The NHMRC Funding Agreement requires Administering Institutions to submit an annual Financial Statement and a final year Financial Statement (Acquittal Statement) for each grant.
All Financial Statements can be submitted through RGMS either in bulk or individually. The following user guides have been developed to assist Finance Officers to submit these reports through RGMS.
- Financial Reporting – manual upload instructions (PDF, 351KB)
- Financial Reporting – bulk upload instructions (PDF, 787KB)
Note: for grants which do not have a record within RGMS, the following template is to be completed and submitted via email to: postaward.management@nhmrc.gov.au.
Interest Earned
The Funding Agreement requires the disclosure of interest earned on grant funds in the annual Financial Statement and the final year Financial Statement. All interest accrued during the funding period is to be reported.
Certification
A Chief Financial Officer (or delegate) must certify that the accounts and records underlying the Statements have been maintained in accordance with Australian Accounting Standards.
Submission of Reports
The Annual Financial Statements must be submitted to NHMRC by 30 April following each calendar year of funding and a final year Financial Statement must be submitted to NHMRC no later than six months after the funding period has been completed or six months after termination or transfer of the grant.
Where an Annual Financial Statement or final year Financial Statement has not been received within seven days after the due date, NHMRC will remind the relevant institution that they are in breach of the Funding Agreement. Failure to provide the report(s) within agreed timeframes will result in consideration being given to suspending payments to all active grants until the report(s) have been submitted.
Carry Forwards
In the final year of the Grant
If it is anticipated that there will be a carry forward of unexpended funds beyond the final year of the approved funding period of a grant, a variation to extend to the grant will be needed. To request / apply for a grant extension, The Chief Investigator A (CIA) must log into RGMS and submit an ‘Extend Grant Duration’ Grantee Variation request prior to the end date of the grant. In many cases this means that the variation must be received before 31st December. If approved this will mean that an additional Annual Financial Statement is required and the final year Financial Statement will then be due six months after the new end date of the grant. If the unspent funds being brought into the new final year of the Grant are greater than 25% of the annual available funds, CIA justification is required as outlined in the ‘In other than the final year of the Grant’ section below.
Note: for grants which do not have a record within RGMS, the following template is to be completed and submitted via email to: postaward.management@nhmrc.gov.au prior to the end date of the grant.
In other than the final year of the Grant
Where the unspent funds are greater than 25% of the annual available funds, CIA justification is required. NHMRC may seek further clarification before making a decision.
CIA Justification
Carry forward of funds greater than 25% of the annual available funds may be justified on the following grounds:
- delayed start to the grant (e.g. because of delays in obtaining ethics approvals(s) or securing essential funding from partners/collaborators
- factors beyond the reasonable control of the CI (e.g. unavailability of suitable subjects for clinical studies; unavailability of critical staff because of sick leave or delays in recruitment of PhD students or laboratory personnel)
- evidence that progress is being made to eliminate earlier delays (i.e. the absence of persistent and/or growing underperformance).
Suspension of Funding
If it is apparent that the carry forward will not be spent within the next year, grant payments may be suspended. Once expenditure has caught up the RAO must advise NHMRC in order that quarterly payments can be resumed.
Final year Financial Statement
Acquittal refers to the process of assessing and reconciling the final Financial Statement at the conclusion of the funding (this also includes acquittals prepared following an approved transfer of a grant). This process enables NHMRC to ascertain whether the Administering Institution has satisfied their obligations to account for all funds.
A final year Financial Statement must be submitted to NHMRC no later than six months after the funding period has been completed or six months after termination or transfer of the grant. The total of all monies received for the duration of funding must be reported. NHMRC will raise an invoice for unspent funds. Administering Institutions are to return unspent funds on receipt of the invoice.
Scholarship acquittals are the only exception to this requirement. These acquittals are required within two years of the end date of the Scholarship, or within three months of the payment of the thesis allowance to the Scholar. Payment of the thesis allowance must be made within the two year period.