Contacts, tools, and tips for managing research finances at Cornell.
Who can Help?
- Your research administrator or department administrator should be your first contact for research finance questions.
- Most colleges have a business service center (BSC) to assist with purchasing. The list of BSCs and contact information is on the DFA website.
- Every sponsor also has an assigned Sponsored Financial Services (SFS) associate.
Tools and Dashboards
Any of the following tools can be used to review project finances, account balances, who is being paid from which accounts, and your transactions.
- PI Dashboard. The PI Dash sends a monthly research finance update email to all PIs and account managers.
- Account Award Portfolio dashboard. Along with other research finances, this tool includes student bursar information relevant to PIs or account managers.
- WebFin2. Includes many options for viewing information.
If you are a PI, you can grant "act-as access" to others so they can see your project and support it in different ways.
Review Finances Regularly
Review project finances monthly (or at least every other month). Use the tools listed above to monitor and review.
- If you have a research administrator, they will assist with this review. If you don't have a research administrator, your department administrator can help.
- Ensure you're paying the right people from the right account.
- Review transactions. Ensure that they are all allowable and being paid from the correct account.
- If you need to adjust a payment, for example if the funds were paid from the wrong account, you may need to do a cost transfer. Cost transfers must be completed within a particular timeframe.