Welcome to the Treasurer’s Office Most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section
Research FAQs
- How will I know if I need to set up a research account?
- How long does it take to set up a research account once the Contracts Office have reviewed the documentation and sent it to the Treasurer's Office?
- How can I get access to the monthly financial eReports (for research accounts)?
- Who administers specific Sponsor grants in the Treasurer's Office?
- How do I change a staff member's pay code?
- How do I make a payment from a research account to someone who is not on the TCD payroll?
- What happens at the end of a grant if the account is in deficit?
- What happens if the end date of the grant is approaching and the research has not been completed?
- What happens if the Sponsor agrees to extend the end date and increase the funding?
- Do I need to keep timesheets for staff working on my grant?
- Do I need to keep a specific project file?
- Is the College Purchasing and Procurement Policy relevant to my grant?
- What are the VAT implications for my Research Grant?
Research FAQs
The Contracts Office is responsible for the review and execution of all pure research funded contracts awarded to TCD. Please email: rescon@tcd.ie with any queries in relation to the contract award stage.
Once the Contracts Office decide that a research account should be set-up, a Research Account Set-up Form should be completed and is available at the following link: New Research Account Set-up Form
- How long does it take to set up a research account once the Contracts Office have reviewed the documentation and sent it to the Treasurer's Office?
The Research Administration Section of the Treasurer's Office have a 48 hour service level commitment within which the Principal Investigator will be notified of the research account number.
- Web-based accounts are uploaded monthly and Principal Investigators have automatic access to their eReports by logging on to the following web page: Financial eReports
- Proxy access can be granted to secondary users if a written request is sent to the Research Administration Section of the Treasurer's Office at Email: resadmin@tcd.ie
- A proxy user can also be nominated on the Research Account Set-up Form.
The Research Administration pages of the Treasurer's Office website: Research Administration web pages provide contact details for specific Sponsor grant administrators.
Research account administrator names and extension numbers are also listed on the top right hand corner of the "Research Account Summary Analysis Report" which is available through eReports.
- To change a pay code for staff member's pay or stipend, the Supervisor/Grant Holder/Principal Investigator must complete a Staff Transfer Form available at the following link: Staff Transfer Form. This must be signed by the Principal Investigator and the Head of School.
- When completed, it should be returned to the Research Administration Section of the Treasurer's Office who will administer the retrospective aspect of the changes whilst requesting the Payroll Section of Human Resources to administer all changes from that point forward. If in doubt, pelase contact the Research Administration Section directly at: resadmin@tcd.ie
- If you are paying a researcher for work done, a claim form for casual staff should be completed (available at the following link: Casual Claim Form
- Please ensure that the research account (element 3) has been clearly identified on the form
- If you are reimbursing an individual (who is not a TCD staff member) for expenses incurred, please complete a non-staff payment requestions form which can be found at the following links:
- Please note that subsistence rates can only be claimed by employees of TCD, non TCD staff will only be reimbursed on the basis of vouched receipts. This is as per direction from the Irish Revenue.
It is the responsibility of the Principal Investigator to ensure that the research grant ends within budget. Before the account can be closed, the Research Administration Section must be provided with instructions on how to clear any overruns or ineligible expenditure. Failure to do this may result in the balance on the account being cleared against the Discipline's Overhead "F90" account at the end of the relevant financial year and the Head of School will be notified.
A request should be made by the Principal Investigator to the Sponsor for a "No Cost Extension" (NCE) in order to extend the end date of the grant. Written confirmation of the Sponsor's agreement must be forwarded to the Research Administration Section of the Treasurer's Office. An NCE does not involve any additional funding.
This is a contractual amendment and the Principal Investigator will have to contact the Contracts Office in order to have the Amendment/Contract Change Notice drawn up and signed by all associated parties. When this is complete, the documentation will be forwarded by the Contracts Office to the Research Administration Section of the Treasurer's Office where the account records and budget will be updated.
Some Funding Agencies (eg. Enterprise Ireland, the European Commission, the EPA, Department of Agriculture, ERDF cofounded awards etc) require that timesheets are kept for all staff working on a grant so it is important to be familiar with the Grantee Terms and Conditions. Your Account Administrator will inform you of the requirements for timesheets when the account is being set up and will ask for copies of the timesheets when preparing the financial claims. If timesheets are a requirement, they should be maintained, at a minimum, on a monthly basis signed by the research and countersigned by the Principal Investigator.
All Principal Investigators should maintain a discrete project file containing inter alia meeting minutes, technical reports, publications, purchase orders (and tendering details), timesheets and recruitment details (CVs etc). This information will be required for audit purposes.
The TCD policy on Procurement is relevant to any purchases/sub-contractual negotiations throughout College and business conducted on research grants is no exception to this. Adequate auditable evidence of correct procurement procedures must be available for inspection during an audit or there is a risk of cost rejection and/or the sponsor imposing fines on the college. The names of consultants or subcontractors should not be included in a proposal without having gone through the required procurement process. At audit, if College is found to have not followed proper procurement / purchasing procedures there is a real risk that costs will be rejected. For further information is available at: TCD Procurement
Awards from National Funding Agencies are deemed to be Non-Vatable, this means that invoices (inclusive of VAT) are charged to research accounts and reclaimed from the Funding Agencies. If you make a purchase from a supplier in another EU Member State, they will not charge you foreign VAT, however Irish VAT will be added to the invoice as an additional cost to the Grant (as is required by law). The same applies to sub-contracts concluded with businesses located outside Ireland. If your Research Grant is assessed as being VATable, normally because the nature of the research results in the transfer of a service or benefit to the Funder, (awards under the EU FP7 Programme are also deemed VATable), then invoices will be charged against your grant net of VAT with the VAT element being recouped from Revenue. In turn College issues VATable invoices to the Funder and charges VAT at the appropriate rate on the cost of the research grant. If your account has been assessed as VATable you will be notified at account set up stage by your Treasurer’s Office Research Administrator.
We in the Treasurer’s Office aim to assist you as much as possible and we welcome comments and suggestions for improvements that may be made to the site. Please email us at treasurers.office@tcd.ie