Monthly Archives: August 2021

Cost Transfer Procedure for Sponsored Projects

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Good Morning,

The procedure for performing cost transfers in iO has been updated on RCA’s website. The information below can be found at this link https://controller.rice.edu/rca-cost-transfer

Cost Transfer Process in iO

The process for cost transfers in iO is dependent on the transaction source (converted or iO created) and the transaction type (labor and non-labor).

Cost Transfers for Costs Incurred Prior to July 1, 2021 (Both Labor and Non-Labor Converted Costs)

  • Converted costs will be managed in iO using the NON-LABOR COST TRANSFER FORM. For the costs to be transferred, a description of the cost transfer as well as the invoice information must be entered, as well as the current and new COA and POET accounting information. RCA will enter the information into the PPM Project Costs ADFDI template and upload into iO.
  • Converted costs cost transfers are to be requested by the Department Administrator and uploaded to BOX for processing.

Cost Transfers for Non-Labor Costs Incurred After July 1, 2021

  • Cost transfers for non-labor costs will be managed in iO using the NON-LABOR COST TRANSFER FORM. For the costs to be transferred, a description of the cost transfer as well as the invoice information must be entered, as well as the current and new COA and POET accounting information. RCA will enter the information into the PPM Project Costs ADFDI template and upload into iO.
  • Non labor cost transfers are to be requested by the Department Administrator and uploaded to BOX for processing.

Labor Cost Transfers for Costs Posted Beginning July 1, 2021

  • Labor cost transfers will follow the general iO process for Labor Distribution changes. For changes to sponsored projects entered 90 days after the end date of the original labor distribution, the following is required:
    • The field “Includes sponsored projects over 90 days:” must be marked “Yes” on the Labor Distribution form.
    • A comment must be entered on the form explaining the reason for the cost transfers.
    • Include the Department Chair as an Optional Approver on the LD template so the required department chair approval is obtained.
    • Labor cost transfers are to be requested by the Department Administrator and forwarded to Payroll for processing via Adobe Sign.

Balance Transfers in iO

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For those who missed it, last week the Budget Office sent out the following information  about how to process balance transfers in the new system:

There is now a new interim transfer process for handling fund balance transfers, formerly called budget transfers.  This process entails completing an AdobeSign form that is routed for workflow approvals (see attached job aid) and posts in iO.  This process is for temporary (operating year) balance transfers between fund types or between departments.  You will need to contact the Budget Office for base (permanent) budget adjustments as they will not be processed using this interim process.

Important things to note:

  • All transfers will be processed as Year-to-Date entries in iO, using the Transfers – Inter/Intra Departmental account code (6800).
  • Because of the end-of-year carryover process for the Unrestricted General Operating fund (000000) and because unspent fringe benefits budgets do not carryover, the Budget Office will need to capture fund balance transfers associated with salary and fringe benefits accounts (including Faculty Academic Year Time transfers).
  • To capture the fringe benefits, the Adobe Sign form will contain a drop-down list of valid accounts (including faculty, staff, student, and fringe accounts) that will be written to a database file for use during the year-end analysis of carryover funds.
  • Use of Salary and Fringe accounts is only permitted on the Unrestricted General Operating fund (000000).
  • Faculty Academic Year Time transfers will require a separate action by the Project Administrators to update the PPM faculty/task budgets of any faculty receiving AYT funds.
  • Faculty fund transfers will be a two-step process.  First, there will need to be a transfer to the receiving department’s designated fund with the appropriate fund source code (Faculty Discretionary – 010000, Faculty Start-up – 010010, Faculty Non-Sponsored Research Funds – 010020, or Faculty Retention – 010030).  Second, a separate action by the Project Administrators will need to be performed to update the PPM faculty/task budgets for the faculty receiving the additional funds.

Job Aid:  AdobeSign iO Balance Transfer

Sponsored Projects Expenditure Types

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We’ve had several departmental folks reach out to us asking what “account code” to use for their Sponsored Projects expenses in PPM.  I know we’re all used to having to enter an account code number as part of the FOAPAL in Banner.  However, in the iO system, we use expenditure types instead of account codes, and we no longer need to memorize the corresponding numbers.  Yay!

In PPM, Sponsored Projects expenditure types are broken down into 8 expenditure categories:  Salaries & Wages (S&W), Fringe Benefits (FRB), Tuition Remission (TUR), Other Direct Costs (ODC), Travel (TRV), Subawards (SUB), Equipment (EQP), and Facilities & Administrative Cost (F&A).  Each of those expenditure categories has multiple expenditure types associated with it.

So for example, if you want to charge lab supplies to a sponsored project, you would search for “supplies” in the expenditure type field and it will give you a list of all the ones that have the word supplies in them.  Then you just pick the one called ODC: Supplies Laboratory.

Please see the attached list for expenditure types allowed on Sponsored Projects.

ET List: Expenditure Types

Dates in iO

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Expenditures associated with Sponsored Projects, Faculty Funds and Capital Projects created and managed via PPM in iO have multiple associated dates.  These dates allow for tracking of costs from both a compliance and financial reporting perspective.

Expenditure Item Date

The Expenditure Item Date is the date that a transaction occurs.  For sponsored projects, the Expenditure Item Date of a transaction must be within the period of the grant in order to comply with the terms of the award.   Expenses with an expenditure item date outside of the project period will fail to post on the project in iO.

Creation Date and Accounting Date

A transaction’s Creation Date is the date the transaction is loaded into PPM, while the Accounting Date is the date the transaction is recorded in the General Ledger (GL).  These dates are used for financial management and reporting purposes.  These dates may differ depending on the timing of the accounting process for each module.

Example:

Assume that following completion of a business trip, a staff member has created and submitted an expense report, and all of the approvals (departmental and central) are completed as of June 15.  Assume also that the related accounting processes for both PPM and the GL are run on June 15.

If this report contains an expense of $300 for an airline ticket that was paid via credit card on May 15, then the Expenditure Item Date for that $300 in travel expense will be May 15.  However, the Creation Date and Accounting Date for that $300 travel expense will be June 15, as that is the date the accounting process for the expense was completed.