June 17, 2019
Dear Principal Investigators and Research Administrators:
Please be advised that the attached expenditure policies and procedures have been updated. Below is a summary for each policy. Please take a moment to also review the attachments as they cover the policies and procedures in detail.
| Summary |
Advances | Though there is no significant change in the policy, please remember that all advances must be cleared prior to the end date of the project. Attached document details procedure and rules on how to obtain an advance and clearing advances. |
Signature Authority on a sponsored project | A signature authorization form is required for each sponsored project and must be submitted prior to submitting expenditure or payment request to TUC. The attached policy details the use of the form and the levels of approval for different payment requests. |
Cost Transfers | The cost transfer document covers policy and procedure for an after-the-fact transfer of actual expense from one fund to another, including requirements needed to submit the request, deadlines of submission, and approvals needed to process the request. |
Purchase orders (PO) | TUC is subject to the non-procurement debarment and suspension regulations, which restricts awards, subawards and contracts with certain parties that are debarred, suspended, or otherwise excluded from or ineligible for participation in federal assistance programs and activities. TUC will be checking if a vendor is debarred or suspended prior to processing the purchase order. Policies regarding purchasing is covered under Purchasing via PO and Purchasing via Vendor Contract (for companies). |
Independent Contractor | The procedure now requires :
Any work performed by the contractor before a fully signed contract or agreement is executed can be considered as having been done at the contractor's own risk and as volunteer work. PIs are responsible to ensure that a fully executed contract or agreement is in place before the work is performed in any sponsored project.
A checklist is also provided to assist PIs on how to determine if an individual should be considered a contractor.
TUC will be checking if a contractor is debarred or suspended prior to processing the request for independent contractor form. |
Asset Management in a sponsored project | Assets (equipment, communication, and computer devices) paid for by an externally funded grant or contract must be tagged for tracking purposes. Attached document the includes procedure on how items will be tagged depending on how they were purchased. Assets will be reported to CSUN as soon as assets are received by the PI. |
Travel | Major changes:
Reminder: If expenses were charged on a p-card, receipts are required regardless of the expense amount. |
Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me or your respective Post-Award Analyst/liaison.
Thank you,
Grace