Reconciliation
Preparing a monthly budget reconciliation is critical in order to:
- Keep PIs informed on a monthly basis
- Monitor spending rate (over or under)
- Review charges to ensure they are allowable, allocable, consistent, and reasonable
- Track cost share revenue and expense
- Review status of charges (requisitions are received, encumbrances are resolved, payroll is not in suspense, journals are processed)
- Plan for future expenditures not encumbered (stipend, post doc salary and fringe benefits, PI summer salary, PI academic year salary)
Reconciliation Best Practices:
- PI should receive a copy of the monthly reconciliation spreadsheet with a copy of the monthly GM045 and GL008
- Include notes or areas of concern related to reconciliation
- The monthly reconciliation spreadsheet includes:
- Summary of Accounts: A summary of the PI’s grant and discretionary chart string account balances by project
- Current Personnel and Salary: A summary of salary expenses, encumbrances, and tuition charges for all student employees and research staff
- Review GM045 and GL008 statements at month close to verify all expenses and encumbrances are accurate.
- Ensure the expenses are allocable, allowable, reasonable, and consistent
- Confirm payroll expenses and encumbrances are accurate based on funding entered by reviewing, Cognos PED reports and/or GL008 drill down
- Enter revenue, expense, encumbrance, payroll, and tuition data from financial statements into each PI’s reconciliation spreadsheet by project.
- Add additional encumbrances and expenses by project as necessary, such as:
- Funding changes to graduate student stipends, post doc salary, and fringe that affect the current month total expenditures and encumbrances (i.e. suspense)
- Finalize spreadsheet by confirming adjusted balance, direct cost balance, and spending rate
- Point out areas to PI where there might be issues
A sample reconciliation spreadsheet has been developed by Weinberg Research Administration.
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