Grant Accounting Processes

Transcription

1 Grant Accounting Processes Kathy Ketchum American Public Power Association Business & Financial Conference September 18-21, 2011 Sheraton Denver Downtown Denver, CO Powering forward. Together. You Were Awarded the Grant, Now What s Next? 2 1

2 Agenda Overview of SMUD s Grants Process Development and Implementation Grant Billings Grant Reporting Sub-Recipient Training Lessons Learned 3 Overview of SMUD s Grants 4 2

3 Why Grants are in the Forefront at SMUD 2009 American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Applied for and received many more grants than before: Smart Grid Investment Grant $127.5 M Home Performance Program $ 20.0 M Energy Efficiency Community Block Grants, Electric Vehicles, PV Storage, and many more 5 Impact on Accounting How do we manage this large quantity of grants? Increased reporting requirements under ARRA Not sure how much time it will take? Current grant billing process is too manual to scale up to larger billings 6 3

4 Process Development and Implementation 7 ARRA Requirements Sub-Recipient information on checks Report on payments to vendors Job creation OMB Reporting DOE Reporting Monthly Billing Accounts Receivable tracking Single Audit 8 4

5 Issues/Solutions: Issue: Need to Know Grant Spending Solution: Each Grant contract must use a P.O. in SAP Issue: Need to Print CFDA No. and ARRA Information on Sub-Recipient Check Each Grant contract t must use a P.O. in SAP New GL Account used for Sub-Recipients Grant information included on WBS (CFDA No., ARRA) SAP will print the information on the Sub-Recipient check 9 Issues/Solutions: Issue: Need to Track Equipment for All ARRA Grants If already tracked in existing system continue to track there Use Data Federator to pull data from existing systems (SAP and Altiris) Equipment and information not tracked in existing system are tracked in SharePoint site Can create reports and update status of items Accounting reconciles with Equipment charged on monthly DOE grant billings Sub-Recipients required to maintain an Equipment Log on SMUD provided template 10 5

6 Issues/Solutions: Issue: Coordination of payments to Smart Grid Sub- Recipients after DOE pays SMUD A/P puts a hold on payment when invoice is entered Created process for A/R to notify A/P when DOE payment is received to ensure timely payment to Sub-Recipients Issue: Stricter Standards for Timekeeping Learning & Development created Timekeeping Training course 20 minute PowerPoint narrated training Required training for all employees who charge time to grants 11 Issues/Solutions: Issue: Need Timely Review of Labor Charged to Grants by Project Managers SMUD has Bi-Weekly payroll periods Labor data is downloaded from SAP into Excel after each payroll period closes Macros create a Bi-Weekly Labor Report from SAP data Accounting routes electronically to Grant Project Managers for approval Errors in charging time is corrected by Timekeepers 12 6

7 Issues/Solutions: Issue: Indirect Cost Rate Historically SMUD Only Prepared an Indirect Cost Rate Based on Budget. Federal Grants Require an Indirect Cost Rate Based on Actual. New reports were developed in Business Warehouse to aid in preparing an Indirect Cost Plan based on actual costs Budget Office provided assistance to Accounting Approved by external auditors 13 Grant Billings 14 7

8 SMUD S COMPUTER SYSTEMS USED FOR GRANT BILLINGS: SAP Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) framework for collecting costs (by Business Unit) is used for Budgeting and Grants SMUD has six Business Units Customer, Energy Supply, Distribution, Internal Services, Technology, Corporate Services Usually a Grant is assigned to one Business Unit (exception Smart Grid) Charge to Orders and GL Account Each Order is assigned to a WBS 15 SMUD S COMPUTER SYSTEMS USED FOR GRANT BILLINGS: EDM (Enterprise Document Management) Create a workpackage (like a folder) for each Grant billing and supporting documents Ability to electronically route grant billing documents for review and approval Comments screen provides a record of review and approval with date and time approved Provides good audit trail 16 8

9 Issues/Solutions: Issue: Need to Know Entire Population of Grants Each grant must have a highest level WBS element Created WBS priority code G to identify as Grant Grant information included on WBS (ARRA, CFDA #) Created processing groups 04 and 05 on Orders Issue: Need to Know Who is Funding the Project Each funding source must have a lower level (or tracking)wbs element under the overall highest level Grant WBS (Federal, State, SMUD Cost Share) If billing by task, need WBS element by funding source for each task 17 SAMPLE GRANT WBS/ORDER STRUCTURE: E/PG/P/RD/AN Anatolia Grant E/PG/P/RD/AN/1 Anatolia Grant Task 1 E/PG/P/RD/AN/1/C Anatolia Task 1 CEC Reimb Order Anatolia Grant Task 1.4 Progress Report Order Anatolia Grant Task 1.1 Kick-Off Mtg CEC Order Anatolia Grant Task 1.2 CPR Mtg CEC E/PG/P/RD/AN/1/F Anatolia Task 1 Federal Reimb E/PG/P/RD/AN/1/S Anatolia Task 1 SMUD Match E/PG/P/RD/AN/2 Anatolia Grant Task 2 E/PG/P/RD/AN/2/C Anatolia Task 2 CEC Reimb E/PG/P/RD/AN/2/F Anatolia Task 2 Federal Reimb E/PG/P/RD/AN/2/S Anatolia Task 2 SMUD Match 18 9

10 Issues/Solutions: Issue: Monthly Billing for Grants Needs to be More Automated Excel billing workbook created with extensive use of macros Billing spreadsheet format is based on DOE invoice template Breakdown of costs into Labor, Fringe, Equipment, Supplies, Contractual, Other and Sub-Recipient categories Data is downloaded from SAP to Excel after month-end close and macros are run to create billing spreadsheet and labor detail SAP download has all needed data fields (grant layout created) Reduces manual data input Unallowable costs are deducted Totals by Funding Source are compiled based on WBS 19 Issues/Solutions: Issue: Invoice Copies Required to Submit with Billing to Grant Agency for Supporting Documentation SAP Report provides link to Enterprise Document Management system (EDM) EDM query pulls and exports invoice pdf files Accounting renames invoice pdf files with vendor name, invoice number and amount Adobe Acroplot software will combine separate invoice pdf files into one pdf file in minutes 20 10

11 Issues/Solutions: Issue: Procard Charges Don t Have Actual Invoice Copies Scanned into EDM Download SAP data and use Excel Lookup to flag charges made to Grants (under new solution user will flag at time of input) A/P requests Grant Procard invoices or receipts from Procard holders A/P scans Grant Procard invoices or receipts as pdf files into EDM Accounting can export Grant Procard pdf files from EDM Accounting renames invoice pdf files with Procard holder name, vendor name and amount 21 Issues/Solutions: Issue: Need Documented Review of Bills to DOE or Other Grant Agency Prior to Submittal Created new EDM workflow for Grant Billings Grant Project Managers review electronic copies of Excel billing workbook, Grant Agency invoice template, and all supporting documentation (invoices, inventory withdrawal reports, etc.) Grant Project Managers make comments in EDM workflow to document their review and approval EDM records date and time of approval This is the proof the Grant billing has been reviewed Auditors like to see this documentation 22 11

12 Issues/Solutions: Issue: Need to Easily Track Amounts Billed and Payments Received for ARRA Grants Created new way to enter ARRA grant invoices into SAP Sales & Distribution A/R module. Tracks by Grant New GL Account setup for Grant Accounts Receivable New GL Account setup for Grant Revenue Separate revenue Order setup for each Grant and for each Smart Grid Sub-Recipient 23 Issues/Solutions: Issue: Grant Revenues are Paying for Capital Items Contributions in Aid of Construction Need to defer the revenue to offset depreciation expense in future years (regulatory liability) Went to Board to get approval to defer revenue Issue: Smart Grid Reimbursement is 41% but DOE is Paying SMUD at a 50% Rate Until Grant Funds Spent SMUD defers 9% to match revenue with future expense 24 12

13 Issues/Solutions: Issue: How to Track In-Kind Funds Commitment from Partners and Sub-Recipients that SMUD Will Not be Billed For Partners will send letters and reports each month to tell SMUD how much In-Kind cost they incurred Sub-Recipients will include their Match or Cost Share on their invoices to SMUD Accounting will use SAP Funds Commitment screen to track both the contract commitment amount and the amount of work done 25 Grant Reporting 26 13

14 Grant Reporting: OMB ARRA 1512 Reports Quarterly (HPP Monthly) Accounting prepares: Expenditures Cash receipts Vendor reporting DOE SF425 Reports - Quarterly Spreadsheet created for each grant to track information to be reported 27 Sub-Recipient Training 28 14

15 Sub-Recipient Training Hold a Kick-Off Meeting with Sub-Recipients Include Grant Project Manager in meeting Review contract Review requirements and expectations for grant billings to SMUD Go over invoice template preparation in detail Provide examples of supporting documentation needed for labor and other charges Go over reporting requirements and deadlines Allow time to answer Sub-Recipient s questions 29 Lessons Learned 30 15

16 What We Have Learned Along the Way Don t underestimate the amount of outreach required by Accounting to Grant Project Managers and Operations staff to help them understand the Grant requirements Clearly define roles of Accounting and Grant Project Managers Grants take a lot more time and effort than you can imagine! Helpful to have multiple Accounting staff available to help get things done 31 Questions? 32 16

17 Contact Information Kathy Ketchum, CPA Senior Accountant Sacramento Municipal Utility District 6201 S Street, MS B302 Sacramento, CA (916) kketchu@smud.org 33 17