MUSC Procedures for Establishing
Grants & Contracts Account

Synopsis of the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs Process

The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs assists the principal investigator with the submission of proposals and negotiates agreements on behalf of the University or Research Foundation as appropriate. Research Administration records generic information into a data base for reporting. This information has been formatted to print onto a triplicate Grant / Contract Account Acceptance Form. This form is submitted to the principal investigator's department and the Office of Grants and Contracts Accounting. The purpose of the form is to disseminate and verify information to various departments with different responsibilities concerning the account.

The principal investigator submits a grant proposal, budget and Proposal Data Sheet ("blue sheet") to the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. The Information is entered into the Fox Pro, proposal data base by the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.

The Grant Award or Contract is accepted by the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. Any changes from the proposal are adjusted in the Fox Pro award data base by the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.

The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs submits the following to the department:

• Grant  & Contracts Acceptance Form
• A copy of the grant award / contract

The department should review the Grants & Contracts Acceptance Form for accuracy. This form captures information that will be entered into the financial system, such as the budget, the cost share account, the principal investigator's F&A (indirect) account. Any corrections or incomplete sections should be adjusted or completed and forwarded to the Office of Grants & Contracts Accounting.

The copy of the contract / grant award is the department's copy for record keeping.

The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs sends a copy of the Grants & Contracts Acceptance Form with the appropriate back up information to the Office of Grants and Contracts Accounting at the same time.

The Department must submit to Grants & Contracts Accounting the following items with the appropriate activities completed before the grant account can be established in the system:

The Grant / Contract Acceptance Form

• Verify the printed information on the Grants & Contracts Acceptance Form as described above in step three. Note the budget listed on this form will be the line item budget in the PI report.
• If a Cost Share amount is listed on this form, review the "cost share project procedures."
• Complete the PI's e-mail address
• Complete the report recipient information (Business Manager)
• Complete the report recipient e-mail address
• Complete the location
• Complete the PI's UDAK for the Facilities and Administrative project.

Purchasing Signature Authorization Form

• List the appropriate individuals who are authorized to purchase on that UDAK.
• Have the appropriate individual sign the Purchasing Signature Authorization Form

Chart of Account Maintenance Form (CAMR)

Complete the Chart of Account Maintenance Request Form sections as listed:

• Select the processing option.
• Entity will always be MUCR..
• Complete the Unit number entirely. Make sure that the four digit department number and the three digit division section is completed. This is a required field.
• Do not complete the Project number. This number will be assigned by Grants & Contracts Accounting
• Complete the Reporting section with the source and function. Note that Grants & Contracts Accounting Office may change this section based on original source of funds. (Example: federal passthrough funds or profit versus not-for-profit source)
• Complete the Year. This section only relates to sponsored agreements.
• Complete the Project Title based on the allowable 36 characters. Note that you may have several projects with the same basic title but the projects are different. Your abbreviation may be easier for you to identify than ours.
• Complete the Principal Investigator's name as it is listed in the payroll records
• Complete the PI Employee Number. This a required field.
• Complete the PI E-Mail Address. If the PI does not have an e-mail, fill in NONE.
• Complete the PI Location
• Complete the Report Recipient. This is a required field. If the report recipient & the PI are one in the same, please fill in the word "same." If the field is blank, we can not tell if this is a mistake.
• Complete the Recipient E-Mail Address. This is a required field
• Complete the Recipient Location.
• Complete the Description of Source of Funds
• Complete the Description of Function. This is a required field. This description needs to reflect the activity that will occur from the project such as Research, Instruction, etc. Please review the reporting function codes for reporting activities.
• Complete the requestor information.

Once the above activities have been completed, all three original forms must be submitted to the Office of Grants and Contracts Accounting to establish a project in the financial system of MUSC, not the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs as stated in the UDAK manual.

The Office of Grants and Contracts Accounting reviews and verifies the supporting documentation with the Grants & Contracts Acceptance Form, the Purchasing Signature Authorization Form, and Chart of Account Maintenance Request Form (CAMR). The following activities will be performed by Grants & Contracts Accounting

• The CAMR will be completed by assigning and the project number to complete the UDAK (User Defined Accounting Key)
• The appropriate Template (allowable expense account codes) for the grant / contract will be selected based on the approved budget.

The Office of Grants & Contracts Accounting will submit the completed original CAMR and the completed original Purchasing Signature Authorization Form to the Financial Reporting Office for structures to be established. The sponsored agreement project will not be set up until Grants & Contracts Accounting receives both originals. A photocopy will be kept of both in Grants & Contracts Accounting.

Financial Reporting will forward the original CAMR to Systems Accounting for account establishment in the SmartStream Accounting System. The project will be set up in the system and a template will be entered providing the allowable expenditure codes. The original CAMR will be stored in Data Control. The original Purchasing Signature Authorization form is sent to Procurement and stored.

Grants and Contracts Accounting is notified that the account is established. Then two budgets are loaded, the bottom-line budget for validation in the system and the memo-budget for reporting information.

Grants and Contracts Accounting will notify by e-mail the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs' contracts consultant and the appropriate parties involved in the project at the department level that the account is ready to spend.

If a cost share / matching account is required for a new sponsored program, a separate project must be set up in a similar fashion at the time the sponsored program project is established. For further details, review the section called Cost Share / Matching Requirements.

Click to go to MUSC Charts of Accounts Maintenance Request Form

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