s OSR Sponsored Projects Accountant for any assistance needed for project Closeout.
For questions regarding this announcement, please contact ResAdminOSR@unc.edu.