One of the hallmarks of an excellent Project Director is
paying as close attention to the financial aspects of the grant as to
the program. Both require careful monitoring if the total project is
to be successful. Meeting the program objectives and client needs is
only half the job. As Project Director, you will be held responsible
for managing both the program and the budget.
If you are like most Project Directors, you understand that you are
responsible for accomplishing the grant's goals and were selected
for your programmatic
expertise. However, you may be less comfortable with your fiscal responsibilities.
You may have the perception that "some accountant somewhere is
supposed to handle it." As Project Director, your fiscal responsibilities
include:
One
of the quickest and easiest ways to check on the progress of a grant
is to compare the percentage
of time elapsed in the grant
period
with the percentage of total budget spent. For example, if 80%
of the grant period has expired, and only 30% of the money is spent,
the grant
is
in serious trouble. First of all, the
College is likely to have to return a significant portion
of unspent
monies to the funding source and secondly,
the objectives of the program are apparently not being
met. Often, the
discrepancy indicates that expenditures are not being
charged to the proper grant account. This means that the
College is expending operational dollars on a project that
should be paid for by external funds.
Getting the Funds
Once the District Governing Board has approved acceptance
of the grant award and the Grants Accountant has set
your budget
up in
Banner, expenditures
can be made from the account. Most agencies do not send
us the grant funds at the beginning of the project. Instead,
the College
is periodically
reimbursed for expenditures after they occur. The Grants
Accountant is responsible for reporting the expenditures
to the funding
agencies and
obtaining reimbursement for expenditures.
Using Banner
The Banner system
is the official
book of record which will
be used for reporting
to your funding
source. Contact your fiscal
agent, or
Grants
Accountant to request reports. Banner is driven by certain “responsibilities”.
If you do not have access to certain screens or reports, inquire about
gaining the appropriate responsibility for access.
It is also a good idea to find someone at your campus
who could mentor you on the Banner system. Put that person
on your speed
dial and
do not be shy. There’s plenty of technical assistance. Just be persistent.
Repeat the class. It makes a lot more sense the second time around.
Budget
Management/Monitoring
The first grant budget report should be reviewed carefully to check
the accuracy of the account object codes and amounts. Cost categories
are
identified by object code and title in the system (see “Preparing/Revising
an Operational Budget”). Subsequent budget reports should be
reviewed line item by line item to be certain charges are properly
posted to the
account. The revised budget is actually the current budget and may
differ from the original budget as a result of budget modifications
approved
by the funding source.
The budget should be monitored by line item (object code). The objective
is keep within the budget allowed for each object code. It
is not sufficient to manage a budget so that the total expenditures
do not
exceed the
total available.
Be sure to reconcile your expenditures to the financial records.
Keep in mind that Banner is the College's official financial reporting
system
that will be used for preparing financial reports and for audits.
You may find it helpful to use a separate record keeping system in
your
office to keep track of expenditures, but such would not be the official
version.
If you are using a system in your office to keep track of expenditures,
you will find discrepancies at various times between what your records
show and what Banner shows. This is generally due to the lag time
that naturally results when requisitions are being processed and
charged
to the account. In addition, shipping costs and taxes may be added
on to
requisitions after you have approved them (if you did not include
them) resulting in a greater charge to your account than you may
have anticipated.
Here are some other things to keep in mind as you review your budget.
Review your budget line by line. Pay particular attention to salary
line items, especially if a salary is coming out of more than one
account. The computer has been known to take it all out of one account.
Indirect
costs are charged to the account periodically and at the end of a
fiscal year by the Grants Accountant, so do not transfer budget funds
out
of
that object code to use for something else.
The Grants Accountant will prepare a monthly project report for all
grant managers. To analyze how your project is doing, review and
verify the
report, comparing the percentage of the budget that has been expended
to the percentage of the grant that has expired. There may be justifiable
reasons for a discrepancy between the two, caused by such things
as major equipment purchase and the timing and cost of major grant
activities.
More commonly, however, major discrepancies usually indicate that
the program is either not being implemented on schedule or expenditures
are
being charged to the wrong account. Your account number should be
listed
on all requisitions to assure that the expenditures are charged to
the proper accounts.
Match Monies: Special Requirements
The Project Director is responsible for keeping track of and documenting
the match monies (contributions to the grant by the College and any
other nonfederal sources). This will have to be reported to the funding
source
periodically by the Grants Accountant and needs to be available for
audit purposes. Always maintain adequate backup documentation to
support expenditures,
both grant and in-kind/match!
As Project Director, you need to know what accounts your "match" is
coming from or at least which people's salaries are contributing
to the match (e.g. 20% Program Coordinator’s salary and benefits).
You will need to provide your Grants Accountant with this information.