Accounts Payable

Roberta Greenlee is responsible for ensuring that Purchase Orders are fulfilled, properly paid and charged to the appropriate awards and then closed. She works with the UAF Accounts Payable Office and GI Receiving to process payment of GI purchase orders for goods and services and for subcontracts and subawards. If you have a question concerning the status of an order, a change to an order, a return of an order, or other assistance, you can contact her by calling x7651 or sending email to rlgreenlee [at] alaska [dot] edu.

Accounts Receivable

Jennifer Erickson is responsible for all Accounts Receivable functions for the Geophysical Institute. She also assists with purchasing and travel questions as well as Banner entry. If you have questions about accounts receivable, contact Jennifer at x7615.

 Accounts Receivable are processed in one of the following ways:

• Petty Cash
• Invoices
• Grant Billings

Petty Cash: Petty cash can be used for any local purchases under $100 excluding travel, entertainment, check cashing, or equipment purchases. A petty cash voucher can be obtained and filled out in the Business Office. The payee will need their ORIGINAL receipt and an account name, grant name, or work order to be charged.

Invoices: Anything that needs to have an invoice generated can be done by Jennifer. She will need all information that needs to be included on the invoice (such as PO number or description of work), account information for depositing the funds, and contact information should there be any questions. After the money has been received and deposited a receipt will be given to the requester.

Grant Billings: Bills are automatically generated each month or quarter for revenue grants. Expenditures are verified and bills are sent out to the agency. To see the monthly breakdown of expenditures or find out how much is left to spend on a grant, go to Fund Three Reports.

Form Library

Looking for a form? Please browse the options below. If you can't find what you're looking for, feel free to contact the appropriate Business Office staff.

Current and Pending Support

Data Management Plan

Facilities and Equipment Template

Proposal Reviewer Form

Postdoc Mentoring Plan

Travel Authorization Form

UAF OSP PI Policy Exemption Form

UAF OSP Match Authorization Form

UAF OSP Subrecipient Commitment Form

UAF OSP Request to Treat Vendor as Subaward

UAF OSP F&A Policy Exemption Request Form

University of Alaska Request for CAS Exemption (for Major Programs)

Representational Allowance Form / Guidelines

Blank W-9

UA's W-9

Negotiation Agreements

Grants & Contracts

Overview:
The Geophysical Institute Post-Award Office provides support to GI principal investigators on federal, private, state and non-federal award management. Some of the activities include:

• Setting funds up on the University of Alaska’s BANNER accounting system and generating University of Alaska Fairbanks Budget Revision Forms for both grants and funds.
• Coordinating activity among GI researchers, staff and central functions. Work with faculty, staff, and the UAF Office of Grants and Contracts Administration to resolve award problems and initiate award changes.
• Provide financial status of current awards and work with PIs to project expenditures
  to the end of awards and minimize over- and under-runs.
• Process Journal Vouchers and Labor Reallocations to correct or adjust restricted and
  unrestricted accounting transactions.
• Provide special financial reports required contractually to funding agencies in addition
  to special ad hoc financial reports as requested to facilitate award management.
• Bill a limited number of awards directly to funding agencies.

Award Negotiations and Acceptance

Research Award/Modification Arrival at the GIBO

University Accounting System (BANNER) Set-up

Interpretation of Allowable Costs

Monthly Reporting

Research Accounting

Notice of Expiring Awards

Award Projections

No-Cost Extensions

Award Billing

Award Close-Out

Award Negotiations and Acceptance: All GI awards are handled centrally for negotiation and acceptance. All incoming GI awards are routed to the University of Alaska Fairbanks Office of Grants and Contracts Administration for:

• Negotiation of Terms and Conditions with funding agency
• Facilitation of the award process
• Official University signature

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Research Award/Modification Arrival at the GIBO:
After an award arrives in the GI Business Office, GI Business Manager David Read reviews the award terms and conditions and assigns a financial manager to be responsible for the new award. The financial manager will be in contact with the PI throughout the duration of the award and will assist in the financial and management activities pertaining to the award. To kick-off the process, PIs will be sent a copy of the award (or funding modification for a currently existing award) by e-mail. Principal Investigators will be asked to provide a code name for the award and asked whether or not pre-award expenses are anticipated for the new award. If the funding agency changed the project prior to issuance and this resulted in a change to the proposed budget, the financial manager will work with you to incorporate this change into the official budget.

If an award notice comes directly to the Principal Investigator, please forward it immediately to GI Business Manager David Read at daread [at] alaska [dot] edu, and GI Senior Accountant Debbie Ice at djdavisice [at] alaska [dot] edu, so it can be expedited for signature through the UAF Office of Grants and Contracts Administration and then processed into BANNER. Expenditures cannot begin on an award until it is negotiated and signed.

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University Accounting System (BANNER) Setup: A GI financial manager will pull the officially submitted proposal for new awards and initiate Budget Revision Forms to establish a new grant and fund on BANNER. The financial manager will key the grant to BANNER and forward the BRF package to the UAF Office of Grants and Contracts Administration.

The financial manager will notify PIs by e-mail when an award (or funding modification) is fully established on BANNER. Once the PI receives notification, they may begin research work effort and process charges against the research award. The financial manager will be in contact with PIs periodically during the life of the award to assist with financial/contractual activities and process any funding modifications that arrive for the award.

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Interpretation of Allowable Costs: As PIs spend on an award, they will work with GI Business Office staff to initiate procurement requisitions, work orders, travel authorizations, subawards, etc. Office staff and grant managers are required to adhere to University of Alaska Board of Regents regulations, the State and Federal Office of Management and Budget circulars and other funding agency regulatory requirements.

Proposal narratives and budget forms are key elements of the legal award document and PI expenditures must be consistent with the budget and support the award’s scope of work. A number of expenditure categories are reviewed automatically at OGCA before authorization. It is essential that PIs allow sufficient time to ensure that requisitions can be processed in a timely manner and that authorizations for variances can be requested, if needed, from the funding agency.

All requisitions, including travel, sub-recipients and petty cash, are reviewed for budget availability, appropriate accounting and consistency before entry into the BANNER system and forwarding to the appropriate department for further processing.

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Monthly Reporting: The GI Business Office has online status reports to assist Principal Investigators’ as they manage their awards. The reports allow PIs to review both financial and payroll expenditure data posted against their awards. It is imperative that PIs review award expenditures monthly for any charges that may have been processed in error and to insure that award budgets aren’t over-expended.

Status reports are populated with BANNER data after the University of Alaska has closed its financial accounting records for the month. The GI Business Office’s goal is to have reports online by the 15th of the following month. Any questions resulting from the status reports should be forwarded to the awards’ assigned financial manager.

Online status reports may be accessed at http://reports.gi.alaska.edu/fund3/ or http://reports.gi.alaska.edu/itd/.

Contact Ledger Accountant Carol Hsieh at (907) 474-2408 to receive access to the monthly status reports. Please note: you will need a login and password to review the reports.

Any time current data is needed on an award, PIs should meet with the award’s assigned Financial Manager who can help interpret current charging data either directly through BANNER or by using Qmenu or QAdhoc.

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Research Accounting: Grant managers work with PIs to review awards and are responsible for making transaction corrections via Journal Vouchers and Labor Reallocations in BANNER. University of Alaska Internal Audit and the University of Alaska Fairbanks Office of Grants and Contracts Administration periodically review transactions in accordance with UA policies and procedures. GI Business Office staff correct any errors in the system.

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Notice of Expiring Awards: Each month, the GI Business Office’s senior accountant publishes a list of research awards that are due to expire in the next 90 days. This list is created to facilitate expenditure planning and the closeout process of GI’s research awards.

Principal Investigators are strongly encouraged to review the monthly list and work with the assigned financial manager on any expiring award to project costs through the end of the award. If additional funding is expected for an award listed in the monthly report, assigned financial managers should be informed, so they may anticipate funding modifications to arrive.

Please note that overruns on awards must be written off against the Geophysical Institute’s General Fund. Therefore, it is crucial that PIs work closely with their awards’ assigned financial managers. This ensures awards stay within budget and protects the GI’s limited General Fund resources.

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Award Projections: Financial managers work with PIs to create a projection of all expenditures, as well as labor and non-labor activity, to determine the approximate ending balance of the award. A projection is a best guess made in good faith by an award’s assigned financial manager. There may be offline transactions pending processing, such as credit card activity (Travel or ProCard), shop charges, labor processed by other University departments, Labor Reallocations, Journal Vouchers and more.

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No-Cost Extensions: If it is appropriate and necessary for a PI’s work effort, paperwork for a No-Cost Extension can be initiated with the award’s assigned financial manager at least 45 days prior to the award’s expiration date. Last minute requests for NCEs decrease the likelihood of the award’s funding agency granting an extension. Principal Investigators should also be aware that funding agencies’ rules regarding the timing, number and authorization of extension requests vary.

Once it’s established that a NCE is necessary and justified, the award’s assigned financial manager will request the PI to complete either a Department Authority Form or a Restricted Fund Notification and Request Form, depending upon the level of authority the University of Alaska has on the award.

Department Authority Forms can be processed within the University. The award’s assigned financial manager will initiate Budget Request Forms; key expiration date changes into BANNER and forward the BRF to the University of Alaska Fairbanks Office of Grants and Contracts Administration for additional keying.

Restricted Fund Notification and Request Forms require contact with the award’s funding agency to receive approval of the requested No-Cost Extension. After this form is fully executed, including all appropriate signatures, the award’s assigned financial manager will initiate Budget Request Forms and forward them to the UAF Office of Grants and Contracts Administration for a formal request to be sent to the funding agency. Once approval is received from the funding agency, the Budget Request Forms are keyed to BANNER in order to change the expiration date of the award.

No-Cost Extensions are not guaranteed. Funding agencies can deny approval. Only one NCE should be requested for an award, second NCE requests are hard to obtain funding agency approval. If the funding agency is not the primary award holder (i.e., they have received funding from another source and have passed some of that funding down as a “sub-recipient” to the University), approval of the NCE request is dependent upon the funding agency receiving an extension of the prime award from their funding source.)

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Award Billing: The UAF Office of Grants and Contracts Administration invoices most awards centrally. The GI Business Office bills a limited number of GI awards that entail individual project knowledge and special contractual requirements and deadlines.

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Award Close-Out: The GI Business Office submits final financial and close-out paperwork to the funding agencies that it directly bills. The UAF Office of Grants and Contracts Administration closes out all other GI awards. Final technical reports need to be sent to the award’s assigned financial manager when they’re submitted to the award’s funding agency.

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Property Office

The Property Office is responsible of all property related matters including:

• Property records – input, update, create and reconcile 
• Review P/R and budget for equipment
• Review of contracts and grants for property clauses and amendments 
• Property closed out on grants and contacts 
• Seek approvals and screening for equipment 
• Internal and external audits 
• Federal reporting 
• Property transfers and loans 
• Property reutilization and disposal 
• Surplus property 
• Create and update policies and procedures 
• Annual physical inventory of all equipment 
• Location and movement of property 
• Shotgun checkout for field work and shotgun use policy 
• Customs information (import and export) 
• Risk Management Insurance claims for equipment 
• Vehicle registration and licensing

If any equipment is being moved from its current location, you must notify the Property Office!

Questions concerning property? See GI Property Manual (below) or contact
Jackie Dashiell at x7633 or via jldashiell [at] alaska [dot] edu (email.)

Statewide
Property Manual

Proposal Office

The Geophysical Institute Proposal Team is committed to developing, processing and submitting our researchers’ proposals in an efficient and timely manner while also meeting sponsor requirements and the GI’s high quality standards. We aim to help PIs submit the most professional proposals possible and provide assistance in all phases of proposal preparation, including reviewing sponsor guidelines, developing budgets, formatting proposals, and ensuring compliance with agency and University policies.

Please keep in mind that all proposals and pre-proposals from GI staff, faculty, and administration must be coordinated through the proposal team prior to authorization by the PIs, Business Manager, Director, and Office of Sponsored Programs. Only proposals with these approvals may be submitted to an agency for consideration.

Please review the policies and procedures, announcements, and funding opportunities on our site and contact us with any questions about the proposal process. We look forward to hearing from you!

To contact proposal staff please see the Business Office Staff page.

Purchasing

Any questions regarding purchasing can be directed to: Kari Haschke (x7645/ kari [dot] haschke [at] alaska [dot] edu) or Roberta Greenlee (x7651/ rlgreenlee [at] alaska [dot] edu.) in the Business Office or through email.

A purchase request may be initiated by any staff member who has filled out the proper purchase requisition form and has obtained the proper signatures.

All purchase requests are processed by the GI Business Office (GIBO). Commodities and services will be processed in one of the following ways:

• Purchase Order
• Purchasing Forms
• Limited Purchase Order (LPO)
• Blanket Delivery/Purchase Order
• ProCard
• Request for Quotation
• Invitation for Bid
• Request for Proposal
• Sole Source
• Receipt and Payment
• Honorarium status Determination Form

The Business Office can be contacted at 907-474-7645.

Service/Recharge Centers

Service/recharge centers reallocate the costs of providing specialized products or services to the end-user (another activity, project or department). An approved recharge rate is developed on the basis of the direct cost of the product or service plus the shop’s operating costs over the course of the center’s fiscal year.  Centers are operated with the intent of breaking even at the end of the cycle. 

The GI has three service/recharge centers:

• Electronics Shop
• Machine Shop
• General Science & Engineering Time & Material Center

Electronic Shop (EShop) provides skilled electronics support to the specialized research activities of faculty and staff. The recharge rate for this shop is based on the billable hours required to support the level of activity necessary to complete the project. 

The EShop website is located at: http://www.gi.alaska.edu/admin/eshop

Machine Shop (MShop) provides high quality, specialized design and manufacturing work in support of research activities of faculty and staff, often focusing on design and fabrication of precision instrumentation and one-of-a-kind pieces of equipment. The recharge rate for this shop is based on the billable hours required to support the level of activity necessary to complete the project.

The MShop website is located at: http://www2.gi.alaska.edu/services/machineshop/index.html 

A GI work order, 1-series for EShop (range 1000-1999) and 2-series for MShop (range 2000-2999), is established by the end-user outlining the required scope of work to be performed or the item to be developed/built by the shop’s personnel. The shop staff will direct billable hours and non-labor costs necessary to complete the requested work effort to the GI work order number. The shop recharge rate is charged to the work order’s funding source (restricted or unrestricted fund) as a service item (account codes - EShop 3091 and MShop 3092) tagged with the shop’s series work order number. Direct labor is not charged to the funding source, but the service is recharged via a service journal voucher (“JV”entry) based on the number of billable hours charged by the shop personnel on their bi-weekly timesheet. Items purchased to support the requested work are charged at cost via the shop’s series work order number. F&A on restricted awards is applied at the time entries are posted to the award with the F&A rate determined by the restricted award’s established rate.

General Science & Engineering Time & Material Center 
(a.k.a., Miscellaneous AR) is GI’s mechanism for the billing of small value (<$5k) non-recurring minor science and engineering activities to external funding sources. This center’s activities range from minor analyses to scientific or engineering collaboration to reimbursement of requested travel by external sources. A GI work order, 7-series (range 7000-7999) is established by the end-user outlining the required scope of work to be performed; the assignment of the GI staff member doing the activity; and the funding agency’s billing information. The funding agency’s intent to pay paperwork, such as a PO, email, or award documentation, is attached to the 7-series work order.  

The GI staff will direct labor and non-labor costs necessary to complete the requested work effort to the GI’s 7-series work order number. Items purchased to support the requested work are charged at actual cost via the GI work order number. F&A is not applied to these charges. If the EShop or MShop services are needed in the performance of a Miscellaneous AR work effort, a 1-series or 2-series work order is generated and linked to the 7-series work order number. EShop and MShop activities are charged at each service center’s external shop rate via recharge to account codes 3091 (EShop) or 3092 (MShop).

The GI Business Office will direct bill the funding agency each quarter for the actual cost of the work performed to-date. Payment is received from the funding agency and applied as revenue against the 7-series work order number.

GI maintains an online status reports for all work order charges by individual work order number at:  http://reports.gi.alaska.edu/wo/. 

GI also has established Enterprise Centers including Chaparral Physics and the Alaska Satellite Facility Enterprise.  Sales prices for products sold by these Enterprises are based on market conditions.  Enterprises must write a business plan.  Chaparral’s price list and conditions are found at http://www.gi.alaska.edu/facilities/chaparral/infrasound and information on the ASF Enterprise is available at http://gi.alaska.edu/facilities/asf.

Staff

David Read Business Manager 907-474-6011 daread [at] alaska [dot] edu Office: 611G	Debbie Ice Senior Accountant 907-474-7646 djdavisice [at] alaska [dot] edu Office: 611C	Vacant Ledger Accountant 907-474-2408 @alaska.edu Office: 611I
Kathy Monteith Grant Manager 907-474-1566 kmmonteith [at] alaska [dot] edu  Office: 611D	Vacant Grant Manager 907-474-6613 @alaska.edu Office: 611D	Bob Valdez PFRR/UAS Program Fiscal Manager 907-474-5520 rvaldez2 [at] alaska [dot] edu Office: 611A
Erin Albertson Pre-Award Manager 907-474-5366 eralbertson [at] alaska [dot] edu Office: 611F	Brandy Pedersen Proposal Coordinator/ Grant Manager 907-474-5131 bmpedersen [at] alaska [dot] edu  Office: 611E	Genna Smith Proposal Coordinator 907-474-5509 gssmith203 [at] alaska [dot] edu Office: 611E
Tobey-Jean Priest Proposal Coordinator 907-474-2733 tjpriest [at] alaska [dot] edu Office: 611J	Jennifer Erickson Accounts Receivable/ Accounting 907-474-7615 jserickson4 [at] alaska [dot] edu Office: 614B	Sarah Lanstra Travel Coordinator 907-474-6643 sdlanstra [at] alaska [dot] edu Office: 614B
Roberta Greenlee Accounts Payable 907-474-7651 rlgreenlee [at] alaska [dot] edu Office: 614C	Jackie Dashiell Property Manager 907-474-7663 jackie [at] gi [dot] alaska [dot] edu Office: 614A1	Kari Haschke Purchasing 907-474-7645 kari [dot] haschke [at] alaska [dot] edu Office: 614B
Sarah Monstvil HR Student Assistant 907-474-5319 samonstvil [at] alaska [dot] edu Office: 611	Maureen Johnson Personal Payroll Assistant 907-474-5880 mijohnson5 [at] alaska [dot] edu Office: 608B	Lisa Piechocki Personal Payroll Assistant 907-474-7194 lrpiechocki [at] alaska [dot] edu Office: 608B

Status Reports

Monthly Reporting: The GI Business Office has online status reports to assist Principal Investigators as they manage their awards. The reports allow PIs to review both financial and payroll expenditure data posted against their awards. It is imperative that PIs review award expenditures monthly for any charges that may have been processed in error and to insure that award budgets aren’t over-expended.

Status reports are populated with BANNER data after the University of Alaska has closed its financial accounting records for the month. The GI Business Office’s goal is to have reports online by the 15th of the following month. Any questions resulting from the status reports should be forwarded to the awards’ assigned financial manager.

Online status reports may be accessed at http://reports.gi.alaska.edu/fund3/ or http://reports.gi.alaska.edu/itd/.

Contact Ledger Accountant Carol Hsieh at (907) 474-2408 to receive access to the monthly status reports. Please note: you will need a login and password to review the reports.

Any time current data is needed on an award, PIs should meet with the award’s assigned Financial Manager who can help interpret current charging data either directly through BANNER or by using Qmenu or QAdhoc.

Subawards

Travel

Sarah Lanstra is responsible for Travel. If you need assistance please contact her at x6643 or through to sdlanstra [at] alaska [dot] edu.

The GI now uses an on-line Travel Authorization system. 

1. Fill in the Travel Authorization PDF PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE MOST CURRENT VERSION OF ADOBE
2. Once you have finished filling out the TA, either use the SUBMIT BUTTON or PRINT to a PDF and email it to gitravel [at] gi [dot] alaska [dot] edu. Please do not print a paper copy to sign.
3. The form will then be forwarded to your supervisor and the Director for their approval.
4. Once the Travel Office receives the appropriate approvals they will email your Travel Authorization back to you with a TA number. This is your indication that you can make your reservations.

For any additional information please use the UAF Travel web page. There, you can find all of the  Board of Regent policies, including Fly America and other regulations, forms, per diem rates, mileage logs, and more resources.

NEW! Travel Training Guide

NEW! General Encumbrance Entry

NEW! General Encumbrance Change

Work Orders