Decoding federal grant travel costs can be a bit confusing. Let’s open the grant management mailbag again today for some common problems encountered in the “real-world” by “real-life” grant managers. Here are three factors affecting actual travel vs. per diem federal travel costs on your grants. A Grant Manager Writes: “We are the Prime Recipient on […]
Best Practices
The Great “Blame Game” Hoax of Concealing Grant Fraud
When it comes to reducing the risk of fraud and misuse of taxpayer funds, grant managers should watch out for the great “blame game” hoax that often accompanies the misappropriation of funds and concealing grant fraud. Committing fraud is deliberate; efforts to conceal that fraud are just as deliberate. The 3 Ingredients in the Grant Fraud Triangle Concealing grant […]
Decoding Grant Management-Success Tip: Adequate Documentation
Like zombies rising from the dead, inadequate documentation has a way of returning to haunt you in an alarming way. Want an example? I analyzed a case study where the review of administrative and clerical costs resulted in $1.7 million in costs being deemed unallowable! All those moaning sounds are not just the zombies. So […]
Three Favorite FAQs For Indirect Costs
In a past article, we posed the question, “Do the Uniform Guidance FAQs Really Matter?” As promised, in this article, we’re going to do a deep dive into the world of indirect costs and some of the “unintended consequences” that surfaced in the FAQs from OMB. Indirect costs continue to be a source of confusion […]
What the IG Report on the FBI and DOJ Can Teach Us About Internal Controls
I spoke at the AICPA Not-for-Profit Industry Conference on “How to Build Trust with Internal Controls.” As I began wading through the 568 pages of the DOJ Inspector General Report on the Actions by the FBI and DOJ (Yes, I am that kind of geek), I was struck by the common role that weak internal controls […]
Decoding Grant Management-Success Tip: Record Retention
Are you facing the “Goldilocks Dilemma” of record retention? Is your record retention too much? Not enough? Or just right? Wondering which records to keep for your federal grant record-retention requirements and which ones can be tossed? (Inadequate supporting documentation is an area that gets many federal grant recipients into trouble.) Let’s walk through the […]