The institution maintains financial control over externally funded or sponsored research and programs.
[Compliance]
Narrative:
The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) is in compliance with Principle 3.10.5 because the University maintains financial control over externally funded or sponsored research and programs. Control over sponsored research and other externally funded projects is maintained through the Office of the Vice President for Research and the Office of the Vice President for Finance and Administration.
UAH is part of The University of Alabama (UA) System, which also includes the University of Alabama (UA) and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). All three campuses follow common reporting and budget guidelines established by the Board of Trustees of The UA System, and are subject to the same audit standards. Both UA and UAH also have the same SCT Plus Financial Records System.
The Vice President for Research is responsible for the operations of pre- and post-award administration of externally funded or sponsored research and programs. The Office of Sponsored Programs directs day-to-day pre-award administration and is the primary office responsible for ensuring compliance with the policies of the University and of sponsoring agencies when assisting in proposal development. This responsibility includes budgets, as well as approving and negotiating submitted proposals. The Office of Sponsored Programs is also responsible for post-award, non-financial administration and compliance. Post-award financial administration, through the Office of Contracts and Grants Accounting, ensures that expenditure transactions are in compliance with applicable laws, regulations, University policies, and specific agreement conditions, and provides all data and information needed during federal and other financial audits of sponsored projects. In addition, each sponsored program principal investigator has primary responsibility for financial control over his or her sponsored project. The Principal Investigator Handbook is available online for reference by the principal investigator and his or her department.
The Board of Trustees of The UA System contracts with an accounting firm to conduct annual audits of all system institutions, including an audit of federal award programs. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) conducted the annual audits for all UA System institutions prior to FY03; Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG) LLP conducted the audits for FY03 and FY04. PwC will conduct the FY05 audit.
The annual audit includes a separate report for federal awards programs in accordance with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-133. The UAH Report on Federal Awards for the year ended September 30, 2004 reported no material weaknesses, no reportable conditions, and no noncompliance material to the financial statements. The University had two minor findings in the audit for the year ended September 30, 2003, reported in accordance with Circular A-133, which resulted in questioned costs of $5,375. The majority of the University's sponsored project expenditures are federally funded. Total federally funded expenditures during the fiscal year ended September 30, 2004, were $46,173,229. This number does not include Federal Direct Student Loans of $14,664,919.
The State of Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts, as part of the organization-wide audit of the University, typically also includes examination of certain aspects of the University's sponsored research and other sponsored programs. There have been no related audit findings.
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Source
Location
1
Office of Contracts and Grants Accounting
2
Office of Sponsored Programs
3
Office of the Vice President for Finance and Administration
4
Office of the Vice President for Research
5
Principal Investigator Handbook
6
UAH Report on Federal Awards in Accordance with OMB Circular A-133 for the Year Ended September 30, 1999
7
UAH Report on Federal Awards in Accordance with OMB Circular A-133 for the Year Ended September 30, 2000
8
UAH Report on Federal Awards in Accordance with OMB Circular A-133 for the Year Ended September 30, 2001
9
UAH Report on Federal Awards in Accordance with OMB Circular A-133 for the Year Ended September 30, 2002
10
UAH Report on Federal Awards in Accordance with OMB Circular A-133 for the Year Ended September 30, 2003
11
UAH Report on Federal Awards in Accordance with OMB Circular A-133 for the Year Ended September 30, 2004
