Expediting Paperwork Through Research Accounting

Research Accounting  is here to facilitate the research and sponsored programs for Florida Atlantic University, as well as to ensure that the University is in compliance with Federal and sponsor regulations. Our goal is to process Purchase Requisitions, Labor Redistributions, ETFs, SSIs, and Reimbursements Other Than Travel for grant accounts in a timely manner. In order to meet this goal, we would like to remind you of the requirements listed below.

1. All paperwork must be routed to Gail Gallo, Grant Specialist, Room 210C. Gail will time stamp the documents and distribute them to the appropriate Research Accounting Accountant.
   
   

2. The Account Code is required on all Purchase Requisitions and Reimbursements Other Than Travel. For a listing of the Banner Budget Pools and Account Codes, please see Research Accounting website at:
   

   http://www.fau.edu/research/ocg/acctg.php
   

   If you have a question about the allowability of an expense item on a Federal or Non-Federal grant, please contact your Research Accounting Coordinator.
   
   If you have a question about which Account Code to use (depending on the nature of the expense item), please contact the Purchasing Department.
   

3. The appropriate Budget Pool must have adequate budget in order for a Purchase Requisition to be approved.
   
   
4. For ETFs and Labor Redistributions, please provide a complete and detailed reason/justification as to why the cost transfer is necessary. Explain how the cost benefited the project. Please note that “To transfer costs to correct account.” is not an adequate justification.
   
   
5. All necessary supporting documentation must be attached.
   
   For example, Organization Detail Activity Reports with the expense item(s) highlighted must be attached to ETFs.
   
   The appropriate Payroll Certification Form(s) and Personnel Action Form(s) (if submitted) must be attached to Labor Redistributions. Please provide enough documentation so that the Research Accounting Coordinator does not have to “recreate” what was done to arrive at the “$ Amount to be Moved”.

It is our goal to process the paperwork as quickly as possible. If the above requirements are met, we are able to process the paperwork faster. If the above requirements are not met, the paperwork cannot be approved and we will contact you or return the document, explaining the reason for the disapproval.

If a particular transaction is a rush, please call your Research Accounting Coordinator to notify him/her of the rush and we will do our best to give your transaction priority. While we understand that “walk throughs” are occasionally necessary, we would like these urgent requests to be the exception to the rule and not the normal course of business. If you have questions concerning these guidelines, please call Edwin Bemmel, Director, Research Accounting, at 7-2606. Thank you for your cooperation.

Send comments to Edwin Bemmel.

Updated July  2008