1. Department Administrator Session #19
March 9, 2016

2. Agenda Research Finance Staffing March 31st Project Updates
AAFC
OMAFRA
Project Updates
Automate Indirect Costs
Delegation of Authority
Tri-Agency Variance Case Study
Next Session

3. Research Financial Services Org Chart
Director Research Financial Services
(Dave Reinhart) –
Manager, Infrastructure Programs
(Lee Bennard) –
Financial Officer, Infrastructure Programs
(Linda Hoffman) –
Administrative Support, Infrastructure Programs – 24 hours per week –
(Christa Aljoe)
Manager, Tri Council
(Asif Momin) –
Tri-Council Awards Accountant (Karen Lee – Off indefinitely) –
Current incumbent – Saniya Kalani Kanji (secondment)
Saniiya will be taking Maternity Leave in June/July 2016
NEW HIRE – (contract ending July 2017) to cover the period while Saniya is on maternity leave
Manager, Research Grants and Contracts (Other Government and Industry)
(Eric Hinse) –
Financial Officer, Research Trust Accounts
(Susan Ferguson – Off indefinitely) –
(Saniya Kalani Kanji – ON SECONDMENT) –
Saniya will be on Materinity Leave until June/July 2017
NEW HIRE – (contract ending July 2017) to cover the period while Saniya is on secondment and maternity leave
Financial Officer, Research Trust Accounts (Natalie Malysh –
2 YEAR CONTRACT – Dec 2017
Manager, Major Research Contracts
(Shaun Wilson) –
7/16/2019

4. Research Finance Staffing
Job postings to go up this week
Hope to do interviews the final week of March
Looking for 2 volunteers to join us on the search for the Tri-Agency Accountant position
Looking for 2 volunteers to join us on the search for the Financial Officer, Research Accounts position

5. March 31st reporting March 31st is quickly approaching
Ensure expenses are in appropriate account by March 31st
Sponsors to pay close attention to:
Tri-Agencies
CFI
CRC’s
AAFC
No carryforward from one year to the next
OMAFRA
Financial reports are due by April 15th (no exceptions)

6. Project Updates – Automate Indirect Costs
New process for application of indirect costs to research accounts
Research Finance will run a job (at least once a month) that will:
Identify research awards that have a ‘manual’ or ‘automatic’ calculation
For those with an ‘automatic’ calculation, the job will do the following calculation:
[Total Direct Costs (excluding Research Station Access Fees) * Indirect Cost Rate] – Indirect Costs already charged to the grant
This amount will then be posted into the account so the indirect costs will be up to date

7. Project Updates – Automate Indirect Costs
FRS header information will change
Research Accounts will have new attributes:
Indirect Type
Manual or Automatic
Direct Total
Indirect Total
Indirect Rate
See screen shot

8. Project Updates – Automate Indirect Costs

9. Project Updates – Automate Indirect Costs
Next Steps:
Nearing the end of testing
Move into production
Populate data in Oracle
Run reports to update indirect costs for accounts flagged as ‘Automatic’
A comment was given about the number of transactions that may appear for indirect costs. This may be a trade off that we will monitor and see how we can minimize the number of transactions but ensure up to date information.
Review accounts flagged as ‘Manual’ to ensure indirect costs are up to date (at least up to date with last submitted financial report).

10. Project Updates – Delegation of Authority
The new forms are being submitted and loaded into the system.
If you have not submitted your forms, please send them asap
The new system must be populated and ready for use as of April 1st
The majority of the forms have been scanned and inputted into the system. Expect to receive the Url for the system by April 15th.
There continues to be some behind the scenes development but the system is far enough along to start populating data

11. Project Updates – Delegation of Authority
A new Institutional Approver form has been created and will be distributed shortly
A glimpse of the new system.
A communication with the url for the new system will be sent by the end of the month with some instructions.
Some tweaking of the form has taken place. The new form should be out for everyone to populate and the new url for the system will be distributed by April 15th.

12. Case Study – Variance Analysis
Dr. M. Martian is completing the final year of a 4 year CRD award. The award was:
NSERC - $250K ($62.5K/yr)
Industry Partner - $250K ($62.5K/yr)
Please review the grant summary and transaction listing for the NSERC and Industry account and prepare the final F300.
As you are reviewing the grant summaries and transactions, and Dr. Martian’s final accounting of the numbers he is including in his final report, what questions/comments would you have for him and the new department administrator?

13. Case Study – Variance Analysis
Additional comments:
Dr. Martian decided to purchase a piece of equipment in the final month of his award because the on-going maintenance costs and constant repairs of the existing piece of equipment has been increasing and he had money left in his account.
Dr. Martian is planning his retirement and has commented that the department will benefit from this new equipment.
Dr. Martian has also made it known … “I am not an accountant and this is not what I am paid for. I spent my money and we achieved some great results. This is your job and you can figure out all this bookkeeping stuff.”

14. Case Study – Variance Analysis
Additional Comments:
A new administrator began in Dr. Martian’s department at the beginning of year 4. He was given little training and removed all the student salary from the NSERC and Industry account in year 4 with a journal entry.
Year 4 funding from the Industry Partner is missing

15. Case Study – Variance Analysis

16. Case Study – Variance Analysis

17. Case Study – Variance Analysis

18. Case Study – Variance Analysis

19. Case Study – Variance Analysis

20. Case Study – Variance Analysis
Points to consider:
Why are there no student costs in year 4?
Do you have approval to alter from the budget?
Did you have approval to purchase the piece of equipment?
The purchase of equipment in the last months with no students being charged to the account … this will be deemed ineligible.
This charge will be removed from the account any surplus funds will be transferred to the GRF account.

21. Case Study – Variance Analysis
Points to consider:
Why are material costs over?
Do you have approval to alter from budget?
Why are user fees under?
Why is field work over?
Where are the Year 4 industry funds … have they been paid?
If these are not found then the final year of funding from NSERC could also be lost.
Dr. Martian, where did your numbers for the final report come from?

22. Case Study – Variance Analysis
Points to consider:
Why were the majority of costs in Year 4 charged to the NSERC account?
We need to evenly distribute the expenses between NSERC and Industry accounts.
Please join us at our next Dept. Admin session
It is a great opportunity for you to ask questions as well as interact and learn from other department administrators

23. Next Session Suggested Topics Suggested Case studies Next Session Date
OCE Talent Edge
Grad. Studies
Post Doc process
Human Resources
Suggested Case studies
???
Next Session Date
June 2016
General Discussion
Improvements to FRS
Including OMAFRA Projects in My Grants Tracker format
Identifying how much of Award Amount is left to spend
This is noted and I will look into these in the future.