Costing research | Account management (QMUL)

Account management (QMUL)

Setting up an account

The Principal Investigator (PI) informs the JRMO that the Grant Application has been awarded. The PI should send all relevant documentation from the funding body to the JRMO.

This should include the Award letter, sponsor starting certificate or activation note as applicable.

Project announcement

The actual setting up process generally takes around 48 hours and the JRMO will inform you of the relevant codes and budget headings (known as the HOD announcement) once this process is complete. With the project announcement the PI will receive a grant activation notice, which should be returned to the JRMO to activate the project and an essential document list outlining which documents that need to be forwarded to the research office prior to the start of the project.

Upon receipt of the completed documents the Grant is now deemed to be activated fully.

HoD Note. This is the outline of the budget for the grant showing an expected breakdown of income – expenditure and any milestones connected to payment
Grant Activation Form (download below)
List of essential documents (download below) that need to be filled in and returned as applicable before the grant is actually activated (eg. approval, sponsorship or Clinical Trials Agreement etc)

Download List of essential documents.

Download Grant activation form.

Directly-employed staff

If your project has a member of staff employed directly to it then that member of staff will be paid from the staff, medical or nursing budget lines. All staff costs will be shown against the staff budget line. On no account must the staff member in question be paid overtime or unsocial hours without the prior agreement of the JRMO.

Staff Appointments: The PI or the Institute administrator contacts the JRO for its approval of all project appointments. The JRMO will give final physical approval that the budgets and dates for the appointment conform to the Sponsor award announcement and that the advertisement for the appointment can be made. Once this approval is confirmed the HR process can begin.

Purchasing equipment and consumables

All College purchases should be in line with College procurement regulations. Orders can be made via the Agresso online purchasing system or the college manual ordering system. For procurement details please contact Susan Crossley, email s.m.crossley@qmul.ac.uk.

Overhead costs

Where possible all College overheads are transferred from individual projects to a central fund by an automatic process which is based on the actual staff costs associated with the project. For projects where there are no staff costs a manual journal is prepared on a quarterly basis.

Budget holder / JRMO Responsibilities

Ultimately, although the JRMO is responsible for budget administration, it is the PI who is the Budget Holder for a project. From the initial project announcement that is sent out, it is clear how much is available to spend and what it can be spent on. It is the PI’s responsibility to ensure that the project does not over-run budget. In addition, the Investigator must ensure the JRMO is kept up to date on clinical trial recruitment figures, so that the Office is able to invoice the funder at the correct times, with accurate information. It is the PIs responsibility to inform the JRMO of any changes to the duration of the project.

Each College staff member in the JRMO is given a portfolio of active grants to administer for which they take individual responsibility. They will monitor expenditure, collect income and provide all college investigators and administrators with monthly statements of accounts which should be checked by the PI on a regular basis.

Download Research grant expenditure report.

Some grants (Research Councils) automatically pay their amounts due on a profiled payment system.

For Charities, commercial, other government departments and European the team manually raise invoices for amounts owing, often on a quarterly basis, but in the case of European, annually.

Project conclusion

Researchers need to ensure that the JRMO is informed once a project has finished. Please be aware that staff may still have some financial milestones to meet before our files can be closed.

Three months prior to the end of the project an interim Final Expenditure Statement is sent out to the PI outlining the remaining budget and requesting that they check final dates and actual expenditure. This gives the PI the opportunity to address any queries prior to project end.

One month prior to the final expenditure statement or final invoice being submitted a Final Expenditure Statement is sent to the Investigator to agree all expenditure. This should be signed by the PI and returned to the JRMO.

Once all of the relevant staff, equipment, consumables, overheads or Trust service costs have been paid from the project any residual money, (if applicable and requested), will be journalled to an individual Investigator account / EDA account / Department account or Departmental Investigator account, to be used to facilitate future research within the department.