CHAPTER 5.RECONCILING MONTHLY EXPENDITURE STATEMENTS
General Procedures
GENERAL PROCEDURES. Once you receive the monthly expenditure statement from the accounting office of your institution, and have all the necessary backup paperwork, then run Grant Tracker and search (Find) the expense items under ExpMatServ that are Open [i.e., search for O ("Oh") under check Number] Check the prices listed on the monthly expenditure statement from your institution for each requisition number, and if necessary, correct the price on your copy of the requisition, and check off this item on the monthly expenditure statement from your institution as being reconciled. Also, correct the price of this requisition in Grant Tracker (if necessary), and delete the O under check Number. You may find it useful to record the date of the expenditure statement that each expense payment appears on. If so, you can add this information (e.g., 8/98) on the Memo line.
Note: We do not recommend that you use the Reconciling feature of Quicken.
NO REQUISITION (or PURCHASE ORDER) NUMBERS. There may be charges on the monthly expenditure statement from your institution that have no requisition numbers (e.g., gas cylinder rentals for that month, departmental photocopy charges, and petty cash). You should enter these as new expenses in Grant Tracker. Then check them off on your expenditure statement to show that you have added them to Grant Tracker.
PARTIAL PAYMENTS. Frequently, stores and purchase orders will be partially back ordered, but you will be charged for the part of the order that you have received. Mark your copy of the requisition appropriately. Then correct the entry in Grant Tracker as follows:
Delete the O in the check Number column, i.e., the items are paid for. Then enter a new expense item using the old date and original requisition and/or purchase order number. In Memo, briefly describe the items that are not yet paid for, list the expense as (O)pen, and enter the estimated price for the balance of the order.
NOTE: A search for this requisition or purchase order number will find both entries, i.e., both the Paid For and Open orders.
CREDITS TO YOUR ACCOUNT. If you are issued a credit for an item that is already typed in as an expense, then all you have to do is reduce the amount of the expense appropriately. But if, for example, the credit is for something from last year's grant or is new money, just type in the information as a new "expense" entry, but enter the cost as a Deposit. However, don't make these changes until the credits appear on the expenditure statement from your institution.
PERSONNEL COSTS. Each month it is very important to check that the salary paid to each employee (as shown on the monthly expenditure statement from your institution) is equal to the salary listed for that employee in Grant Tracker. The salaries paid to nonhourly employees (i.e., salaried employees) should be exactly equal to the salaries that you entered into Grant Tracker, or you should find out the reason for this discrepancy. It is also important to check that each of your employees has been paid each month. For example, Clearing Accounts (sometimes used when an employee is shared between grants of different Principal Investigators) are often a month behind in transferring costs to the main accounts. Therefore, you might think that you have more money than you really have if you don't check each month that each employee has been paid, and each has been paid the correct amount.
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