CGA Accrual Validation Guidance
During the Financial Reporting and Closeout process, departments ensure that all expenses are complete, accurate and
allowable; and that costs from subawardees, other Dept IDs, and recharge units have been recorded on the General
Ledger. In situations when expenses have NOT been recorded on the General Ledger, an expense accrual may be
required. An expense accrual is the recording of the cost estimate for a product or service that was delivered during the
award period but has not yet been recorded in the General Ledger. Creating an accrual ensures that all direct expenses
are recorded in the General Ledger at award close.
If anticipated non-payroll expenses are NOT recorded on the General Ledger, departments create an accrual journal in
PeopleSoft and check the appropriate box on the Final Reporting Certification in RAS/PeopleSoft. If a payroll cost
transfer or correction is NOT correctly recorded on the General Ledger, departments prepare and submit a Payroll
Expense Transfer Upload (PETU) and check the appropriate box on the Final Reporting Certification.
Follow the steps below to ensure any accruals are valid based on current and outstanding financial information, including
subawards, Purchase Orders, and Payroll Expenditure Transfers (PET).
Subawards
Review the status of all subawards and any outstanding invoices to be paid.
Confirm the status of the subaward portion of the research and estimated final invoice amount. Subaward accruals
should generally equal the estimated final invoice amount, and should never exceed the Remaining Amount in RAS.
Verify subaward payments received, payments outstanding, and remaining balance in RAS/PeopleSoft.
(Not shown) Log on to PeopleSoft and search for, or navigate to, the Award Profile. Enter the Award Number
or other search criteria and click the Search button. Select the Subrecipient tab.
Select the Subrecipient Voucher Detail Page link.
Review the Total Authorized, Total Vouchers, and Remaining Amount. Confirm the information is correct
and invoices to be received and/or approved.
Revised March 2016
Contracts & Grants Accounting – Job Aid
Page 1 of 3
CGA Accrual Validation Guidance
Purchase Orders
Verify the status of open Purchase Orders (POs) and the allowable/allocable amount to be encumbered or posted using
BearBuy.
Run the MyReports “Purchase Order Lien Balance Report.” See the job aid PO Lien Balance Report for details on
running a report.
Review POs in BearBuy
Navigate to BearBuy. From the document search page, enter the PO number and click Go.
Click on the PO No hyperlink
Click on the Invoices tab to view invoice
details.
The invoice statuses will be displayed.
Validate and determine the outstanding
purchases to be processed.
Ensure the
requested accrual
amount falls
within the budget
period and
pertains to the
award.
Page 2 of 3
Contracts & Grants Accounting – Job Aid
Revised March 2016
CGA Accrual Validation Guidance
Payroll Expenditure Transfers (PETs)
Review the status of all payroll, both posted and pending, to determine if adjustments are needed based on allowable
effort expended within the period.
Run the MyReports “Distribution of Payroll Expense (DPE) Report” by payroll period to validate posted and pending
payroll. See the job aid Distribution of Payroll Expense (DPE) Report for details on running the report.
Examples of pending payroll include vacation accruals and payroll in suspense.
Examples of posted payroll that should be adjusted would be payroll not appropriate for the award reporting period.
Compare the “DPE” to the MyReports “Transaction Detail Report” (TDR) for the award to identify any payroll
transactions in suspense. Payroll transactions which appear on the DPE but not on the TDR are “in suspense”. See
the job aid Transaction Detail Report for details on running the report and the job aid Understanding Payroll
Transaction on the TDR and DPE Reports for guidance on clearing payroll in suspense.
For more information on the Financial Reporting and Closeout Process and other Contracts and Grants training and job
aids, see the Controller’s Office website.
Revised March 2016
Contracts & Grants Accounting – Job Aid
Page 3 of 3