Care New England Research

Budgets

The budget is the financial roadmap for your project at both the pre- and post-award stage. Budgets should be detailed and thought out in order to accurately reflect the needs of the program from pre-award to closeout.

Post-Award Budget

It is important to give your budget the same attention during the post-award period as you did in the proposal stage. PIs have a responsibility to understand the terms and conditions of their award or contract. For grants or other award types PIs should also ensure the allowability, allocability, and reasonableness (see above) of all expenses on their award. Federal contracts require adherence to the budget as outlined in the contract. However, as with pre-award budget preparation, we're here to help. Below are checklists to help post-award budget management at key time points along the lifecycle of an award.

Project Start and Annual Renewal Checklist

(if applicable)

Address changes in salary, including research staff and faculty at the NIH salary cap
Adjust for cuts to funding and actual spending needs
Update sub-awards (if applicable)
Request prior approvals as required by sponsor
Anticipated costs needed to execute your Data Monitoring and Sharing plan should be included in all grant year budgets. More information can be found here.

Budget Year End Checklist

Reallocate personnel
Close open commitments
Complete RPPRs (federal) and yearly reports (other award types)
Collect/submit budget year invoices and contractor payments

Project End Checklist

For some of the below items, SPRA will take the lead. Confirm with your post award specialist which items are your responsibility.

Complete final financial reports
Collect/submit final invoices from subcontracts and contractors
Ensure sponsor has been properly billed and revenue collected (other sponsored projects)
Complete fRPPRs and invention statements (federal awards) or final technical reports and budget closeout (other award types)
Reallocate personnel
Close accounts/activities
Close open commitments
Trailing charges should post within 30 days of end date
All costs associated with your Data Management & Sharing plan must be charged to the grant during the performance period. This includes costs that might continue after the end of the performance period, such as storage fees. More information is available here.

FAQs

What are indirect costs and what do they pay for?

Per NIH the definition of indirect costs is: “Necessary costs incurred by a recipient for a common or joint purpose benefitting more than one cost objective, and not readily assignable to the cost objectives specifically benefitted, without effort disproportionate to the results achieved. To facilitate equitable distribution of indirect expenses to the cost objectives served, it may be necessary to establish a number of pools of F&A (indirect) costs. F&A (indirect) cost pools must be distributed to benefitted cost objectives on bases that will produce an equitable result in consideration of relative benefits derived.”

A visual representation can be found here.

Can I inflate salary and other direct costs in out years in my budget?

Yes, it is Care New England policy to inflate salaries 3% in the out years of new grant submissions unless forbidden in the FOA or by the funding agency.

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Care New England Research

Budgets

Post-Award Budget

Project Start and Annual Renewal Checklist

Budget Year End Checklist

Project End Checklist

FAQs

What are indirect costs and what do they pay for?

Can I inflate salary and other direct costs in out years in my budget?

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