ORS Brown Bag
Sessions
Journal Entry – G&C Cost Transfers
What is a Cost Transfer?
 is defined as the moving of an expense to a sponsored
project when the expense was initially charged to another
project or non-sponsored account (Financial Policy #2113)
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Payroll not included in definition of cost transfers (in most cases)
 Cost Transfer Principles
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Need occur in a timely manner
Need to be allowable under Sponsor & University Policy
Need to include adequate description of purpose for entry
along with appropriate DOCUMENTATION
C/T may not be used as a means of managing cash flow
Cost Transfers & Timeliness
 Penn Policy (Financial Policy #1402) requires a review of all
transactions on a monthly basis.
 Cost Transfers are expected to be completed within 90 days
of the month end in which the original transaction
occurred (DHHS require 90 days from original trans date)

PI responsible for approving all transfers & ensuring timeliness.
 Any cost transfer (debit or credit) processed after the 90
period referenced above – requires ORS approval.
Documentation of Cost Transfers
 All Cost Transfers must be supported by appropriate
documentation:
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Full explanation of circumstances under which the error occurred
Explanation of direct benefit to the new funding source
Original source documentation for transaction (invoice, c-368, etc.)
Documentation of PI approval
Corrective action plan (as necessary)
 Journal descriptions stating “to move to correct fund” or “to
correct error” are inappropriate
Cost Transfers - Historically
 Cost Transfers have always been an area of review and focus by
central admin
 However, proper tools were not always available for proper recording and
tracking of transfers.
 In the past, cost transfers were typically processed via J/E
General 02 Adjust Previous Transaction or 07 Grant and Contract
Adjustment, however there was no validation with respect to
timeliness of cost transfer
 Annually UPENN would be have an A133 audit conducted and
cost transfers would be part of the audit process.
 Cost Transfers have been identified as “findings” within prior
University A133 audit(s).
 Details of findings include: lack of documentation, violation of timeliness
per University policy
New Responsibility in BEN
 On July, 1, 2010 an additional BEN Financial Journal Entry
Responsibility titled Journal Entry – G&C Cost Transfers
was introduced to improve monitoring, tracking and
compliance with the University's Cost Transfer Policy #2113.
 As of July 1, 2010, Journal Entry – General category 02-
Correct Previous Transaction & category 07 – G&C
adjustment were no longer to be used for sponsored
project (5-fund) cost transfers.
New Responsibility – New Categories
 Authorized users are to prepare cost transfers for sponsored
project account (5 fund activity) using Journal Entry – G&C Cost
Transfers under the following categories:
 15 G&C UN90 – select this when entering C/T within 90 days of the
month end of original transaction date and original transaction
occurred within BEN system
 16 G&C OV90 - select this when entering C/T that exceeds 90 days
of the month end of original transaction date and original
transaction occurred within BEN system
 17 UPHS Gds/Svs – select this when processing a UPHS goods and
services transfer to a 5-fund and original transaction occurred
within UPHS system
 18 UPHS Payroll - select this when processing a payroll transfer to 5fund and original transaction occurred within UPHS system
Category 16 G&C OV90
 When using Category 16, the information below must be
submitted to your ORS Desk Accountant via email:
 Type in Subject line:
 Category 16 Cost Transfer : Fund #, PI, Award/Grant Ref #
 Include/attach following supporting documentation:
 Journal Batch Name of Cost Transfer
 Full explanation of the circumstances under which the error
occurred
 Reason for the delay in correcting the error
 Explanation of direct benefit to the new funding source
 Original/source documentation for the transaction (invoice,c368,etc)
 Documentation of PI approval
Category 16 G&C OV90 cont’d
 Upon receipt of the email, ORS will review the supporting
documentation and respond within 5-7 business days
 If all documentation submitted is completed and adequate
ORS will post the appropriate journals(s)
 For any journal entry which requires additional information or is deemed
inappropriate, ORS will send an email requesting an adjustment or the
deletion of the journal entry.

Cost transfer journal entries not approved by ORS should be deleted promptly by
the originating Department.
Access
 Access to Journal Entry – G&C Cost Transfers is granted by
completing the following:
 BEN Balances – Manual Journal Entry instructor led training
 BEN Balances: Journal Entry – Grant and Contract Cost
Transfers on-line training curriculum (2 Parts)
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G&C Cost Transfers Knowledge Building
G&C Cost Transfers Application Training
 BEN Financials eForms
Training Requirements
Access
Requirements
BEN Balances –
Manual Journal
Entry
Instructor Led
Training
New User
Existing Journal Entry General User
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BEN Balances:
BEN Balances: Journal
Journal Entry – Grant
Entry – Grant and
and Contract Cost
Contract Cost Transfers
Transfers
Knowledge
Building
Application
Training
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Resources / Help
 Office of Research Services
 http://www.upenn.edu/researchservices/
 Office of Research Support Services
 http://www.med.upenn.edu/orss/
 Ben Knows
 http://www.finance.upenn.edu/benknows/
 Financial Policies
 http://www.finance.upenn.edu/vpfinance/fpm/