Closeout

The closeout is a critical piece in the life cycle of a grant. Preparation for closeout should begin three months prior to the end date of the grant in order to accurately forecast expenses and any adjusting financial entries that need to be made. It is also a point where many PI’s realize the need to apply for no-cost extensions from the sponsor.

If your grant is from the NIH, your grant may be subject to Streamlined Noncompeting Award Procedures (SNAP). Grants that are subject to SNAP can be identified by looking at the grant notice of award (NOA). See specific details about closing a grant from the NIH.

90 days before the end of the award Grants & Contracts Accounting (GCA) will start the closeout process. GCA will send the PI a 90-Day Review Notice and Checklist. When the PI receives this notice, he or she should notify OSP and/or initiate the process immediately if they are interested in requesting a no-cost extension (link).

If the PI is ready to close the award, the PI will need to ensure that all costs are appropriate and all transactions have been properly recorded. This includes:

• Verifying that restricted categories are spent according to the award notice;
• Verifying that F&A charges are correctly posted;
• Verifying that cost sharing requirements are identified and recorded, if applicable; and
• Verifying that all program income is properly recorded, if applicable.

If the grant has subawards, GCA works with the PI to ensure that the final financial report of expenditures has been submitted.

If the award is overspent, the excess costs are moved using transfer accounts to ensure proper recording of expenditures by program (e.g. Research, Instruction, and Public Service). To clear over expenditures, GCA follows the procedure established for handling financial and over expenditure problems.

For fixed price awards, when there is excess income, the excess income is moved to a departmental operating activity specified by the PI, using transfer accounts.

Closing documents may include the:

• Final Financial Status Report (FSR)
  The final financial status report is prepared and submitted to the sponsor by GCA within 90 days of the end of the award, or as required by the award terms and conditions. In a few instances it may be difficult for GCA to meet this deadline due to the processing of Personnel Activity Reports (PAR’s), unpaid obligations and pending recipient of the subawardee’s final financial status report. If GCA is unable to submit the final financial report on time, GCA will send a letter to the sponsor explaining why.
• Patent/Invention Report
  With the help of an OSP Contract Administrator, the Technology Licensing office prepares and signs the patent/invention report. Read more on how to submit Final Patent/Invention Reports.
• Property Report
  Property Accounting completes and submits any required property reports.
  • Before initiating closeout, please review the agreement to see if the University holds title to the equipment. 
  • If the University does not hold title to the equipment, or if disposition is determined at closeout, request a detailed report of equipment from Property Accounting that includes the percentages charged to the project. It may be recommended that the PI transfer charges less than 100% to other projects in order to keep the equipment.
    • discuss options with the PI and the sponsor before finalizing. Options typically include transferring equipment to another project or coordinating a loan (which needs to be renewed annually).
    • PI's and departments need to coordinate closely with Property Accounting to track equipment, vested to the sponsor, that has been transfered to other projects and/or is on loan.

• Final Technical Report
  The PI prepares and, in most cases, also submits the final technical report and any other technical/progress reports as required by the sponsor. When final reports requires the signature of an authorized official or if the report needs to be submitted by an authorized official, please contact the Sponsored Projects Officer who administered the project. Read more on how to submit Final Technical Reports.

Guidance

• No-Cost Extensions (how to request)
• Subrecipient Closeout
• Final Technical Reports (how to submit)
• Final Invention Statement (how to submit)
• Closeout Property Report
• Procedure - Closing Out an Award Overview

NIH

• Grants Closeout in eRA Commons (video)