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 […]
Training and Development
8 Common Grant Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Grant management (especially since the Uniform Guidance happened) is not just about doing everything right-it also can involve steering your organization clear of those common grant mistakes (also known as “nasty situations”) that can lead you astray. Here are eight of our most common-but completely avoidable grant mistakes: Before You Get the Grant: 5 Warning Signs […]
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 […]
What is Prior Approval
When you work with federal grants, it’s just a matter of time before someone says, “We need the prior approval of the funder” to do this or that. But this vague term “prior approval” may leave you wondering two important questions when you manage grants: When does 2 CFR Part 200 aka, the Uniform Guidance, […]