Together, Research Services and Research Accounting have the delegated role of administrative oversight for all sponsored projects. In practical terms, PIs will work with either their Grant Coordinator or Research Accountant to manage ongoing awards. University policy details PI responsibilities (RSSP-103), as described below.
PI Responsibilities
- Attend a New Award Meeting with the grant coordinator and research accountant to review the grant management policies, procedures and expectations.
- Complete the Scope of Work as agreed to by the sponsor in the award documents.
- Work with the research administration team to modify the project and/or budget as needed.
- Work with Human Resources to hire personnel.
- Manage and control project funds in accordance with restrictions imposed by the sponsor’s terms and conditions and university policy and procedure.
- Ensure expenses posted to the project account are allowable, necessary and reasonable; when in doubt about the allowability of a cost, contact your Research Accountant
- Monitor sub-recipient performance and grant expenditures.
- Notify Research Services if there is any type of problem with the award.
- Submit all project reports on time and in the correct format.
- The Georgia Southern University Research and Service Foundation (GSURSF) is responsible for all financial reporting for grants/awards. If the PI requires financial information and/or a report, it should be obtained from and approved by GSURSF prior to submission.
- Ensure that all cost share has been tracked and reported.
- Complete and approve time and effort reports in a timely manner.
Administrative Responsibilities
Administrative award support is split by function: financial issues are handled by Research Accountants and non-financial issues by Grant Coordinators. The teams work together to resolve issues for faculty, communicate with external sponsors, obtain appropriate approvals/signatures, upload documentation and update internal systems, and disseminate results/actions to the PI and others as needed.
For your convenience, some common actions are listed below with the appropriate contact.
Grant Coordinator
- Request a project no-cost extension
- Initiate a subaward or subcontract
- Initiate a contract and/or contract amendment
- Submit a project renewal proposal
- Determine approval pathway for budget revision
- Undertake re-budgeting revision & approval
GSURSF
- Obtain financial reporting information
Research Accountant
- Update accounts with approved budget revisions
- Questions about expenditures, invoices, or balances
- Cost share tracking
- Manage additional, new funding
- Manage subsequent or incremental funding (granted as part of original award amount)
- Award closeout