1 Overview and General Understandings
1.3 Accountability
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1.3
- Research Organisations in receipt of research grant funds from STFC are
expected to ensure that there are reliable systems and processes in place for
controlling the receipt and disbursement of those funds in accordance with
established guidelines for the care of public funds.
- STFC will, as part of the Research Grants Funding Assurance
Programme Initiative, visit Research Organisations to inspect the
procedures in place for management of research grants, and to seek assurance
that research grants are managed in accordance with the terms and conditions
under which they were awarded, including the procurement of major
equipment.
- Research Organisations in receipt of research grant funds are expected to
ensure that their grant expenditure records will allow a reasonably convenient
inspection of the direct charges to grants during the course of a Funding
Assurance Programme visit.
- The Joint Research Councils Funding
Assurance Programme provides an annual programme of visits to award
holding bodies (mainly universities) to assess the process, procedures and
controls in place around the administration of research funds.
- The joint programme has been running since 1997 and enables Research
Council chief executives to comply with their responsibilities for ensuring
that the public funds for which they are accountable are being administered and
used with propriety by all award holding institutions. Annual reports are made
to each Council's Audit Committee, supporting the sign off of Annual Accounts
by the National Audit Office.
- The rationale, aims and methodology of the programme are set out in
the Funding Assurance Programme Protocol, which also addresses the
relationship between Research Councils and Funding Councils monitoring
activities. Grant holding institutions are visited on a cyclical basis.
