It is hard to believe it has been six months since I joined the Campus Controller's Office as director of research financial services, let alone that we have already reached the end of 2021! We are now in the part of the year that is full of celebrations with friends, family and colleagues and are able to reflect on our many challenges, opportunities and successes. To that end, I would like to share some of the great work that staff in research financial services have been working on this year.
$123.7M*
From fed and fed flow-thru funding
$16.25M*
From all other
sponsors
~$5.2M**
Increase in total sponsored funding
900+
New
awards
3,000+
Award
modifications
*FY22 funding (directs only) thru October 21
**Than the same four-month period (July-October) in FY21
Grant Accounting
The world of sponsored research is constantly evolving, and our team of grant accountants is responsible for staying on top of numerous updates, policies and procedures. To ensure that we standardize our processes and training efforts, the team has been working to document its internal procedures with help from various stakeholders across the campus and within the Campus Controller's Office. These updates will enable our team to create reference tools, training guides and sponsor-specific materials to manage award activities. Many members of the team have also had the opportunity to build new skills and knowledge by participating in sponsor-provided virtual training as well as regional and national NCURA conferences. This knowledge will help us develop new approaches to effectively working with departments and continually improve our ability to manage Boulder’s growing research portfolio.
Award Setup
The setup team has been very busy this past year! The team of three successfully set up over 900 new awards and nearly 3,000 award modifications. In addition, the team has been working on documenting its award setup procedures to further improve its setup processes and develop a comprehensive award setup guide.
Revenue Management
Lauren Stockwell recently joined the team as the revenue management supervisor. Lauren has been with CU Boulder since 2018 and comes to us from the Arts and Sciences Financial Services Center where she served as a finance and accounting manager. Lauren and her team will be working to reconcile accounts receivable activities and improve collections processes. The team is already using some of the functionality of a new collections workbench that allows them to document outreach efforts with aged accounts receivable activities and increase the visibility of payment issues with sponsors.
Closeout
The award closeout is a critical stage in the award lifecycle. The closeout team is responsible for performing a final reconciliation of the award and cleanup of project expenditures, open commitments and more. In addition to addressing a backlog of closeout items, the team has been working to document its procedures, record training videos for use across teams within research financial services, and update outdated policies.
I’m looking forward to seeing what our team accomplishes in the coming year. I would love to hear from you on how our team can support you and the amazing research you are a part of!
David Scarbeary-Simmons, Director, Research Financial Services, Campus Controller's Office