Budget Office

Grants - Post Award Activity

Project Number Assignment
Upon receipt of an official award, the Office of Budget and Grants (OBG) will assign a department and project number. The PI/PD, department chair, dean, and other administrative offices will receive a notice indicating the department and project number established for the project.

The issuance of the project number for the award is a form of credit line against which the PI/PD may charge obligations and expenditures, without concern for sponsor payments and cash flow considerations. In reality, sponsoring agencies do not pay the University in the majority of cases until expenditures are incurred and invoices are submitted to the agency by the Office of Budget and Grants. However, there are some agencies that work on an advance payment basis.

Assignment of Account Number
Based on information in the initial Project Set Up, our office reviews and records the project details into the Financial Accounting System to allow proper review and processing of accounting information. This information includes, but is not limited to:

• Assignment of a unique 5-digit Project number Entry of the project number into the Chartfield
• Name of PI/PD
• Project Title (short title)
• Start and End Dates
• Proposal Number
• Indirect Cost Rate (IDC)
• Cost Share information
• CFDA number, where applicable
• Funding Source (Federal, State, Local or Private)
• Sponsor and Billing Address
• Billing Frequency
• Control Total

Project Invoicing
As part of the monthly review process, OBG request funds from sponsors to reimburse SPSU for each month's expenditures. Invoices for federal, state, local, and private sponsored projects are system generated through our financial accounting system by the Budget Analyst on a monthly or quarterly basis, depending on the terms of the award.

Financial Reports
In addition to monthly reports, OBG is required to submit periodic financial statements concerning performance of the grant or contract. Often, this information must be submitted on a specific form or statement required by the sponsoring organization. Regarding these reports, it is important to keep in mind that the fiscal year of Southern Polytechnic State University may not be the same as the sponsoring agency.

Project Close-Out
To ensure that proper close-out of sponsored projects complies with agency rules, the OBG analyst performs a close-out review that includes comparison of general ledger to payroll system records and the accumulation of data necessary to provide an audit trail.

It is the responsibility of SPSU to ensure that adequate provision is made for the auditing of accounting information and the accounting system that processes the accounting data. To this end, OBG maintains a hard copy of the year-end reports for all sponsored projects and monthly reports for prior years are available upon request. Completed project information is kept on file in OBG indefinitely unless specified otherwise by the sponsor.

OGC has liaison responsibility for the coordination of all audits, audit responses, and requests for accounting information on sponsored awards from organizations outside the University.

University Policies Impacting Research and Sponsored Programs
From the Policy Manual of the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. For the full text of these policies go here.