The Office of Research Administration assists with proposal budgeting and reviews costs that are charged to sponsored projects at Oakland University.  This process ensures a fair degree of reasonable allocation and allowability of costs to sponsored projects.  However, occasionally errors in posting and allocation occur in any accounting system.  It is the responsibility of the Principal Investigator to periodically review and ensure the reasonable allocation and accuracy of costs charged to the sponsored project.  A periodic review should occur within a reasonable period of 30 days from posting to the ledger.  Generally, error corrections should be completed within 60 days.  

Error corrections initiated beyond  60 days or after the project end date are continually an area of audit scrutiny, also requests that appear to use a remaining balance on a fund near or beyond the project end date may be questioned.  Losses or disallowed costs on other sponsored projects are not allowable cost transfers.  To ensure the fiduciary duty of Oakland University as a responsible financial steward of sponsored funding, unusual circumstances in timing or amounts will be scrutinized for propriety and denied without adequate justification and documentation.  It is preferred that a positive, proactive approach to managing sponsored funding is taken by Principal Investigators and supporting administrative personnel.  If you require assistance with reviewing financial reports, reconciling costs to planned budgets, system or report accessibility, or tracing an error in posting, please contact the GCSR Office for assistance. 



(9/23/09)