FIN MAN 101: Grant and Contract Accounting

by Lily Gebrenegus

Grant and Contract Accounting is a large division within Financial Management with over 50 employees. Tami Sadusky is the director for our office and Sue Camber, the assistant controller, oversees both GCA and our sister office, Management Accounting and Analysis. We are located in the Purchasing and Accounting Building on the Ave. Our office is responsible for administering to and monitoring all the research grants, contracts and gift budgets that are awarded to the University. That’s over 18,000 budgets and $900,000,000 per year in new research dollars!

GCA has been an enthusiastic participant in FM’s Quality Improvement initiative since its creation in 1990. By streamlining our processes, we make our work easier and more accurate and we provide better information for our customers. Our mission statement is a testament to this:

"Our mission is to provide support to the UW research community
by proactively delivering consistent, accurate and timely
financial products and services.
We anticipate and creatively respond
to the needs of our customers
through collaboration and commitment
to continuous improvement.”

There are two new ways that help our office keep an eye on QI:

• The GCA Dashboard is a matrix of GCA’s major processes and sets quantifiable targets so that we know where we are doing well and where we may need to concentrate our efforts. Originally, this started in the private sector as a Balanced Scorecard that showed companies how to maximize their profits. It’s been changed to fit the goals of FM as a nonprofit organization. For more information about our Dashboard, please contact Vincent Lau..

• GCA has recently added some new analyst positions that are dedicated to quality improvement, customer service and UW compliance. This is just one milestone in the transition from being transaction-driven to knowledge-driven workers.

With so many employees, you’re probably wondering: “Just how does GCA get all that work done?” Here’s how our office is organized right now:

Office Services receives and distributes campus and US mail, records incoming checks, maintains and retrieves files as well as other general office support duties. They greet everyone who comes into our office and help everything in the office run smoothly.

New Accounts and Compliance establishes all the new grants, contracts, and gifts into the UW financial systems. They work very closely with Grant and Contract Services to ensure that all budgets are accurate. They are also responsible for transferring expenditures and processing cost sharing on grants.

CR3 reconciles the general ledger and monitors reports for the federal government and compiles a portion of the University-wide financial statements. They also apply cash to grant budgets and process reverse expenditures.

Fiscal Reports submits reports to the federal government documenting how its funds were spent. They prepare financial status reports, close federal grants, and monitor expenditures for compliance.

Accounts Receivable (see photo to the left) prepares and sends invoices to sponsors. They close federal and nonfederal grants and monitor expenditures for compliance.

Systems Development creates and processes standard ad hoc reports and maintains GCA’s computer hardware and software.

The GRIP Team (Grants Receivable Implementation Project) is a team assembled to replace our accounts receivable database. The new software they are installing, from vendor JD Edwards, will speed up the invoicing process so that our sponsors are able to pay us faster. If you’d like more information on the GRIP project, take a look at the Fall 2003 Directions article:

That setup makes sense, right? The answer is: it did. GCA is gearing up for a reorganization that will radically alter our current transaction-driven structure. To show that we are dedicated to customer service, we are changing not only the way our desks are physically arranged but also the way in which we do our jobs. Instead of being organized by processes and transactions, we will be organized by the schools and colleges we interact with. This means that every section will be responsible for providing a full range of service to the schools and colleges assigned to their section including: establishing new budgets, invoicing sponsors, reporting to federal sponsors and closing budgets when they are finished.

Stay tuned for more details on this and other exciting developments in GCA!

 If this article has sparked your interest about GCA and you’d like to know more, please visit our website.