Grant Management

Guidelines for Managing your Grant Account

As the account manager YOU are responsible for initiating and monitoring expenditures within your account following all policies of IU. Erika Zynda will be acting as Fiscal Officer on all research related accounts. 

Monthly emails will point you to your electronic statement of account (instructions for monitoring your Monthly Operating Statement on the Indiana University Information Environment (IUIE). If you are not already registered for this system go to the IUIE Registration page and register now. Since normal accounting procedures sometimes delay the appearance of an encumbrance on a statement I suggest that you keep a separate record of expenditures to avoid overspending the account (sample spreadsheet). All overdrafts must be covered by the account manager.

To find the reports on any account you are manager of click here.

Faculty Member

If you or another faculty member are receiving course release or summer salary out of your grant account it is up to you to check with the Contracts and Grants Coordinator a month ahead of the semester in question to make sure the proper E-doc is complete. If a portion of your salary is being used as cost share an appropriate E-doc must be done also.


Research Assistant/s

In most cases wages for assistants should be paid on an hourly basis. You are encouraged, if possible, to employ students qualified for work study since your account will only be charged a percentage of their salary. If you employ a person who is already a full‑time IU employee, he/she must be paid at an overtime rate. No matter who you employ appropriate fringe benefits (including FICA, etc.) will be deducted from your account. Check with the Payroll Office (4437) for the correct forms and timesheets.

Capital equipment is defined as "any INDIVIDUAL equipment item costing $5,000 or more"

You must have a specific capital equipment line in your budget to place an order for capital equipment on an external grant account. Capital equipment MUST be ordered through the Purchasing Department. You can search for best prices in the IU contracts through One.IU. As with any purchased on a university account all capital equipment purchased becomes property of the University and should be maintained under the capital assets inventory of your department.

Supplies should be ordered through the Purchasing Department and charged directly to your grant account. You can search for best prices in the IU contracts through One.IU.

Similarly, duplicating, postage, etc. can be charged directly to your account. If you plan to use your department copier to make copies that need to be charged to your grant account, contact Deb Richards at 4580 to get a separate code for the copier. Large copy jobs should be sent to IU South Bend Duplicating and charged to your account. Mailings that should be charged to your grant account should be bundled with a post-it note referencing your account number.

On a rare occasion it may be necessary for you to purchase something out of pocket. If this happens a Disbursement Voucher should be submitted with your original receipt attached. Keep in mind that sales tax will not be reimbursed. You should not purchase anything over $50 out of pocket without prior approval from the fiscal officer. You will have to provide justification for why the item was not purchased through the university and if it doesn't conform to University policy, the reimbursement will be denied. Receipts can be sent to the Office of Research with an appropriate account number to be charged for processing.

Work with your department's assistant to set up travel in Travel@IU system. All Indiana University travel procedures must be followed. All travel documents and receipts must be submitted within 60 days of return or the reimbursement will be subject to tax withholding. No reimbursements will be made more than 120 days after return.


Rental Cars

IU South Bend has an agreement on special pricing on rental cars through Enterprise. Check out the car rental guidelines on the Travel Management website.


Airline Tickets

You can charge airline tickets directly to your account using Egencia for Business an IU Authorized travel agent. Please reference the trip number when making the reservations. Make sure you retain original receipts for reimbursement and submit your original ticket receipt and your boarding pass, even if you charged the airline ticket in advance. If you used an e-ticket, ask for a receipt at the airline check-in. Please refer to the current Travel Guidelines.

Outside consultants should be paid by Purchase Order. All contracts for services must be signed by the Purchasing Director.

Honorarium for outside speakers should be paid using a Check Request in Buy.IU. Before they arrive speakers should be added to the supplier list in Buy.IU. Then while there are here the speaker must sign a Payee Certification form

Travel costs for speakers should be processed through Chrome River on a Non-Employee Travel document.

Payments to research participants should be done using a Check Request in Buy.IU. Participants should complete and sign a Payee Certification.

You should modify this form to include the following “Cost to participate in a research project conducted by Dr. _______________ on this date _____________.” Once that form is returned the information should be entered into BUY.IU so the participant can enter themselves into the supplier system.

If you are paying tuition, fees, or a fellowship to a student you must run the cost through the Financial Aid office. You can coordinate this with the Office of Research. Keep in mind that if a student has any outstanding bills on their bursars account fellowship funding will be reduced by that amount.

Hospitality is never allowed on internal grants.

  • If approved on the official budget from an external agency you can provide hospitality; university guidelines must be followed.  https://southbend.iu.edu/dining/ 
  • Alcoholic beverages are never allowed. If using dining services at IU South Bend a catering request ( https://southbend.iu.edu/dining/index.php) must be completed.
  • If you are purchasing items you can do it through the Purchasing Department or be reimbursed on a Disbursement Voucher.
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