Procedures for the Universal Closeout Workbook

OVERVIEW

The Universal Closeout Workbook (referred to as Workbook throughout the rest of these procedures) is used by Grant Accounting to create a uniform, consistent process to communicate with departmental contacts to support timely closeout of externally sponsored awards and ensure accurate final invoices and/or financial reports are submitted to sponsors by their deadlines.  Grant Accounting has a few versions of the Workbooks to accommodate specific sponsor restrictions and regulations and eliminate unnecessary monitoring and/or steps.

PROCEDURES

Grant Accounting reviews an award when it ends and/or when a final invoice or financial report is due to the sponsor.  The Grant Accounting Contact (GA Contact) will use the Workbook to document questions and concerns.  Once complete, the Workbook is emailed to the PI Dept Research Admin contact/Alternative Research Admin contact (referred to as Department throughout the rest of these procedures) indicated on the Award Information tab within the Financial Summary Reports.  The email will provide guidance on saving the attached Workbook, adding answers within the Workbook on the appropriate yellow highlighted tab, and returning the newly saved Workbook to the GA Contact by replying to the original email. 

There are many tabs within the Workbook.  The first three tabs will be used by the GA Contact to identify the accurate dollar amounts by budget category for the final invoice and/or financial report for the sponsor. 

1. IACT key tab – Lists all Institutional Accounts (IACTs) and the Budget Category and Budget Subcategory where each IACT would fall on the Financial Summary.  This tab provides the Budget Code used by Grant Accounting to enter the budget, as well as the description of the IACT as it appears on the Financial Summary.
2. Reconciliation tab – Used by GA Contact to verify the Free Balance/Deficit on the Totals tab.
3. Totals tab – Used by GA Contact to combine the Budget or Receipts and Cumulative Expenditures from the Financial Summary for the most recent month available, with adjustments from the review, and determine the final cumulative expenditures.  If the tab is highlighted in yellow, there are questions/concerns from the GA Contact regarding one or more of these items:
   1. Expense to Budget Variance – If the sponsor only allows certain budget variances and we have exceeded those variances in any of the budget categories, the GA Contact will identify.
   2. F&A adjustment needed – If there is an F&A variance that needs to be adjusted, the GA Contact will identify.
   3. Deficit – If there is a deficit, the GA Contact will identify this. 

For the other tabs, a brief description is included at the top to indicate what is being reviewed and why it is being reviewed.  Tabs only need to be reviewed if they are highlighted in yellow. 

Two tabs that will usually be highlighted in yellow within the Workbook are:

1. Expenses Yet to Post tab - This tab is for the Department to identify any expenses (or credits) that have NOT posted to the general ledger (as of the day the GA contact sent the Workbook) that should be included in the cumulative expenditures on the final invoice or financial report. 
   Note: Documentation for these expenses must be attached in the email response to the GA Contact, as indicated on the Expenses Yet to Post tab of the Workbook.
2. Additional CVs tab – This tab is for the department to note CVs that have not been identified anywhere else within the Workbook.  If the CVs are deemed appropriate, Grant Accounting will process the CVs to move the expense(s) off of the award or onto the award. 
   Note: All CVs must follow the Cost Transfer Policies and Guidelines and a Cost Transfer Justification Form must be provided when necessary.

On many of the tabs, there are columns to the far right for GAO Questions, Dept Answers, GAO Responses, and Dept Responses.   If these columns are available, this is where questions/concerns and answers should be placed.  If the questions/concerns cannot be resolved within these columns, it may be necessary for the GA Contact and Department to discuss over the phone or resolve in some other manner.  However, the final resolution should be documented within the Workbook.

DEADLINES

When the Workbook is sent, the GA Contact will identify the due date in the subject line of the email.  The due date is the deadline for the Department to return the Workbook to Grant Accounting.  Failure to meet this deadline could prevent the GA Contact from submitting the final invoice or financial report by the sponsor deadline.  If the Department will not be able to review and respond to the questions/concerns identified in the Workbook before the due date, they should inform the GA contact as soon as possible.  A new Response Due date may be established, if possible. 

These are the established deadlines for the Department to respond to the GA Contact, with answers indicated within the Universal Closeout Workbook: 

_{Last updated 4/23/2015}