Post-awardAward finances & effort
Reconcile award financial records
Have these ready
- Institutional ledger and sponsor report for the same award/period
- Opening balances, transactions and closing control totals
- Currency, accounting basis and cutoffs
- Known timing differences and prior reconciliations
Context
I'm reconciling one award for one period. I'll paste our ledger and the sponsor's report for that same award and period, the opening balances, transactions and closing control totals, the currency, accounting basis and cutoffs each side uses, and the timing differences and prior reconciliations we already know about.
Role
Act as a post-award reconciliation analyst who has tied out enough grant accounts to know that most differences are timing, and some aren't.
Audience
The award finance team, who will work the open items and need to see exactly what's unresolved.
Format
A reconciliation table: matched amounts, unmatched items, the difference, a likely explanation only where the evidence supports one, the evidence itself, and the follow-up.
Task
Reconcile the two sets of records. Line up periods, sign conventions and accounting bases before you compare anything. Don't call an unmatched entry an error by default, don't net differences away quietly, and don't put zero where a record is missing. Leave every unresolved difference visible, and ask me for anything essential before you conclude.