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Award Management

Page Updated: March 10, 2023

Monitoring and Oversight

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Subawards

New outgoing Subawards, Shared Grants and Re-Grants are issued by the RSP Subaward Team. Please see the Subawards web page for processing steps, FAQs and general information. Any questions regarding new subawards can be directed to outgoingsubs@rsp.wisc.edu.

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Sponsor Payments and the Revenue Management Team

Here are some answers to questions about sponsor payments and the revenue management team.

What does the Revenue Management Team do?

The Revenue Management team in the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (RSP) processes all incoming payments for sponsored programs.

Payments come to our office in the following ways:

  • Checks sent to the UW-Madison GAR Account lockbox at US Bank
  • Checks sent to campus locations and forwarded to RSP [https://rsp.wisc.edu/routing/checks.cfm]
  • Payments received electronically by wire, EFT, or ACH.

Our team reviews and processes each payment to ensure it is credited to the appropriate research project in a timely manner.

When payments are not received within the expected period of time, the Accounts Receivable Collections group will follow up with the sponsor as appropriate.

For more information about what the Revenue Management Team does, click here

How do sponsored project budgets and award funded amounts correspond to payments received?
All Sponsored Awards except for Clinical Trails – Accrual basis revenue recognition

There is not a correlation between project budgets/award funded amounts and payments received.

Award Funded amounts and Project budgets are based on the terms of contract and are not related to payments received. Spending should occur in accordance with the terms of the agreement and the budgets that have been established. Revenue is earned and recorded in SFS as expenditures are incurred, but is not an indication that payment has been received.

RSP Accountants produce invoices in SFS to send to the sponsor according to the invoicing instructions in the contract. Accounts Receivable items are created for each invoice that is produced. Payments for each invoice will be applied to the Accounts Receivable item when received.

If payment is not received in the expected amount of time, the Accounts Receivable item will age and be addressed by the Accounts Receivable Collections group.

Clinical Trials – Cash basis revenue recognition

There is a direct correlation between project budgets/award funded amounts and payments received.

Revenue is recorded and Award Funded amounts and Project budgets are increased in SFS by RSP staff as payments are received.

Clinical Trial invoices are produced by the owning Department outside of SFS. Check payments are generally sent to the office that did the billing and then forwarded to RSP for processing.

There are no Accounts Receivable items created in SFS for Clinical Trial invoices. Follow up on unpaid Clinical Trial invoices is the responsibility of the billing department.

How should Sponsored Programs check payment be routed for processing?

If you receive a payment for a sponsored project that was sent to a campus department or PI rather than to Research and Sponsored Programs (RSP), see the link below to determine appropriate routing.

https://rsp.wisc.edu/routing/checks.cfm

Where should a sponsor send check payments for research agreements?

Sponsors should send checks for sponsored projects (except Clinical Trials) to the US Bank address below for the most efficient processing. This address also appears on the invoices RSP sends:

  • Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
    UW-Madison GAR Account Office for Research & Sponsored Programs
    Drawer #538
    Milwaukee, WI 53278-0538

    (Note this only works with US Postal mail, not with FedEx or UPS delivery.)

    Please reference the invoice number.

Checks for Clinical Trial payments should first go to the address indicated on the invoice that was prepared by the billing office outside of RSP. The billing office will route the check and supporting documents to RSP for processing. https://rsp.wisc.edu/routing/checks.cfm

How are electronic payments methods established and used for Sponsored Programs?

Sponsored Programs payments can be made by ACH, EFT or wire. Please send all electronic payment sign up forms and banking information requests to rsp_revenue@rsp.wisc.edu.

ACH (Automated Clearing House) and EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) payments can generally be initiated at no cost in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and parts of Europe.

Wire transfer payments generally incur a bank fee of $15-$35 depending on the bank. These fees will reduce the overall budget available for the project for which the payment is applied. Wires are the only option for electronic payments initiated in many foreign countries.

It is very important for all electronic payments to include the MSN invoice number or award ID to ensure prompt, accurate processing. RSP staff review all electronic payments received in the UW-Madison central US Bank account each day and claim only what can be clearly identified as belonging to a Sponsored Programs award or invoice.

Credit cards are not accepted for Sponsored Programs payments.

All payments should be in US Dollars.

What happens when an expected Sponsored Programs payment is not received?

The Revenue Management Team Collections group reviews all Accounts Receivable balances that have not been paid in the expected time frame. A status is assigned to each item that has been reviewed. The appropriate follow-up activity is performed based on the results of the review and status assigned.

Division administrators can find aged accounts receivable information for their division on the Divisional Report Dashboard. This data is contained in the Sponsored Projects Accounts Receivable report that can be found in the Post-Award Reports section and draws directly from the most recent data available in our Shared Financial System.

The Collections group will consult with the RSP Accountant, PI, Project staff, or Department and Division contacts as appropriate to help resolve issues that are preventing sponsors from making payments for Sponsored Programs. Some cases are referred to the UW Office of Legal Affairs for assistance with debt collection and bankruptcies.

When collection efforts are not successful, the responsibility for unpaid costs rests with the Dean or Director. Please see RSP Notice 2011-2 for details.

How do I contact the Revenue Management Team?

Please email questions or information regarding payment processing to rsp_revenue@rsp.wisc.edu.

  • Bridget Montour (Manager) | 608-890-3035
  • Cristi Fusch (Clearing account reconciliation, Refunds, General Ledger review/journal entries) | 608-265-0029
  • Jessica Nytes (Aged Accounts Receivable and Collections) | 608-265-0049
  • Ellen Dorman (Electronic payment identification, Check deposits, Clinical Trial payment processing) | 608-890-1603
  • Tracy Arneson-Baker (Aged Accounts Receivable and Collections) | 608-265-6499
  • Jordan Roddy (Sponsored Projects payment processing, Unapplied Payment List (UPL)) | 608-890-3835

For more information on the function of the Revenue Management Team, please click here.