Sneak Preview: Grant Reviews Can Pinpoint Areas of Concern Early
(The following was excerpted from a recent Thompson Grants Compliance Expert article.) Grant recipients can better determine areas of their programs that are not meeting expected outcomes and take any needed steps to avoid potential audit findings by undergoing a desk review, according to Sarah Schroeder and Rebecca Davis, managers in the research and grants division at Ellucian, during their presentation at the National Grants Management Association’s recent Annual Grant Training conference.
The speakers offered insights and best practices from the desk reviews they have conducted, generally for institutions of higher education. “Grant reviews are not intended to be punitive,” Davis explained. The grant review process “is not a full audit; it’s an internal review to manage your own practices and processes and to support organizational staff involved in grants management. They are designed to help you monitor and comply with a host of regulations that apply to grants.”
Added Schroeder: “It’s about making your work easier by starting the review process way before having an audit. If you get in front of any potential problems, you can not only strengthen your policies, but you also can see if your programs are creating the right outcomes. It can change your understanding about how your grants are running, so you can make important decisions earlier in the process. If you can find issues during, for example, month 18 of a five-year grant, then there is time to make changes.” She also noted that certain staff within a nonfederal entity may be working on a grant-funded project with their own team and may not consider how their work affects the entire organization, so a desk review can help determine ways to connect projects together and share updates with the organizational leadership.
Schroeder said that desk reviews analyze organizational policies and procedures (e.g., internal controls), grant-specific policies (e.g., time-and-effort policies, program income policies) and grant-related documents (e.g., requests for proposal documents, post-award reporting). “It’s important not only to have such policies, but to have them in writing so that you can go back to refer to them,” she added. Other aspects of the review include an evaluation of project expenditures and the fiscal health of the project, and an assessment of where you are in meeting program goals and outcomes.
Davis stressed that the grants program office, when preparing for a desk review, should ensure that grant funds and activities complement the organizational mission and vision. It also should determine if the entity has the capacity and resources needed to manage the grant, and determine how it will address any capacity weaknesses.
When she conducts desk reviews, Davis said she assesses the organization’s administration and operations, policies and procedures, financial management and compliance with award regulations and requirements. “Internal controls are critical to ensure that processes are handled consistently, and that you can fall back on them to flag something that may need additional attention,” she added. “Your organizational policies can be stricter than those at the state and federal level, but it’s typically the grant manager’s responsibility to be aware of that.”
(The full version of this story has now been made available to all for a limited time here.)
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