Closing Process

Responding to the Notice of Expiration Letter (NOE)

PI/Staff Procedure

1. Does the budget have an extension and/or supplement? If yes, the budget cannot be closed at this time.
• If you are requesting an extension, submit your request to Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) prior to the budget expiration and allow adequate lead-time to meet sponsor deadlines. Inform GCA that an extension is in process. For more information on how to request an extension, see OSP instructions for the Concurrence Letter.
2. Are all of the expenditures allowable?
• Ensure that all charges for goods received and services performed within the grant/contract period are processed and reflected in the Financial Accounting System (OFIS screens 5,7,8,9 or MyFinancial desktop Transaction Summary Report). Goods and services ordered prior to but not received before the end date of the grant/contract are not allowable unless specifically authorized by the sponsor.
• Move any unallowable charges/credits to an appropriate budget by submitting a Request to Transfer Expenditures (RTE), UoW 1398, form to GCA.
• Negative Balances: Resolve all negative balances appearing in an expenditure category on current BSR.
• Trainee stipend codes 01-50, 01-90, and 08-02 are unallowable codes on research grants unless you have written approval from sponsor. Prepare RST(s) to correct object codes or move charges to appropriate budget.
• Patient care object codes 03-27 and 03-32 charges are allowable if included in the award document or you have written approval from the sponsor.
• Move any unallowable salary charges/credits to an appropriate budget by submitting a Retroactive Salary Transfer (RST) form to Payroll.
3. Are there any unposted charges and/or credits?
• Inform GCA of any pending Journal Vouchers (JVs) including Requests to Transfer Expenditures (RTEs), Retroactive Salary Transfers (RSTs) or pending charges/credits on Cost Transfer Invoices (CTIs) or Internal Sales Documents (ISDs).
• Travel advance charges/credits in object code 04-50 represent unreconciled travel advances and must be resolved with the Travel office. Please visit Travel Office Contacts
.
• Immediately upon expiration, inform CTI and ISD vendor contacts that the expired budget is no longer valid and provide a new budget number for any ongoing charges.
• To stop additional charges from posting, contact GCA to request a change of budget status from 1 (active) to 3 (inactive).
4. What is the status of open requisitions and outstanding encumbrances?
• Follow up on all open requisitions to ensure timely receipt of goods and services and/or timely receipt of invoices from vendors.
• Review all the outstanding encumbrances and liquidate any encumbrances that should not be on this budget (including $1 encumbrances).
  • To liquidate outstanding encumbrances, email Payables Administration at saf@u.washington.edu
  • To change a budget number on a particular encumbrance, email Purchasing at purentry@u.washington.edu
  • Notify GCA about all items you received by the expiration date, have not yet paid for, and still have listed as encumbrances.
  • For most budgets under Grant Control Flag 28,the Fiscal Reports Section of GCA transfers remaining outstanding encumbrances ( also known as outstanding Obligations ) and the funding to cover them from one budget period to the next. For more information, see Obligated Funds.
  • For budgets that are not under Grant Control Flag 28, GCA transfers encumbrances and/or funding based on the sponsor's regulations/approval.
  • For Center of Disease Control (CDC) sponsored projects, all encumbrances must be cleared off the budget prior to closing.
• Ensure all field advance and petty cash encumbrances (BFA & BCA) are reconciled through the end of the budget period and all applicable expenditures are posted on the budget prior to closing.
5. Restricted Funds: review Notice of Grant Award (NGA) for any restrictions on special funds. Determine how much was expended during current year for each restricted item.
6. Are the indirect costs accurate? (Notify GCA if you need adjustments.)
7. Is the cost share pledge met?
(Follow the instructions in Cost Sharing.)
8. Is your budget a Training Grant?
• Trainee stipends
• should be coded 01-50 for postdoctoral trainees and 01-90 or 08-02 for predoctoral trainees.
• must equal stipend amounts listed on Statement of Appointment forms (SOA) and correspond with National Institute of Health approved stipend levels. Any under/over payments must be corrected by the department.
• For each trainee paid on the grant department provides the following outstanding trainee obligation information to GCA or department can submit completed copies of SOA forms to GCA instead.
• Trainee name
• Applicable stipend category (i.e 01-50, 01-90, or 08-02)
• Start and end date of appointment
• Monthly stipend amount
• Tuition amount, if applicable

Note: This is a good time to review your files and make sure that all Faculty Effort Certification forms are signed and returned to Management Accounting and Analysis, and all Grant and Contract Salary Certifications are signed and retained in your departmental file.

Contacts:

Closing Process

Grant and Contract Accounting
A Department of Financial Management
gcaques@u.washington.edu
Modified: September 22, 2006