'Successfully Managing a Research Award'

Managing Budgets and Reporting 27 th October 2011

FINANCE RESEARCH TEAM  Team of 5 looking after approximately 400 live projects.

 James Allman – Manager  Ian Bailey – (ISTM Hartshill)  Anne Budgen – (EPSAM & ISTM Huxley)  Carla Vardy - (PCHSc, Humanities)  Tracy Armstrong - (Soc Sci)

ADMINISTRATION OF RESEARCH GRANTS  Pre award stages  Discuss proposed application with RI manager  FEC costings prepared on PFACT system  Salary costings to Finance for approval  Enter costings onto application form  Submit application to RI Director  University submits application to funding body

ADMINISTRATION OF RESEARCH GRANTS  Post award stages  Offer letter/notification received by Research Services  Research Services generates ERF form  ERF form received by Finance  Code notification form sent to PI and RI Manager  Project is confirmed for operation

DISCUSS PROPOSED APPLICATION WITH RI MANAGER  Directly Incurred costs  Staff costs – Research Assistant, Technician, Fellow, visiting researcher     Travel & subsistence Equipment (less than £50k) Consumables Books   Survey Fees Publication costs   Licences Recruitment & Advertising

DICSUSS PROPOSED APPLICATION WITH RI MANAGER  Directly Allocated Costs  Principle investigators time  Co-investigators time  Estates costs

DISCUSS PROPOSED APPLICATION WITH RI MANAGER  Indirect Costs (Overheads)  General office and laboratory consumables  Secretarial  Central and distributed services  Cost of capital employed  Note any unfunded balance covered from Indirect Costs  Financial benefit to the University

DISCUSS PROPOSED APPLICATION WITH RI MANAGER  Exceptional costs  Project studentships  Large equipment (more than £50k)

FINANCE INVOLVEMENT

Pre-Award

 Check with Finance for VAT implications  For all applications submitted via pFact, Finance will check the salary costings where salary costs >£50k  Inflation rates  Increment dates  Grades and points Finance request a 2 DAY notice period for checking of a final pFact file

FINANCE INVOLVEMENT

Post Award

 Act upon receipt of an ERF (External Funding Agreement Form)  Allocate an “R” code & enter basic grant details into our database  Set up the ledger codes – i.e. to allow you to spend from your grant  Issue a “Code Notification Form” to PI & RI Manager

FINANCE INVOLVEMENT

Post Award

 Load the budget into system  Use an Automated Diary system to monitor the grant & to flag up important deadlines:  Start certificate  Claims due to be completed  Raise invoices to the sponsor  Financial statement deadlines - & for Research Council grants, PI Final Report deadlines to avoid any sanctions

FINANCE INVOLVEMENT

Post Award

  Confirm to HR that funding for staff is available for new appointments or extensions Provide reports / guidance to PI’s / RI Managers upon request. Level of support depends on type of grant.

 Close grants down shortly after end dates  Important note, for Research Council grants it is not permissible to incur expenditure on a grant after the end date (Keele may be required to return unspent funds to the sponsor)

FINANCE INVOLVEMENT

Post Award

 Prepare any financial reports required  Raise any claims / invoices required to the sponsor  Liaise with sponsor regarding financial issues  Provide support for project extension requests

DIFFERENT SPONSORS

 Variety of different sponsors, each have their own rules but key principals remain the same.

  Important to read terms and conditions very carefully EU grants – timesheets required, Keele has procedures in place to protect against £ $ fluctuations.

 University has services of Martin Pickard, a consultant specialising in EU funding.

AUDITS

 Individual grants can be subject to audits by the sponsor  Grant sponsors can send in auditors to review a number of grants provided by that sponsor  A selection of grants are reviewed each year by the University’s external auditors

How you can help Finance  Pre award, allow time for costings (including salaries) to be checked  Agree a profile of the budget of your grant once it has been awarded - & notify finance.

 Keep finance informed of any problems/delays to start dates/extensions etc on your grant – preferably copy in your finance contact on important e-mails regarding the project administration.

 Spend as planned!

Any Questions?????

Contact Details: Email: [email protected]

Tel: (7)34389