Quick Financial Review Tips:
Things to look for in your online financial reports
Overall Project Budget Management
Check the Budget Summary report:
- For a summary of available funds
- To compare current budget to last month's ending budget balances to assess the reasonableness of the net change
- To make sure budget amounts are reasonable based on expectations and knowledge of the research
- To determine if any re-budgeting between budget categories is necessary
Check the Monthly Expenses and Cumulative Obligations (MECO) YTD report:
- To review trends in spending by month within a fiscal year. This will assist with budget projections and preparations
- To identify any unexpected fluctuations in expenditures by month
For Education Programs and Clinical Trials Customers
Check the Statement of Account report, available in a monthly version or a fiscal year-to-date version, only for HJF Education Program and Clinical Trials accounts:
- To review all receipts and disbursements for a specific period of time
- To review whether an expected receipt or disbursement has been posted to the account
- To check current available balance
Track Expenditures
Check Fiscal YTD (Expense Detail) report:
- To make sure that all expenditures charged to the project are identifiable
- To make sure that no duplicate charges are posted to the project
- To look up the cost of past expenditures for goods or services
- To look up final prices on purchases, as some of them may differ from the original order (e.g., shipping costs added to final payment)
- To look for any credit memos posted to the project. If a credit is received from a vendor, a negative expense amount will be seen on this report
Check the Open Purchase Order and Open Requisition Reports:
- To make sure that there are no orders in this report that have been completely fulfilled
(If there is an order in this report that has already received and paid for, contact the Purchasing Department.)
Personnel and Payroll
Check the Payroll Detail reports:
- To make sure the appropriate employees are being charged to the project
- To make sure that employees are charging the appropriate number of hours to the project
- Verify employees that should be splitting their time between projects
Questions regarding information presented in the Payroll Detail report can be answered by the Payroll Department.
Check Personnel Projections:
- To make sure adequate funds for personnel are available
- To determine the effects of pay raises, bonuses and new positions on the project
- To see how long funds will last if there is a date extension and/or additional funds
- To see the open positions still allocated to the project and determine the budget effect