Step 8: Close Out the Award

Closing out a sponsored project means meeting your final obligations to the sponsor, reconciling the finances, completing institutional forms, and formally closing the account. Close-out is a shared effort: the principal investigator works primarily with Grants Accounting in coordination with ORSP and Financial Services. Starting early and communicating clearly keeps the process on schedule and protects future funding.

Submit your final reports and deliverables

Wrapping up your project’s final reports? Expand this section to see why timely submission matters, not just for your award but for future funding from the same sponsor.

• Prepare and submit any final technical or scientific reports and other deliverables required by your award. For contracts, follow the terms and statement of work. 
• Final reports matter beyond your own project — late submissions can delay future awards from the same sponsor across the entire university.

Reconcile the account and close purchase orders

Closing out your account? Expand this section for what to review and clean up before final financial reporting.

• Review all charges on the project, remove any unallowable or misposted costs, and update recurring allocations. 
• Close out open purchase orders before the account is closed. 
• Your GCM can help confirm that all expenses are correct and complete.

Submit the final financial report or invoice

Need to know your final reporting deadline? Expand this section for typical timelines and who handles submission.

• Sponsors set firm deadlines for final financial reporting. For most federal awards, final financial reports are generally due within 90 days of the award end date, and final invoices within 60 days; nonfederal sponsor deadlines vary. 
• Meeting these deadlines depends on prompt, clear communication between the Grants Accounting and Financial Services, so begin reconciling well before the end date.
• Submission is performed by Grants Accounting ().

Close out any subawards when the subrecipient’s work ends

Have a subrecipient on your project? Expand this section for the steps to close out their subaward, even if your project continues.

• If your project includes subrecipients, each subaward is closed out when that subrecipient completes its scope of work — even if your overall project continues into a later budget period or a no-cost extension.
• Working with Grants Accounting ():
  • Confirm the subrecipient’s final technical/deliverable reports have been received and that you’re satisfied with performance.
  • Ensure the subrecipient submits its final invoice by the deadline in the subaward (commonly within 60 days of the subaward end date), and that it’s reviewed, approved, and paid.
  • Verify any final invention, property, or cost-share reports required by the subaward are in hand.
  • Confirm remaining funds are de-obligated so the subaward is financially closed.
• Closing each subaward promptly matters because WFU, as the pass-through entity, must submit the prime award’s final reports to the sponsor on the sponsor’s schedule — typically within 90 days of the period of performance — and can’t do that until every subrecipient has closed out.
• Who to contact: Grants Accounting () together with the GCM manages subaward closeout, collects final subrecipient reports and invoices, and de-obligates remaining funds.

Watch end-of-award spending

Planning a purchase near your project’s end date? Expand this section to see how late charges are scrutinized and what to avoid.

• Purchases made in the final period of a project receive extra scrutiny. 
• As a general guide, charges in the last 90 days of the project period should be reviewed to confirm the item or service was received during the period and genuinely benefited the work. 
• Buying equipment or restocking supplies near the end of an award, with little time to use them, is discouraged and may be disallowed. 
• Document the project-specific benefit of any late purchase.

Publication costs after the end date

Publishing after your award ends? Expand this section for the exception that allows publication costs to be charged after closeout.

• A helpful exception worth knowing: even though most costs must be incurred during the project period, you can charge publication and dissemination costs to the award after the end date — as long as they’re paid before final closeout and the publication reports on work supported by that specific award. 
• Check sponsor guidelines to determine if prior approval is needed for publication costs that were not included in your original budget or justification.

Resolve the final account balance

Wondering what happens if your award ends in a deficit or surplus? Expand this section for how each outcome is handled.

• Every award ends in one of three financial positions:
  • Deficit — if expenses exceed the award, the PI is responsible for covering the overage and must transfer it off the sponsored account promptly.
    • Sometimes a sponsor won’t reimburse all the costs charged to a project, leaving a deficit — the account has spent more than the sponsor will pay
    • Closeout is where most deficits are caught, so don’t let it drift. Reconciling your account promptly — generally within 30 to 60 days of the end date, depending on the sponsor, and before the sponsor’s closeout deadline — is what gives everyone time to find the cause and fix it. The longer a deficit sits, the fewer the options for resolving it.
    • Your department works with the Post-Award office to determine the cause and reach a resolution. Common causes include unallowable charges, costs posted after the period of performance, effort that wasn’t certified, or an over-expenditure against the budget.
    • Costs a sponsor won’t cover ultimately become the responsibility of the department or PI, so the goal is always to prevent a deficit through regular budget monitoring rather than discover one at the end. See the Deficit Resolution policy
    • Reach out to your GCM and the Post-Award office () as soon as you spot a potential shortfall.
  • Surplus — if funds remain, confirm all appropriate expenses are posted; remaining funds are either returned to the sponsor or retained according to the award terms.
  • Fixed-price residual — fixed-price agreements with leftover balances follow a specific institutional procedure; ORSP will confirm whether unspent funds must be returned. If the agreement does not specify that leftover balance can be retained then ORSP will contact the sponsor for approval.

Archive your records

Need a reminder on how long to keep your project records? Expand this section for retention requirements and special rules for human subjects research.

• Retain all sponsored-project records for at least three years after the final report is submitted; some sponsors require longer. Records may be subject to audit. 
• For human subjects research, follow your IRB-approved plan for archiving data and, where applicable, returning results to participants.