Department Administrator Session #16

March 11, 2015

Agenda

• New Delegation of Authority Form• Institutional Approvers• Activities in Research Financial Services

– Delay in Response Time during March and April• Case studies• Next Session

New Delegation of Authority Form

• UofG will adopting a form similar to the one used by Usask.

• Delegates must be knowledgeable about the research (can not be a Dept. Administrator)

• Remember these boxes for next few slides

Financial Services Division

GRANT HOLDER DECLARATION AND DELEGATION OF SIGNING AUTHORITY

Research Funds

For Tri-Agency awards, one delegation of signing authority form must be completed for each fund.

Section 1. Research Fund Information Name of Grant Holder (please print) NSID

College/School Department/Division/Centre

UniFi Fund Number: Project Sponsor

Section 2. Declaration of the Grant Holder

As the named grant holder on the above identified research fund, I acknowledge that I am accountable for all expenditures charged to this fund and that this accountability cannot be delegated. I understand that I am responsible to initiate all expenditures against this research fund and that all expenditures must be made in accordance with sponsor/donor and university policies and requirements. My signature below attests one of the following statements ( please check one of the following). Please note there is no requirement to complete Section 3 if you select A or C.

A

I take sole responsibility for the initiation all expenditures including: o Payroll (stipend/salary/benefit/scholarship related transactions) o Travel and Reimbursements (travel and subsistence costs, including personal

reimbursements) o Pcard (purchases made using a U of S Pcard) o Purchasing (procurement including purchase requisitions, cheque requisitions) o Journal Vouchers o Stores (internal vendors such as Campus Computer Store, Bookstore, college stores,

college laboratory services)

B

I delegate signing authority on this research project for the stated period of time and that I have provided the following named individual(s) with all the details concerning this research project. Please complete Section 3.

C

I rescind the signing authority previously granted to:

Name: NSID:

Signature of Grant Holder (in blue ink) Date (dd/mm/yyyy)

Section 3. Affirmation of Delegate Accepting Signing Authority (Copy this section for multiple delegates) Name of Delegate (please print) NSID UniFi Fund Number

Term of Delegation – start date (dd/mm/yyyy) Term of Delegation – end date (dd/mm/yyyy)

The above mentioned delegate is given the authority to initiate all expenditures to this fund as follows:

Payroll Travel and Reimbursement

PCard

Purchasing (Unifi and Cheque Requisitions)

Journal Voucher Stores

Affirmation of Delegate Accepting Signing Authority I accept responsibility as delegated signing authority for the above research project. I have been provided with the terms of the research project by the grant holder I have the skill and knowledge necessary for the effective discharge of this signing

authority I will use funds for the purposes for which they were awarded by ensuring all

expenditures o Are supported by appropriate documentation, o Conform to the terms and conditions by the sponsor/donor, o Are processed to the correct account codes, o Occur within the research award period, and o Are consistent with the research project budget where applicable.

Signature of Delegate (in blue ink) Date (dd/mm/yyyy)

Institutional Approvers for Tri-Agency Expenditures Agriculture & Bioresources Viet Truong Medicine Jae Saul

Arts & Science Doney Pan or Doug McKinnon

Nursing

Shawn Anderson or Mary Ellen Cox

Centre for Continuing Distance Education

Jim Greuel

Pharmacy & Nutrition Leanne Berglund

Graduate Studies and Research Heather Lukey School of Environment &

Sustainability Tracey McHardy

Edwards School of Business Jill Salamon School of Public Policy Tracey Howell-Perret Engineering Viet Truong School of Public Health Shari Peters Education Jae-Anne Peace Toxicology Adriana Brown

Kinesiology Don Steponchev

VIDO Lorne Vanin or Judy Schmidt

Law Tracey Wray Global Institute for Water Security Tiffany Schlosser

Library Dale Amerud

Veterinary Medicine Ralph Hildebrandt or Nadine Kozakevich Brenna Stuckel

* source http://www.usask.ca/fsd/colleges_depts_research/research_administration/how_do_i_know_institutional_approver.php

New Delegation of Authority Form

• Modify form to be a UofG form with appropriate reference for listing of UofG Institutional Approvers

• Create database to store form and make accessible for all Institutional Approvers

• Revise database held by units responsible for processing a transaction (eg. Accounts Payable) to search for signatures of Institutional Approvers– Review existing forms held in A/P to see if they can be

utilized for this purpose• Transition from old forms to new forms

New Delegation of Authority Form• UofG will be implementing a new form and it will be almost identical to the USask form.

• Question regarding 2nd page of the form – Should delegates know the terms of the award?– Please note that Section 3 of the delegation form (page 2) stipulates what the delegate

is agreeing to when they sign the form. Therefore, the delegate should know the terms of the award.

• Question from the group: Can we incorporate electronic signature (like adobe signature etc.) on the delegation form?– Developing this form and the database structure to manage it will require some

planning and some effort. Although the form is almost completed, there are a number of things that UofG must consider when revising the Delegation of Authority Form and the associated process of compliance review by the Institutional Approvers. Some of these include:

• Can an electronic signature be incorporated into the form• How do we address the issue of employee numbers being stored in the database

(especially when the Institutional Approver is a central department such as Central Animal Facility and would need access to the entire database instead of those within a specific academic department)

New Delegation of Authority Form• Question re: CRD Matching grants – Do all Tri-council rules apply to the

matching industry grants?– Yes, the Tri-Council rules do apply to the matching industry grants. However,

our current controls do not impose a Tri-Agency delegation of Authority Form on the matching industry grants.

• Question re: SMCs – no physical signature – How to check signature or authorize the expenses?– Some thought will need to be given to SMC’s along with a number of other

internal charges, internal stores and Pcard expenses to determine the most appropriate control and process to check for an appropriate authorization of the expense. More work is to be done on this. As shown in the chart in the following pages, RFS will be following up to complete the chart and where there are unknowns, we will be following up with the appropriate person or department to understand the process and determine who the institutional approver will be and how they will be inserted into the process.

Institutional Approvers

• Institutional approver (can not be a delegate), is responsible for reviewing a transaction for:– Expense eligibility– Compliance (appropriate person has initiated expense)– Department Administrators are Institutional Approvers. You

are responsible for being knowledgeable about expense eligibility and compliance review.

• To learn about expense eligibility, you should:– refer to the Tri-Agency Financial Administration Guide http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Professors-Professeurs/FinancialAdminGuide-GuideAdminFinancier/index_eng.asp– Attend the Department Administrator sessions– Contact RFS if uncertain

Institutional Approvers

• Remember these boxes• Attempt to create a table that identifies the Initiator,

Approver and Processor for each type of transaction at UofG

Institutional Approvers – Summary by Transaction Type

Type of Transactions Initiation Institutional Approval

Posting/ Processing

Personnel Grant Leader or Delegate Dept. Admin. HR System

Travel Grant Leader or Delegate Dept. Admin. Treasury Operation

Other expenses through Travel Expense Claim Grant Leader or Delegate Dept. Admin. Treasury Operation

Pcard (Procurement Credit Card) Grant Leader or Delegate Accounts Payable & Purchasing Office

LVPO (Low Value Purchase Order) Grant Leader or Delegate Dept. Admin. Accounts Payable

HVPO (High Value Purchase Order) Grant Leader or Delegate Dept. Admin. Accounts Payable

SMC (Supply managed Contract) Grant Leader or Delegate Accounts Payable

Petty Cash Grant Leader or Delegate Dept. Admin. Treasury Operation

Journal Entries (JEs) – except internal charges Grant Leader or Delegate Dept. Admin. Controller Office

Couriers (Purolator, FedEx, UPS etc.) Grant Leader or Delegate Accounts Payable

Type of TransactionsInternal Stores: Contact Person Initiation Institutional

ApprovalPosting/

Processing

Central Animal Facility Janet Ferguson Grant Leader or Delegate

Lab Services Karen Nakatsu Grant Leader or Delegate

Hospitality R MacDonald, A. Rigby Grant Leader or Delegate

Physical Resources Matthew Lawrie Grant Leader or Delegate

CCS Mladen Stojanovic Grant Leader or Delegate

Parking Services Jeanette Laws Grant Leader or Delegate

Physics Machine Shop Janice Hall Grant Leader or Delegate

Chemistry Stockroom Barbara Reid Grant Leader or Delegate

Chemistry Machine Shop Barbara Reid Grant Leader or Delegate

Chemistry Electronic Shop Barbara Reid Grant Leader or Delegate

Poster Printing - Chemistry Barbara Reid Grant Leader or Delegate

Institutional Approvers – Summary by Transaction Type

Institutional Approvers – Summary by Transaction Type

Type of TransactionsInternal Stores: Contact Person Initiation Institutional

ApprovalPosting/

Processing

Poster Printing - CBS Nora Teri Grant Leader or Delegate

CBS AAC Billing Nora Teri Grant Leader or Delegate

MCB Stockroom Nora Teri Grant Leader or Delegate

IB BIO Stockroom Nora Teri Grant Leader or Delegate

Biobar Jamie Jones, Sandra Good Grant Leader or Delegate

RSSA fees - Research stations Janet Ferguson Grant Leader or Delegate

Plant Ag Growth Facilities Jill Selby Grant Leader or Delegate

BDDC Lab charges Jill Selby Grant Leader or Delegate

FACScan (OVC) D. Dinesen, K. De Uslar Grant Leader or Delegate

Pathobiology Media Charges D. Dinesen, K. De Uslar Grant Leader or Delegate

OVC HSC Research Billing Jackie Radley Grant Leader or Delegate

Research Financial Services Update

• We are noticing an increase in:– Reports and invoices to be completed for March 31st

– Email and telephone calls• While we try to answer emails and phone calls

in a timely manner, there will be delays in our responses over the next couple of months as we try to complete the required reports and invoices.

Research Financial Services Update

• A common question we are receiving is in regards to new accounts and when they are open. We aim to set up the account on the day that you receive the email from Office of Research (exception Fund 301 accounts).

• General rule … receive notice on Wednesday for a new account. Start using the account on Friday.

Case Studies

• Depending on your:– role, – your experience and – your involvement in Research Administration, some of you may

find these cases easy– For those of you who find these easy, please recognize that

these cases studies come from questions that we have received in RFS and are for the purpose of everyone in the audience

• I am always open for suggestions and topics to make these case studies fit with what you would like to learn and promote the opportunities to share with each other

Case 1: Personnel Expenses

You have been asked by RFS to review a transaction listing for a Cluster trust account under Growing Forward 2. As you go through the account you notice the account is underspent by $25K. After a few moments you realize that personnel costs are unspent! Luckily, you determine that two employees – Grace Iris and Addison Wolf – have been charged to the wrong trust account.

How many expenses can you move to the GF2 account?

How much expenses can you move to the GF2 account?

Case #2 – How much money do I have left to spend?You have been asked to review a trust account to determine the remaining balance a researcher in the School of Management has to spend in Trust Account #1. For this account, the Award-Amount is $100,000 with an indirect charge of 40%. The researcher has agreed to transfer $25,000 of this Award-Amount to another researcher within the UoG, School of Pathology ,Trust Account #2.

Facts:• There is a surplus in the Trust Account #1 of $12,500. The total amount of indirect

costs reported on the last financial statement and applied in FRS is $21,428.57. • All funding has been received and applied as expected. From the prior claim, the

collaborating researcher had spent all funding and RFS reported and collected funding accordingly.

Questions• Determine the award-amount remaining and the amount of expenses claimed in trust

account #1.• What are the implications of the internal transfer for both trust accounts?

Answer Description of Activity Total

Step 1: Award Amount , TA#1 75,000

Step 2: Prior Year Claim (50,000)

Step 3: New Expenses (12,500)

Step 4: New Indirect Costs (5,000)

Award Amount Remaining 7,500.00

Direct Expenses 5,357.15

Indirect Costs 2,142.85

Implications:

False Surplus in Trust Account #1• Revenue of $25,000 should be transferred to Trust Account #2

Overstated indirect costs in Trust Account #1 • $7,142.86 in overhead should be transferred to Trust Account #2

Case #3

• Review of a Travel Claim– A sample travel claim was provided to the group.

Case #3 – Travel Claim – Points to be addressed

• Ask PI for more details regarding the purpose of conference; must be related to research – The PI must make a statement that connects his research to the conference. e.g. “this conference relates directly to my research on Inuit Health for which I received an Nserc grant.” Prospectus or brochure is not sufficient as per tri council reps.

• The length of your trip seems quite extensive. – Why travelling on the 5th when the conference did not start until the 8th?– What research work was conducted on March 19-22nd?

• Who did you visit?• What was the nature of the work?

– What research work was conducted from March 9th – 18th and March 23rd – 25th?

• Who did you visit?• What was the nature of the work?

Case #3 – Travel Claim – Points to be addressed

• The tip for ground transportation seems excessive• 2 bedroom suite at the hotel is excessive. Ask PI why he booked a

bedroom suite? Standard accommodation was available. – Deduct the difference between standard and suite and only reimburse

the standard room amount.• Ask why a rental car was needed for the duration of his trip?

– Why should we pay for additional parking costs prior to start of the conference (March 5th – March 8th)?

– The distance between LA and San Diego is 125kms. Return trip should be 250kms. Why have you submitted a claim for 750kms?

• Why did you rent a 2 bedroom apartment for the balance of your trip? – Was cheaper accommodation not available?

Case #3 – Travel Claim – Points to be addressed

• Per diems only allowed on days when research was conducted and for meals not provided during the conference.

• On March 22nd, hospitality expense should include the following information:

– Names of attendees– Titles of attendees– Institution or organization– Affiliation to PI research– Dates of the event– Number of participants– Purpose of the event– Counter signature by the department head or dean for hospitality expenses claimed by the grantee

• One over one authorization of travel - Dean or Chair • Flight change for thesis defence is not eligible on research grant.• Business class is not eligible unless it is for medical reasons which are

documented in confidence at the institution.

Next Session

• Suggested Topics• Suggested Case studies• Next Session Date

– Sometime in May