Financial compliance

Research financial compliance review framework

  • A compliance review framework has been implemented at the University of Waterloo to mitigate the risk of transactions being charged to research accounts that are ineligible, unauthorized, or inadequately documented
  • Depending on the type and materiality of the transaction, the financial compliance review may be completed before the transaction is processed or on a test-basis after the transaction is processed
  • The review may be completed by a member of the Research Finance Training and Compliance Team or a designated reviewer with the department, school, or institute
    • ​Pre-review of high risk transactions (by team or department depending on materiality and model chosen)
    • Post-review of low risk and low materiality transactions on a test basis
    • Post-review of purchasing card transactions
    • Post-review of Graduate Research Scholarships (GRS) transactions

​Internal review

  • The Office of Research completes twice yearly reviews of research account transactions. The aim of these reviews is to ensure that expense transactions charged to research accounts are:
    • Eligible expenses with respect to sponsor agency guidelines
    • Authorized by the PI or an appropriate delegated signing authority and
    • Supported by appropriate back up documentation
  • In each internal review, a random sample of research projects and transactions is selected. Source documentation is then reviewed for each transaction selected and will be used to verify eligibility and authorization

Financial compliance training

New hire training for researchers and research administrative staff in compliance and eligibility requirement

Research compliance resources

Research sponsor WO number 5 digits starts with Link to sponsor website/program guidelines Summary/description of expense eligibility
Tri-Agency Various
5XXXX-XXXXX		 Tri-Agency Guide on Financial Administration

These four basic principles govern the appropriate use of grant Tri-Agency funds. Grant expenditures must:

• contribute to the direct costs of the research/activities for which the funds were awarded, with benefits directly attributable to the grant; direct costs are essential expenditures that would not have been incurred had the grant not been undertaken
• not be provided by the administering institution to their research personnel; if an administration unit normally provides a good or service, it cannot be charged to the grant
• be effective and economical; it achieves the intended outcome with due regard for minimizing cost by avoiding unnecessary expense. Does not necessarily mean the “lowest cost.”
• not result in personal gain for members of the research team; personal gain is a benefit or advantage to a particular person, including the grant recipient and/or member of the research team, rather than to the grant-funded research/activities

Directives

The five directives laid out by the TAGFA are mandatory requirements which provide a framework to exercise sound judgment and due diligence in decision making around eligibility of expenditures. These expense types generally follow UW policy, with notable exceptions highlighted below:

1. Employment & Compensation
• Cannot pay compensation to grant recipients and individuals who are eligible to hold their own Tri-Agency funding including collaborators.
• International researchers may be compensated from grant funds, provided their employer can attest, by letter, that the individual is not being compensated by the employer for time spent on the grant-funded research/activities.

2. Travel & Subsistence Costs

3. Goods & Services

4. Hospitality
• Allowed for networking purposes or activities where one or more individuals is not a member of the research team and not involved in the day-to-day research activities
• Alcohol is not allowed

5. Gifts, Honoraria, Incentives
NSERC-RTI (Research Tools and Instruments 50493-XXXXX NSERC - Research Tools and Instruments grants program (nserc-crsng.gc.ca) Refer to budget outlined in the grant application.

• Equipment between $7,000 and $150,000
• Must adhere to budget
• No infrastructure, salaries, supplies
ERA (Early Researcher Award) 52447-XXXXX Early Researcher Awards - Program Guidelines • Support for research personnel only
• No PI travel, no supplies and equipment
MITACS 53162-XXXXX Mitacs - Use of Funds Policy • Support students’ salary as per award
• Student research allowances (materials/supplies section of budget) adhere to Tri Agency administration guidelines. This can include payments to non-named individuals.
UW/SSHRC Explore Grant 50732-XXXXX UW/SSHRC Explore Grant: Seed • Support for salaries of research assistants, minor equipment, databases, supplies, and travel essential for the conduct of the research.
• No conference travel, no open access fees; requests for conference travel funding and open access fees must be made through the UW/SSHRC Exchange Grant program.
UW/SSHRC Exchange Grants UW/SSHRC Exchange Grant: Knowledge Mobilization

• Exchange Grant 1: costs associated with disseminating current research findings at a conference.
• Exchange Grant 2: costs associated with organizing a small-scale research conference or workshop (up to $4,000).
• Exchange Grant 3: costs associated with preparing knowledge mobilization outputs associated with research projects (up to $7,000).
OCI-Ontario Centre of Innovation 53053-XXXXX Eligible-Expenses.pdf (oc-innovation.ca) • Support for research personnel, operating expenses, travel and living.
• No meal expenses
• No travel outside of Ontario
CFI - Infrastructure 52479-XXXXX CFI Policy and Program Guide

Refer to section 4.6 of the program guide,
Eligible costs for Infrastructure Projects.

• Equipment and construction/renovation of lab facilities
• Must adhere to itemized list (i.e. budget)
• Generally, no salaries or travel
CFI - Infrastructure Operating Funds 52046-XXXXX CFI Policy and Program Guide Refer to section 4.7 of the program guide,
Eligible costs for Infrastructure Operating Fund.

• Support for operation and maintenance of CFI funded equipment or facilities
• Salaries for technicians operating equipment only
• No travel or equipment
• Limited supplies for repair and

*If you have questions about these programs, or any others, please reach out to or.complianceteam@uwaterloo.ca