General Management of funds
General Principles / Good Practices
Researchers must not only ensure the quality of their work, but must also ensure that they meet standards set by the sponsor. An ongoing effort to maintain awareness of these standards can help to prevent problems and to build a lasting relationship with the sponsor.
It is important to provide progress reports as requested by the granting agencies or as stipulated in a contract and to clearly describe the efforts being made and the progress being achieved. Failure to keep sponsors informed of the progress and quality of the work will make it difficult to resolve problems and to secure funding for future projects.
From an administrative perspective, sponsors need to ensure the project is being properly managed and that their own administrative requirements are being met. Financial aspects of the project should be managed carefully. The University's internal systems are generally sufficient to meet the administrative requirements of most sponsors. However, these systems rely on good management by Principal Investigators.
The Principal Investigator is responsible for, and must authorize any expenses attributable to the grant cost centre. In addition he or she is responsible for ensuring that expenses meet the grant budget guidelines and are attributed to the correct expense account.
Day to day administration, such as the purchase of materials and supplies, payment of invoices, putting staff on the payroll, etc. is handled by Faculty/Departmental administrators in accordance with University policies.
Principal Investigators can greatly facilitate grant administration by:
- Ensuring expenses are charged to the proper cost centre from the beginning.
- Clearly specifying, by cost centre number, to which cost centre the expenses should be charged.
Changes to the Duration of the Project
All changes regarding the validity period of a research project must be requested via Research Management Services. RMS will take the necessary steps to complete the process and confirm the acceptance or refusal of the request with the researcher and Financial Services.
Progress Reports
Progress reports must be completed and submitted to sponsors on time. Failure to do so can be reason for the sponsor to withhold payments and/or to delay future installments.
General Purpose Research Cost Centres:
The purpose of a GENERAL PURPOSE RESEARCH
cost centre is:
- To further research activities of the Principal Investigator;
- To reduce the number of research cost centres and the corresponding workload; and
- To make it easier for faculty and clerical staff to administer their cost centres.
- Any unencumbered positive balances from completed contracts and grants, once needed approvals for the transfer have been obtained from the funding agency and Research Management Services;
- Any administrative supplement used in lieu of salary as per established procedures;
- Contract honoraria or professional fees allocated to research funds. Research Management Services will make the transfer upon written request from the principal investigator and as approved by the chair and dean of the faculty; and
- Small unencumbered research contributions.
This cost centre holds University funds.
Funds in this account, as in all trust accounts, belong to the University and are held in trust for researchers to further research endeavours. Funds can only be used for expenses directly related to research such as travel expenses, equipment, material, supplies, etc. Any equipment purchased with these funds becomes the property of the University of Ottawa.
Once a decision is made to place money in this account, it is irrevocable; one cannot later decide to withdraw money from the account and convert it to personal income. This position is absolutely necessary to satisfy Revenue Canada guidelines.
Administrative points to be aware of:
- This account will only accept transactions while it has a positive balance;
- Any additional revenue must be reported to Research Management Services. Journal entries or revenue remittance vouchers depositing money into these accounts must be approved by the Department Chair and forwarded to Research Management Services for final approval; and
- In all cases where the decision is made to forego remuneration for services rendered or professional fees in lieu of a research grant, in order to clearly demonstrate "University Ownership" for tax reasons, every transfer into an account must be approved by the chair of your department and/or the Dean and Research Management Services.
Analytical Services / Laboratory Accounts
A special category of cost centres can be opened for laboratories providing analytical services to external clients. Any funds invoiced to clients can be deposited into the cost centre and used in support of the laboratories' activities, equipment and infrastructure.
Fees for external clients should include an amount for indirect cost recovery, which can vary depending on the nature of the client and of the service being provided. For example, overhead is not allowable on analytical services provided to another university and being paid for out of an NSERC grant, but is allowable on services provided to a private sector organization or government laboratory.
Please contact the Assistant Director at Office of Research Management Services for further information on such accounts.
Paying External Consultants
External consultants may or may not be eligible expenses under a research grant or contract. If contemplating the use of an external consultant, verify whether or not such an expense is eligible under your grant or contract. If external consultants are not specifically approved in the contract or grant budget, this should be considered an ineligible cost and approval from the sponsor should be sought before making such arrangements.
Private consultants and consulting companies usually provide their services under a contractual agreement with the University. If the services of an external consultant are required under a grant or contract, please contact the Assistant Director at the Office of Research Management Services for further information.
Collaborative Research
Collaborative Research may present itself in three different forms:
Where the PI is at the University of Ottawa:
If the grant is administered at the University of Ottawa and there is a request for a transfer of funds to researchers at other universities participating in the research project, the procedure is:
i) The Principal Investigator from the University of Ottawa must contact Research Management Services and provide a written request for a transfer of funds;
ii) Research Management Services at the University of Ottawa will then contact its counterparts at the collaborating university;
iii) An agreement must be made and signed between the Directors of the responsible Services of both universities; and
iv) Once the agreement is signed by all parties, the University of Ottawa's Office of Research Management Services will request that Financial Services issue a cheque to the collaborating university.
Please note that Research Management Services must be advised of all transfers of funds to other universities before any funds can be transferred.
Where the PI is at another University:
In order for a collaborating researcher from the University of Ottawa to receive funds from a Principal Investigator from another university, the University of Ottawa researcher must provide the following documents to Research Management Services:
i) A completed "RE" form, containing all required signatures from the department and/or faculty;
ii) A copy of the application made by the Principal Investigator from the other university, including the budget;
iii) A copy of the notification of decision from the funding agency.
iv) Once each of these documents has been presented to Research Management Services, it will proceed to signing an agreement with the responsible Service from the other University and will open a cost centre once the agreement is signed.
Where researchers are at the University of Ottawa, but in different Departments/Faculties:
If a PI wants to transfer funds to a collaborative researcher at the University of Ottawa, but working in a different department or faculty, Research Management Services must again be contacted. Present a request, either written or via e-mail, to Research Management Services for the transfer of funds. Research Management Services will make a request to Financial Services for the transfer of funds to the appropriate cost centre and will take any other necessary action to ensure that the transfer of funds is completed.
In each of these three situations, applications for the transfer of funds will NOT be automatically executed year after year. These transfers of funds must be renewed every year to confirm that the research project is progressing as anticipated.
Transfer Procedure
When a researcher leaves the University of Ottawa to continue his/her research project at another eligible Canadian University, it is essential that he/she contact Research Management Services immediately. By promptly advising the Office of Research Management Services of his/her intentions to transfer universities, necessary actions may be undertaken immediately to initiate the necessary procedures to transfer the grant/contract to the new university. In doing so, the researcher greatly increases his/her chances of accessing the funds more rapidly and effectively at the new University.
