Preparation for closeout of a project should begin several weeks prior to the actual end date of the award. Expenditures should be reviewed regularly, and any errors in expenditures should be corrected in a timely manner, rather than waiting until the end of the project to resolve. Personnel costs should also be reviewed regularly to be certain they are appropriate in relation to effort on the project. Neither the work nor the expenditures should continue past the end date of the project.
The final financial report will be submitted to the sponsor by Sponsored Programs Accounting, and the departmental contact for the award will be asked to work with the Principal Investigator to certify that all expenditures have posted. The final technical report should be submitted by the Principal Investigator by the due date, and best practice would be for the department to maintain a copy of the final report on file. In some cases, sponsors require final reporting of patents, equipment, and other items. Office of Sponsored Projects works with the various departments involved in the aspects of the project and submits these final closeout reports to the sponsor.
Once the project is closed out, the status in Banner will be changed to “Inactive”. The department should maintain documentation related to the award, including backup for expenditures, for the amount of time prescribed in the award document. Contact Office of Sponsored Projects regarding questions you may have about record retention on your award.
