Purpose

In order to accomplish the closeout of awards in a timely fashion, guidelines must be developed to address cash balances on expired awards after all other processing as been done.

Guidelines

• Cash remaining on fixed price awards will be resolved in accordance with the project closeout guidelines Section 2.2: Residual Funds.
• As part of the closeout processing of an award, any excess payments will be identified and researched. All current awards with the same sponsor will be examined for shortages where the payment may have been intended to be made.
• If sponsor intent cannot be determined within 180 days after project expiration, funds will be retained by the institution and applied where the sponsor has other existing uncollected receivables. Otherwise, funds will be returned to sponsor via electronic transfer or voucher.
• If no current award exists and all sponsor project receivables are positive, every effort will be made to refund that payment to the sponsor or it will be processed according to state guidelines.
• If a refund cannot be made or if sponsor declines it, funds will be retained and applied to the institutional research bad debt reserve.

Definitions

Cash Balance - Claim on cash found in the 1074.6 report (Balance Sheet). It is the difference between the amount received by the sponsor and the amount expended on the project.

Sponsor Intent Determination – Payment received from sponsor with no identifiable project information but is intended to support research initiatives previously awarded by sponsor.

Procedures

• Federal and Federal Flow Through/Pass Through: Funds will be returned via an electronic transfer or voucher to the sponsoring agencies with documentation that identifies the original awards.
• State: Funds will be returned via the state accounting system (USAS) or voucher to the state agency with documentation that identifies the original award.
• University/Education/Medical Partnerships (where funds are not flow through from federal or state): Funds will be retained by the institution an applied where the sponsor has other existing uncollected receivables. Otherwise, funds will be returned to the sponsor via electronic transfer or voucher.
• Private: Funds will be retained by the institution and applied where the sponsor has other existing uncollected receivables. Otherwise, funds will be returned to the sponsor via electronic transfer or voucher.

Revised: July 13, 2012