|
CHAPTER 4. ACCOUNTING TIPS
Backup Your Data Files. You should get in the habit of backing up all of your computer data files to a floppy (or Zip) disk on a regular basis. Once each week is certainly not too often. Backup each day or after each session on the computer if the amount of new data entered is large. Use two separate disks for Grant Tracker, and rotate your backups between them. Sometimes disks can go bad too. As the old saying goes, "Better safe than sorry".
Blanket Orders. Divide the total cost of the blanket order for the year into 12 equal expenses, and enter them as separate expenses for each month of the grant. In this way you will have the built-in commitments. Then each month when you reconcile the accounts, enter the correct cost for that month. If you see that your entries for the remaining months are too high or too low, then correct these promptly. Alternatively, you could enter the full amount of the blanket order for the first month. Then when you reconcile after the first month, correct this entry to reflect the charge for that month, and make an entry for the next month that is equal to the balance of the account on the Blanket Order. Then repeat this process each month.
Combining Salary and Staff Benefits In One Account One customer wanted to combine Salary and Staff Benefits in one account, and then have lots of subcategories under each employee. Here is how we set it up. Payroll Award (the new "checking account"; just rename Salary Award as Payroll Award, and delete Staff Benefits Award) Categories: (enter the following new categories) Payroll (Expense)
Off Campus Personnel With A Different Overhead Rate. This is not a problem with Grant Tracker, since one needs to calculate both the Staff Benefits and the Indirect Costs for each employee anyway.
Recurring Expenses (Projecting). If you need to add estimated expense commitments for recurring expenses, e.g., buying and feeding mice each month, then we suggest that you create a subcategory called "Mice" under ExpMatServ. Then enter 12 expense items, and for the first month of the grant enter, e.g., "Mice for June", and the estimated cost for that month of the grant. Do this for each month of the grant. In this way you will have the built-in commitments. Then each month when you reconcile the accounts, enter the correct cost for that month. If you see that your estimates for the remaining months are too high or too low, then correct these promptly.
Special Search Codes. If you want to further subdivide a subcategory, e.g., you want to keep track of which employee ordered what, you can add a Special Search Code on the Memo line. Just put an asterisk followed by their initials (e.g., *GEN) in the Memo line. You can then search for *GEN, and find all of the orders that were submitted by GEN.
Note: The asterisk makes the search unique.
Starting In The Middle Of A Grant Year. The best plan is to enter all of the individual expenses into Grant Tracker from the beginning of a grant year, even if you receive Grant Tracker after the start of a grant. However, if you must take a shortcut, you can quickly plunge into the middle of a grant year if you follow some simple rules. You must enter your Grant Award Statement amounts as Deposits in the different award Accounts. Then you must enter "total" expense items for each of your accounts from the latest expenditure statement from your institution. For example, if you have already ordered and paid for capital equipment for a total cost of $9800.99, then enter this amount under Capital Equipment. Make similar entries for Salaries, Staff Benefits, Expendable Materials & Services, Travel, Other Expenses, Additional Expenses, and Indirect Costs, if appropriate. Then type in all the individual expenses and monthly personnel costs that have NOT yet appeared on the monthly expenditure statement from your institution (i.e., all the items of expense that are not yet paid for), and mark them as (O)pen [i.e., enter an O (an "Oh") in the check Number column].
Transferring Expenses To Another Grant. Leave the date and requisition number as is, but "correct" the Memo line to explain the problem, e.g., "transferred to Acct. 2-HTC-501", and then change the cost to zero. In this way the expense won't appear on this grant, but the audit trail will be maintained.
Transferring Money Between Accounts On The Same Grant. Under Activities on the Menu Bar, select Transfer Money. An entry form will appear so that you can transfer money from one account to another on the SAME grant. Generally, one cannot transfer money from one grant account to another without first obtaining permission from the granting agency or your institution. Transferring money can be expensive if you are transferring money from an account that does not require overhead (indirect costs) to one that does.
|