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Roles & Responsibilities

Once a research award is established, responsibilities for managing the research funding rest predominantly with the principal investigator, who ensures compliance with sponsor and university policies.

Support for the fund’s ongoing management and oversight is provided by the research accounting team within Financial Services, the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation and Human Resources.

Principal investigator

The principal investigator is the signing authority on all approved expenditures for the research award and is ultimately responsible for making sure expenditures:

  • support the research project named in the award
  • occur within the award period
  • comply with all terms and conditions of the award, including eligibility requirements set by the sponsor
  • comply with all applicable university policies and procedures

Financial Services Research Accounting team

To assist with a research project or grant’s life cycle, Research Accounting fulfills the following duties:

  • coordinate receipt of funds
  • monitor project spending, including purchases and expense reimbursements
  • review eligibility to meet sponsor and university compliance
  • ensure authorization and signatures adhere to hierarchy approvals levels, to meet sponsor and university compliance
  • oversee funds to minimize financial risk
  • review financial system reports to ensure outstanding financial commitments have been received, or that outstanding expense encumbrances have been cleared
  • financial reporting