Audit

Audits may occur during the course of the research or after a project is completed. They may involve external sponsor requirements, UW requirements, or state or local governmental requirements. Non-financial compliance areas include, but are not limited to, research involving animals or human participants, financial conflicts of interest, chemical or biological hazardous material, export controlled activities, intellectual property, and data management. For sponsored research led by UW and subcontracted to other institutions, UW has responsibilities for assuring and monitoring subrecipient compliance in auditable areas. Establishing internal controls and business processes to address audit concerns during the Setup stage will diminish the administrative burden and negative impacts of audit activities later on in the project.

 Roles

• The Principal Investigator (PI) is responsible for cooperating with audit activities, including assuring that appropriate internal controls and business processes are established, and for overall compliance with respect to the research project.
• All research team members are responsible for cooperating with audit activities and for understanding and fulfilling compliance requirements relevant to their roles on the project.
• Departmental research administrators may identify information, tools, and other compliance resources and may assist in establishing internal controls and business processes.
• Central administrative units are responsible for managing compliance in specific areas by providing information, tools and oversight, University-wide, and may assist in recommending internal controls and business processes.

 Plan/Act

• Identify the auditable areas for the research project, including subrecipients, where applicable.
• Establish procedures in all auditable areas to minimize or mitigate negative audit findings and the administrative burden of responding to audit activities.