Approval of Award Expenditures
The PI is responsible for developing and reviewing their funding budget proposal to conform with agency and award guidelines; OSPR and the Dean of Research review and approve all proposals, including proposed budgets, prior to submission.
Once the University accepts an award, OSPR works with the PI and Department staff to finalize agreements, subcontracts, and budget line items in accordance with the approved award. This includes identifying Authorized Signatories for grant-related expenses. The PI may assign some of the duties associated with the financial management of their award to an appropriate person in their department by adding them as an authorized signatory, but primary oversight responsibility remains with the PI. OSPR then confirms all relevant documents have been finalized and sends them to Grant Accounting who establishes an account for the award in our financial system. Grant Accounting sends the PI notification of the account set-up with internal FUND and ACCOUNT numbers.
Throughout the grant period, the PI is responsible for:
- Ensuring all disbursements are allowable and authorized under the terms of the award, OMB guidelines, University policies, and state and federal law;
- Charging expenses to the appropriate account and award;
- Spending according to their established budgets within the period of the award;
- Properly authorizing and documenting expenditures;
- Reviewing expenditures regularly, at least on a monthly basis, and taking immediate action to correct any errors;
- Updating the account with any changes in authorized signers or other award related changes; and
- Monitoring the financial performance of all subawards, including approving their invoices for payment. See Sub-Recipient/Sub-Award Monitoring policy for more details.
Any payments/reimbursements made directly to the PI must be authorized by the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research.