1. Unboxing Research Finance at the UofA Research Administration Day 2015

2. 2 Chad Schulz, CA, CIA, CFE Director, Integrated Finance Services, University of Alberta Michael Walesiak, CA Associate Director-Finance, Research Services Office, University of Alberta Presenters

3. 3 Agenda Understand the purpose of the different general ledger Fund codes (restricted/unrestricted/operating) Processing journal entries Understand the processing and allocation of the indirect costs of research Future initiatives being planned for Grants 3.0 Purpose and overview of the Finance Management Committee Purpose and overview of Integrated Finance Services Agenda

4. 4 Fund Codes Restricted Research (Funds 530, 531, 535 and 540) Expenditures are explicitly restricted by the granting agency that contributed the funds. Research Operating (Fund 330) Funds are either provided by internal operating budgets or by a sponsor with no restrictions on what the money can be spent on. Fund Codes

5. 5 Characteristics that RSO looks for to determine whether a grant is restricted or operating: Are there explicit restrictions in the grant agreement stating allowable or non-allowable expenditures? Does the grant agreement require that we return unspent funds? Does the granting agency require financial reporting on project expenditures? Fund Codes

6. 6 Source of Funds External Payments from third parties (billings, deposits, wire transfers, etc.) Internal Funds transferred from another source through journal entries (manual entries processed by RSO or Grants 3 automated transfers) -Startup awards -Transferring funds from a “pot account” to a UofA project holder Fund Codes

8. 8 2015 Fund Cleanup Activities Projects which were identified to have had primarily unrestricted revenues being deposited into Fund 530 were transferred to Fund 330 and vice versa. -GL entries were processed to correct fund codes for opening project balances and revenue/expense transactions in Fiscal 2015 -Speed codes were edited to use the correct fund code Fund Codes

9. 9 Going Forward… Steps are being taken to ensure transactions are coded to the correct account and fund codes. If a project holder receives funding and does not have a research project with the necessary fund code, a new research project must be requested. Fund Codes

10. 10 Example: A researcher has a General Research Fund project in Fund 530 (externally restricted) and just received a cheque for $50,000 from mining company to test some samples. There are no restrictions on what the money can be spent on and as long as the researcher provides the test results, the sponsor’s requirements are fulfilled. Possible solutions: 1.Determine whether the researcher has another project in Fund 330 2.Request that RSO create a new research project in Fund 330 (i.e. Lab Services account) Fund Codes

11. 11 How to determine a project’s Fund Code Fund Codes

12. 12 There are 3 ways to process journal entries for research projects: 1.Use automated transfer functionality offered by Grants 3 2.Manual JV’s emailed to researchjv@ualberta.caresearchjv@ualberta.ca 3.Use faculty-assigned interface Journal Entry Processing

13. 13 Grants 3 can process journal entries automatically as long as the following are certain: 1.The full chartfield for the source of funds 2.The amount to be transferred 3.The date of the transfer Note: the automatic transfer debit will indicate the project receiving funds in the Journal Line Description. Journal Entry Processing

14. 14 Central JV Processing at RSO RSO began processing all journal entries for research projects in Fiscal 2015 The Research General Ledger Journal Entry (GLJE) Request Form can be found on the Financial Services Forms Cabinet Completed forms are emailed to researchjv@ualberta.ca researchjv@ualberta.ca Journal Entry Processing

15. 15 To ensure speedy processing of JV’s: Ensure all chart fields are completed on the form. Sponsor chartfield is the GL value assigned to the speed code or transaction. It is not the sponsor name. If expenses are being charged to a research project, the nature of the expenses must be clear and specific. A sponsor (or their auditor) must be able to determine what they are paying for. Use APJV or Salary Redistributions when expenses are being redistributed. Journal Entry Processing

16. 16 Indirect Costs of Research The Indirect Costs of Research Procedure became effective January 1, 2014 and requires that 85% of indirect costs are allocated to faculties and 15% are allocated to central. We created a new nVision report titled “RSGLVICR” that summarizes ICR earned by a faculty in three ways: -Project Holder -Sponsor -Department Indirect Costs of Research

17. 17 The Future of Grants 3 Investigate on-line approvals for all forms  Taking a look at required approvals; are there opportunities to streamline?  Can approvers edit requests or should they only approve/reject? Feedback and suggestions are always welcome  What is working well?  What are the pain points with the current processes? The Future of Grants 3

18. 18 Finance Management Committee (FMC) Newly created committee that replaced a number of prior committees. Intended to focus on finance and budgeting activities. Membership comprised of:  Senior financial officers of all faculties  Offices of each Vice-President  Various central administrative units Finance Management Committee

19. 19 FMC Purpose Identify significant finance management, budgeting systems, internal control and operational issues and provide potential solutions. Facilitate and communicate enhancements and other changes to finance management and budgeting systems. Ensure whenever possible that committee and / or its members contribute input and constructive feedback in relation to finance and budget related policies and procedures. Finance Management Committee

20. 20 FMC Purpose (continued) Develop best practices in finance / budgeting. Provide advice and guidance on major finance and budgeting initiatives related to:  Finance management, budget and reporting systems  Policies and procedures  Training initiatives  Enhanced finance management integration. Finance Management Committee

21. 21 Integrated Finance Services Relationships with both faculties and central administrative units.  Provost Office  VP (F&A) including Financial Services and the Budget Office  Faculties  Other support services Ensure that faculties are kept up to date on institutional changes (primarily through FMC). Integrated Finance Services

22. 22 Integrated Finance Services (continued) Involvement in a large number of initiatives on campus to ensure appropriate involvement by necessary stakeholders. Working to ensure initiatives are collaborative in nature. Involvement in recruitment for financial roles across the institution. Integrated Finance Services

23. 23 Integrated Finance Services (continued) Providing assistance and guidance to campus in regards to various finance / budget issues. Development of a finance partner model. Intends to look at the whole picture rather than separated by function or fund. Requires understanding of the majority of the U of A systems, policies and procedures. Integrated Finance Services

24. 24 Changing University Environment Investigation of responsibility centered management  http://change.ualberta.ca/ http://change.ualberta.ca/ E procurement Finance Institutional Data Warehouse (Tableau) Implementation of new budget system (Hyperion) Grants 3.0 Various policy changes Changing University Environment

25. 25 Questions?