Closing Restricted Accounts
When an award is within 45 days of ending, a notice is sent to the financial administrator for that account to prepare the closing memo. To prepare an account for closing, do the following actions for the master and all associate accounts the month before or immediately after the award ends...
- Review the payroll: make any needed transfers and ensure that the allocations for each employee is updated in Workday so that they are paid from other accounts going forward. Be aware of payroll action cut-off dates early in the month. If workers are being laid off as a result of the award ending, plan well in advance to ensure that sufficient funds will be available to cover their accrual payouts for unused vacation and personal days. [before end date]
- Cancel or redirect any future University telephone/networking services or other recurring service charges. [before end date]
- Initiate any needed cost transfers to correct any current or projected overdrafts. [before end date]
- Make sure any trailing charges clear the account such as: outstanding purchase order and vendor invoices, reimbursements, transfers... [after end date]
- When all trailing transactions have cleared set the freeze tag on the master and all associates through the ACCTS account create module. [after end date]
- Prepare separate closing memos for the master and each associate account and submit them to the Sponsored Award Accounting manager within 90 days of the end of the award.
To complete the closing memo (sponsored awards only)...
- Follow the instructions on the form which are fairly self explanatory.
- If there are any trailing transactions, attach copies of the supporting documentation (purchase orders, transfers, GEMS reports...).
- Attach the AMO90 ledger for the month the award ended.
Things to remember...
- Any expenses incurred after the award end date must be removed prior to closing the account, but are not considered trailing charges. The transfers needed to correct them are not trailing credits.
- Legitimate award related expenses incurred before the award end date, but not charged to the account until after the end date are allowable and do not need to be transfered off of the account, but must be recorded as trailing charges on the closing memo. Likewise, credits for expenses incurred before the award end date are trailing credits.
- If reporting trailing transactions on the closing memo, DO NOT set the freeze flag on the entire account.
- A single account or master/associate grouping cannot be closed if there is a cumulative negative balance. So, if a master account has a negative balance and its associate has a positive balance, they can be closed if the cumulative balance between them is equal to or greater than $0.
- While we try to spend all of the awarded funds, any excess fund should be returned to the funding agency. DO NOT transfer expenses from other accounts just to use up the money.
- The closing memo is for SL accounts only. The GL account will be closed automatically when the master SL account (an its associates) is closed.
Closing Unrestricted Accounts
Closing memos are only required for sponsored awards. Unrestricted accounts can be closed by notifying the responsible Financial Services contact in the upper right corner of the ledger below the AA#1 name/address). Before closing, ensure that the account has a $0 balance. Setting the account freeze flag can be helpful when an unrestricted account is no longer being used.