University Research Council
Meeting Summary
Research Accounting
Caroline Correa and Mark Stofko from
the Office of Research Accounting and John Elliott from the Internal Audit
Department discussed accounting compliance issues. Compliance is becoming increasingly important
because the federal government is monitoring federally financed research
expenditures more closely. Recent
events, such as NIH site visits and the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, have
brought these issues to the fore.
Compliance issues are intertwined with almost every area
of research accounting. These issues
involve:
The University is educating members of the faculty and
staff about the potential pitfalls associated with these issues through
training sessions, compliance testing, continual communication, etc.
Fifty individuals applied for funding from the Central
Research Development Fund. Nine of the 17
applications from health science fields were funded, nine of the 12
applications from the science and engineering fields were funded, and thirteen
of the 21 applications from social science and humanities fields were funded.
Subcommittees
The Subcommittee on Electronic Research Administration
continues to work with the Office of Research on the new electronic proposal
tracking system. The Subcommittee on
Support for the Humanities is developing a proposal to the Mellon Foundation. The Subcommittee on Interdisciplinary Small
Grants will evaluate proposals beginning in May.
Miscellaneous
Several other issues were discussed: