Fiscal Services
The Fiscal Services team supports Principal Investigators (PIs) and departmental staff to ensure financial compliance and proper accounting of extramurally funded projects. Post award fiscal services include, but are not limited to:
- processing of funding transfers for committed cost sharing
- review and processing of cost transfers
- budget revisions
- sponsor payments
- financial reporting
The Fiscal Services team provides guidance on a variety of topics such as: allowable expenditures, balance inquiries, requested reports and much more.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) works cooperatively with federal grant-making agencies and the grantee community to establish government wide management policies and guidelines. These policies and guidelines are outlined in OMB circulars and common rules, which are incorporated into each federal grant-making agencies’ respective sets of regulations. On December 26, 2014 the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards (2CFR Part 200) replaced numerous OMB circulars including those applicable to institutions of higher education, A-21, A-110, and A-133. Awards issued prior to December 26, 2014 remain subject to the old guidance noted above.
University of Maine System and University of Maine policies regarding fiscal accountability for sponsored projects proceed from these federal regulations. PIs are responsible for understanding and fulfilling their fiscal obligations accordingly and are expected to exercise proper fiscal oversight for each sponsored project they are awarded. This includes, but not limited to performing monthly reviews of project budgets; addressing budget discrepancies and errors promptly; and filing time and effort reports in a timely manner. In addition, PIs are responsible for ensuring that only costs which are allowable (i.e., allocable, collectible, consistent and reasonable) are charged to projects. All other charges, whether made willfully or through ignorance or negligence, are violations of federal law which could result in penalties to the University and individual PI.