Federal agencies have become increasingly stringent about the timeliness of financial reporting to ensure financial accountability and stewardship. Brown University’s financial reporting procedures are intended to streamline the financial reporting and closeout process of an award to help ensure compliance with sponsors’ award terms and conditions and preserve Brown’s good standing, payments and future funding.

Deliverables due at a project’s end date vary by sponsor and by federal agency, but generally include the timely submission of:

• a final financial report
• a final invoice or a request for a final draw (for letter of credit sponsors)
• a technical/scientific/progress report
• an invention/patent report
• a property/equipment inventory report
• a cost-share report, or validation of any cost sharing on the main financial report
• other nonfinancial reports (e.g., assignment and release forms)

Final payment on an award may be contingent on the receipt of nonfinancial reports.

Shared Responsibility

The financial reporting and closeout process is a shared responsibility. Principal investigators (PIs) and department staff have primary responsibility, and the Sponsored Projects team has secondary responsibility. PIs are required to understand and comply with the technical/programmatic reporting requirements of their awards, which involves becoming familiar with reporting formats, templates and any online submission portals.  

The Post-Award team in Sponsored Projects prepares signs off on all interim and final financial reports based on the amounts recorded in the University’s financial system (Workday) general ledger. Interim reports are generally not submitted to departments for review and certification unless carryforward of unobligated balance is not automatic. Sponsored Projects submits the final financial rough draft report to the department for review and certification. 

The department will return the financial rough draft report to Sponsored Projects within the set internal deadline. In cases in which financial rough draft reports are not returned within the specified period, the financial report will be signed by Sponsored Projects and submitted to the sponsor based on the University’s financial records and without PI or departmental approval.

Multi-Department Awards

In a multi-department award, the parent, or lead, department assumes prime responsibility. The parent department receives from the Post-Award team a rough draft of the final financial report with tabs in the workbook for each grant. The parent department is expected to distribute the relevant tab to the appropriate department; this may require setting a new deadline for return of the completed child reconciliation back to the parent.  

After receiving the child reconciliations and completing the reconciliation of the parent account, the parent department should populate the workbook as well as the summary page of the rough draft. The parent department is responsible for collating the whole rough draft and sending the entire document, in order, with any documentation, back to Post-Award by the deadline.

Submitting Directly to Sponsors

Generally, the Post-Award team prepares all financial reports and invoices. Occasionally, as may be required per sponsor award documentation, departments may have to submit reports directly to the sponsor. If departments are required to submit financial reports directly, departments are required to submit financial reports to the Post-Award team for review and approval before submitting the report to the sponsor.