Sponsored Project Activation and Maintenance
If
you would like a printable version, click the Print icon for the Financial
Project Set Up in .PDF format. 
MENU
- Notice of Grant Award (NGA)
- Account Activation
- Account Maintenance
Notice of Grant Award
A sponsored project account is activated by Research Accounting in the University of Pittsburgh’s general ledger system upon receipt of a properly approved notice of grant award, or other similar grant or contract award agreement. A properly approved award will reflect the signatures of the appropriate representation of the sponsoring agency and the Authorized Institutional Official of the University of Pittsburgh, who is the Director of the Office of Research.
The University’s Office of Research will forward the following executed documents to Research Accounting:
Reference the Office of Research’s web site for recommended agreement forms and required sponsored project forms.
Account Activation
New Accounts - The NGA and related University forms are delivered by the Office of Research to Research Accounting and are distributed to the appropriate Research Accountant based upon department assignments. The Research Accountant reviews the NGA and related documents. Any questions, are directed to the responsible Office of Research Grants Officer and/or the Department Sponsored Projects Administrator. Once it is determined that the appropriate paperwork is complete, a sponsored project account will be activated in the University’s general ledger system. Research Accounting strives to achieve a maximum 72 hour turn-around for all new account activations after all appropriate paperwork and related information is made available to us.
Subaccounts - Sponsored projects that require the expertise of one or more University Departments/Principal Investigators to accomplish the required work scope require separate sponsored project subaccounts to the master account to properly administer the award. Accordingly, separate subaccounts require separate University Forms 0136 and Forms 0202 for each of the required separate subaccounts that reconcile to the master project account. The Department Administrator responsible for the master account will be responsible for ensuring that the summation of all master and subaccount documentation reconciles to the total sponsor’s NGA.
The following sponsored project account attributes are established in the University’s sponsored project general ledger data base to ensure responsible sponsored project accounting and administration in accordance with applicable sponsoring agency regulations and requirements.
Sponsored project account – The sponsored project account number assigned by Research Accounting is the six digit number that appears in the project field in the University’s PRISM account number structure. The first two digits of the project number represents the agency designation for ease of identification as follows:
01XXXX – National Science Foundation
07XXXX – Department of Education (letter of credit only)
1XXXXX – Department of Health and Human Services (letter of credit only)
Includes the National Institute of Health (NIH)
40XXXX – Other Federal Agencies
Includes agencies that require invoicing and federal-pass funds
received from other Universities, companies and state and local
governments
60XXXX – State and Local Government Agencies
Excludes federal pass-through funds
70XXXX – Private Companies and Foundations
Includes cost reimbursable pharmaceutical company sponsored
project awards
90XXXX – Fixed Price Clinical Trials
Represents fixed price (not cost reimbursable) clinical trials
received from pharmaceutical companies and other non-federal
health science organizations
Budget – The sponsored project budget is entered in the University’s sponsored project general ledger data base from the Sponsored Programs Detailed Award Budget form. The sponsored project budget per the 0202 form must be consistent with the NGA including any subaccounts.
Facilities & Administrative (F&A) Costs – Facilities and Administrative costs, also referred to as indirect or overhead costs, are verified to the NGA. The Research Accountant will establish the appropriate application base of direct cost subcodes to properly calculate F&A costs for each individual project account in accordance with the University’s negotiated F&A rate agreement with the federal government.
Department Notification of Project Numbers
Once the sponsored project accounts are activated, an automated overnight import process occurs for all projects that have been activated that day. These projects are posted every morning to the PRISM general ledger system and are then accessible by the Department for sponsored project expense accounting.
An account activation report prints automatically (RPAR105) the day following activation. A copy of this report is mailed by Research/Cost Accounting to the Department Administrator designated by the Department. All activations are reviewed by Research Accounting. Department Administrators are asked to review all the information on the activation per the RPAR105 and contact the Research Accountant assigned to the Department with any questions, errors or discrepancies noted by the Department that require correction.
Early Accounts – An early account is a sponsored project account that is requested and approved prior to receipt of a properly executed NGA. Early accounts numbers are appropriate in a variety of circumstances:
- Certain agencies allow 90 day pre-award spending at the department’s discretion to facilitate award performance
- Certain agencies have a time consuming award approval process that delays receiving a signed agreement in a timely manner that often times occurs beyond the start date of the project
- Noncompetitive continuation awards requiring new project account numbers where the NGA is not received in a timely manner
To allow for proper sponsored project management, an early account number is an integral internal accounting control within our sponsored project accounting system. To request an early sponsored project account number, the Department needs to initiate the Request for Approval for Early Account Number (Form 0146) through the Office of Research. Detailed information also has to be provided to assure that appropriate funding is going to be awarded by the designated agency. The Office of Research will verify this information with the agency. The Office of Research will forward the appropriate documentation to Research Accounting for early account activation in the financial system consistent with new projects. Once the official NGA is received, previously activated sponsored project attributes are verified and variances are corrected including budget variances.
Account Maintenance
Sponsored Project Add-ons – Sponsored projects frequently have funds awarded for multiple years that maintain the same sponsored project number as the new funding years become available. For the new follow-on award periods, the following documentation is still required to be sent to the Office of Research as previously identified above under NGA:
It is critical that this information be submitted to the Office of Research as close to the begin date of the new award year as possible to assure additional funding is added to the existing sponsored project account to prevent over-budget conditions. The information will be forwarded to Research Accounting by the Office of Research in the same manner as previously discussed above for new projects. The responsible Research Accountant will increase the budget and extend the project end date within the established 72 hour time frame.
Extension of Sponsored Project End Dates - Sponsored project accounts can require an extension of time for a variety of reasons.
- Under NIH and NSF regulations, the University is subject to federal expanded authorities. With respect to project end dates, the Office of Research can allow an internal extension of time up to one year without consulting the NIH or NSF provided the department makes the request for extension to the Office of Research no later than 30 days before the end of the original project period.
- With respect to all other agencies, a written request for an extension of time must be made directly to those agencies at least 60 days in advance of the project end date. Obtaining an extension of time can be delayed if not requested in a timely manner. This request must contain appropriate University of Pittsburgh signatures and be processed through the Office of Research.
Research Accounting has an obligation to remit financial reports to sponsoring agencies in a timely manner in accordance with the terms of the award after a sponsored project performance period expires. Accordingly, Research Accounting cannot accept a request for a pending extension of time as a rationale to not financially report on a subject project in a timely manner in accordance with the terms of the award.
|
