Managing Overspent Balances and Ensuring Timely Closeout of Sponsored and Internal Awards
June 3, 2025
To maintain compliance and ensure accurate financial reporting, it is essential that all Sponsored, Internal, and Cost Share awardsmanaged through the Grants Accounting system, and using the Project-Task-Award (PTA) account number are closely monitored to avoid overspending and are closed promptly once the project or funding period ends.
Departments are required to review these accounts no less than once per month. However, more frequent monitoring is highly recommended to catch and resolve any potential issues early. Any necessary accounting adjustments must be submitted within 90 days.
It's important to note that this 90-day window is based on the effective date of the transaction in the General Ledger and the Expense PA date in Grants Accounting and all fiscal year-end deadlines must also be followed to ensure compliance.
To assist with this process, departments can utilize the Grants Funds Available Dashboard in OBI to identify projects with overspent balances or those approaching their end dates. Immediate action is expected if a department receives a notification from either Grants Accounting or General Accounting regarding an overspent award.
Steps to Identify Overspent Accounts in OBI:
When accessing the Grants Funds Available Dashboard, use the following prompt selections to generate the necessary report:
- Restrict to Overspent PTAs: Change from N (default) to Y to display all overspent accounts.
- Include Closed Awards: Set to Y to verify balances even on closed awards.
- Include Closed Projects: Set to Y to include balances from closed projects for completeness.
- PTA with end date before: Enter a specific date to filter PTAs that ended on or before that day.
- Project Type: Narrow your search by selecting either Sponsored or Internal awards.
- Task Org Parent Level / Planning Unit: Further refine by selecting the appropriate organizational level (Level C) and associated parent details.
Regular, proactive account management helps ensure financial stewardship, supports accurate reporting to external sponsors, and prevents delays in the award closeout process.
If you have questions, contact General Accounting at 740-566-0021 or finance@ohio.edu regarding Internal Awards (awards starting with #4) and Grants Accounting at finance.grants@ohio.edu or 740-593-0726, regarding Sponsored and Cost Share Awards (awards starting with a #1, 2, 3, or 5).