Office of Sponsored Programs - 700.02 - Project Closeout

Title

Office of Sponsored Programs - 700.02 - Project Closeout

Purpose

This operating standard encourages reconciliation of sponsored project accounts in a timely, accurate fashion and places responsibility for irreconcilable accounts with the departments.

Policy Statement

Sponsored project accounts are officially closed when their balance in ConnectCarolina equals zero dollars and the project status is closed. The project status in RAMSeS will also be changed to Frozen/Inactive. The Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) supplies the administering department with a copy of the Final Report of Expenditures (FROE), which serves as official notification that, pending reconciliation of any outstanding expenditures, an award is moving toward closeout.

Outstanding balances will continue to appear on reports until those balances are resolved. It is, therefore, imperative for the administering award department to scrupulously monitor accounts that are closing to ensure expenditures are necessary and acceptable under the terms and conditions of the award.

I. Corrected Projects by the Department and PI

Continue to monitor outstanding obligations as well as personnel encumbrances to ensure that the transactions are recorded in ConnectCarolina. Any unreported transactions that post to the account must be removed.

II. Underused Funds

Following the project end date, when the total amount of awarded funds are not used, the unused portion is returned to the sponsoring agency. Should the agency allow the University to retain any unused funds, the department is responsible for preparing a request to OSP for the transfer of such funds into a departmental residual account. Note that this applies to fixed price agreements and ledger 4 projects only.

III. Projects in Overdraft

When a project is overdrawn, corrective action must be indicated and promptly initiated by communications with OSP and the administering department. Expenditures incurred too late to be of use during the project period will be diverted for use by, and payment from, another funding source.

Related References

• Research Administration Glossary at Carolina
• 2 CFR §200.343 - Closeout

Contact Information

For questions regarding this operating standard and its related procedure, please contact SponsoredPrograms@unc.edu.

For questions regarding Pre-Award management or Post-Award administration, please contact the assigned Sponsored Projects Specialist (SPS).

For invoicing, reporting and other financial matters, please contact the assigned Sponsored Projects Accountant. OSP Staff assignments are found in RAMSeS or on the OSP website.

History

The operating standards in the Office of Sponsored Programs Operating Standards & Procedures Manual supersede any OSP operating standards, procedures and appendices previously included in the University Business Manual, a publication of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Division of Finance.