Project Kick-Off
When a new award is received, the CIRES Finance Manager assigned to oversee spending on the award completes a thorough review of the award budget and award terms and conditions. The Finance Manager sends a ‘kick-off’ email to the CIRES PI that outlines important details about the project budget, spending plan, reporting requirements and any notable terms and conditions for the work.
At the beginning of the project, the PI is made aware of the annual and final programmatic reporting requirements. The Finance Manager expects the PI to complete the required annual and final programmatic reports, with support from OCG as needed.
Monthly Reconciliation
CIRES Finance Managers conduct routine account reconciliation for our sponsored projects to:
Workload permitting, Finance Managers are expected to reconcile each of the sponsored awards they oversee on a monthly basis. Financial reports for projects are prepared in InsideCIRES, using Hope and, where necessary, the Advanced Reporting System.
All transactions posted to a sponsored project should be reviewed by the Finance Manager. The Finance Manager should confirm for each expenditure they review that the cost is allowable, allocable, reasonable, necessary, and adequately documented on the specific project.
90-0 Days Prior to Project End
During the final three months of the project period of performance, the CIRES Finance Manager coordinates closely with the project PI to confirm that the project is well prepared to conclude on-time or to request a no-cost extension with the sponsor.
For projects that are ending within 90-60 days, the Finance Manager takes the following additional actions when reconciling the project:
0-120 Days After Project Ends
Once the project has ended, the CIRES Finance Manager works to complete the department-level closeout process by completing the following tasks:
Within 30 Days
- Ensure the final costs planned on the project have posted accurately and as expected. Where necessary, complete required accounting adjustments (PETs, JEs).
- Communicate with CCO Grant Accountant if there are costs that will need to be posted within the closeout period, including travel expense reports for trips that occurred before the project end-date, AWS costs for work done within the project POP, tuition costs that will not expense within the sponsor’s closeout period (ETP form noted above), and publication costs.
- Confirm that F&A charges posted to the project are accurate, particularly if pre-award costs were incurred before the official start date.
30-90 Days
- Remind PI and project team of the need to complete any outstanding ePERs.
- Remind PI to complete their final technical reports.
- Continue reconciling the project monthly to confirm that final project costs are posted and that no other costs are posted to the project speedtype by mistake.
90-120 Days
Once all costs have been posted to the project, the CIRES Finance Manager does a final financial review of all expenditures posted to the project for allowability, allocability, reasonableness, consistent treatment and adequate documentation. After completing their final financial review:
- The Finance Manager sends the full detailed list of transactions to the project PI, along with any notes or reminders of context.
- The Finance Manager requests confirmation from the PI that the expenditures posted to the project are finalized and that all the costs that have been supported are allocable to that project and were necessary and directly beneficial to the completion of the scope of work.
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Once the PI has confirmed the costs are final and appropriate, the Finance Manager sends the CCO Grant Accountant:
- The confirmation email from the PI that the project expenditures are finalized
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Any final financial documentation, which could include PDF versions of financial report(s) from InsideCIRES (Hope or Advanced Reporting System) or financial report(s) from m-Fin.
The Finance Manager can determine which report to consider ‘Final’ for the purpose of completing the departmental closeout processes and communicating with the CCO Grant Accountant. The Finance Manager may consider a report final, even if there is an unspent balance, if they have taken the steps to remove system encumbrances and ensure no additional project expenses need to post.
The Finance Manager will make their best effort to complete the departmental closeout steps within 90 days of the project end-date and unless the award terms require closeout within a shorter timeframe.
If there are are additional questions as other units (OCG, CCO) complete their closeout processes, the Finance Manager will coordinate with PI/project team to provide requested.
After the departmental closeout is completed, the Finance Manager continues to monitor active project speedtypes until they are closed and inactivated in the CU Finance system.
Additional details on the full award closeout process and the responsibilities of other CU units in the closeout process can be found on OCG and CCO webpages, like this one: https://www.colorado.edu/ocg/award-closeout.