Separate Year Accountability

This page has been updated with Workday content and was formerly titled "Renewals vs Supplement/Extensions".

Overview

The concept of separate year accountability plays an important role in how GCA sets up and manages an award in Workday. Understanding this concept can help a department determine whether a future budget period will require a new award line or not, and to submit the appropriate request.

Separate Year Accountability Explained

When a sponsor requires the UW to keep each year of funding and expenses separated, this is referred to as “separate year accountability”.

If an award includes any of the following terms, separate year accountability is required:

  • A final financial report or a final invoice is required at the end of each budget period
  • Carry over of an unspent balance to the next budget period requires sponsor approval
  • Each year is assigned a different sponsor award number or purchase order number

Separate year accountability is achieved by creating an award line for each budget period, which keeps funds and expenses separate and easily associated with a particular budget period.

If a sponsor does not require separate year accountability, funds and expenses for all budget periods can be allocated to one award line and one grant worktag.

How to Tell if An Award has Separate Year Accountability

GCA adds one of three Workday Special Conditions to new awards, each beginning with “Separate Year Accountability” that makes the requirement clear.

Workday Special Conditions

The Separate Year Accountability special conditions are award-level special conditions and are visible in Workday and Award Portal.

There are three Special Conditions:

  1. Separate Year Accountability is required
  2. Separate Year Accountability is not required
  3. Separate Year Accountability is unknown (requirement is not specified in the award)

Note: These special conditions were created in August 2024 and are added to new awards created in Workday after August. The special conditions do not appear on Workday awards that were created prior to August.

Where to See the Special Conditions

You can see these special conditions in the Special Conditions section of the Workday award and when viewing the award in Award Portal.

Workday

Workday special condition tab

Award Portal

Award Portal Award Information section

Examples of  Awards with Separate Year Accountability

The following are examples of awards that generally require separate year accountability. This is general guidance and can vary from award to award. It is important to read an award document to determine whether separate year accountability is required.

DHHS Grants

NIH non-SNAP awards as well as grants from the DHHS family of agencies typically require a financial report at the end of each budget period and/or assign a different federal document ID number to each budget period.

The following table compares each year of an NIH SNAP award and an NIH non-SNAP award to show how separate year accountability impacts how the awards are set up in Workday.

NIH SNAP versus nonSNAP table

Federal Contracts

Federally-funded contracts commonly provide funding for one base year with subsequent years referred to as option years. Federal sponsors do not allow carryover of unspent balances between the base year and the option years or between two option years.

For more information on federal contracts, visit the Office of Sponsored Programs' Federal Contracts webpage.

Using Separate Year Accountability with SAGE Requests

Understanding an award’s separate year accountability requirement can help campus departments choose the appropriate way to submit certain requests in SAGE.

Start and End Date Guidance for the ASR and SAGE Budget

Articulating start and end dates at time of award can be critical to setting up the award accurately in Workday. There are several places in SAGE Budget and the Award Setup Request (ASR) to identify start and end dates.

SAGE Budget Periods

When creating a SAGE Budget worksheet, the Budget Settings section allows a user to enter the start and end dates for each budget period. It is the first step in building a budget for each budget period which will likely lead to a separate SAGE Budget worksheet and award line for each budget period.

The Award Setup Request

In the General Information section of the Award Setup Request, Current Period Start Date and Current Period End Date represent the project period end dates.

Connecting SAGE Budget to the ASR

When connecting the SAGE Budget to the ASR, it is important to select the periods that are authorized by the sponsor. The periods selected should coincide with the Current Period Start Date and Current Period End Date entered on the ASR.

MOD Start Date Guidance

An award’s start and end dates are indicated in the Notice of Award, however the date to be populated on a SAGE Modification Request (MOD) the "Award Line(s) / Budget Period Start Date" field depends on whether separate year accountability is required.

Separate Year Accountability Required

If separate year accountability is required, use the start date of the budget period being funded as the Award Line(s) / Budget Period Start Date. This date will be used as the start date for the award line(s) in Workday.

Separate Year Accountability Not Required/Separate Year Accountability Unknown

If the sponsor does not require separate year accountability, a single award line may be used across all budget periods. When completing the MOD, use the award’s Workday Contract Start Date as the Budget Start Date in SAGE Budget and the MOD’s Award Line(s) / Budget Period Start Date shown in the following screenshot.


MOD screenshot

Note: If it is helpful to manage an award by budget period (even when separate year accountability is not required), create a SAGE Budget worksheet for each budget period when submitting an ASR or MOD and GCA will create a Workday award line for each budget period.

Renewal Award Line or Supplement/Extension?

Separate Year Accountability Required

If separate year accountability is required, each budget period must have its own award line. Create a new SAGE Budget worksheet and submit a OSP/GCA MOD with the “Funding & budgeting changes” and “Schedule changes” boxes checked. GCA will create a new award line for the new budget period in Workday.

Separate Year Accountability Not Required

If the sponsor does not require separate year accountability, each budget period can be added to the existing award line. Add a new period to an existing SAGE Budget, if needed, and submit a OSP/GCA MOD with the “Funding & budgeting changes” and “Schedule changes” boxes checked. GCA will add funds to the existing award line and extend its end date.

Separate Year Accountability Unknown

When there is no indication in the award, GCA will review the next year’s award document to determine whether separate year accountability is required. If it is still not clear, GCA will treat the award as if separate year accountability is not required and combine funding in one award line and one grant worktag.

Renewal Advance or Temporary Extension?

When waiting for the next year of an award to be processed, you can submit a renewal advance request or a Temporary Internal Extension request to continue posting expenditures. Choosing the right request depends on separate year accountability. 

Separate Year Accountability Required

If the sponsor requires separate year accountability, submit a renewal advance request to GCA. GCA will then create the renewal advance award line in Workday. For more information about obtaining carryover approval from a sponsor, please refer to the Carryover section of OSP’s Award Changes webpage.

Separate Year Accountability Not Required

If the sponsor does not require separate year accountability, submit an OSP/GCA MOD for a Schedule change, Temporary Internal Extension. GCA will then extend the end date of the existing award line.

Separate Year Accountability Unknown

When there is no indication in the award, GCA will treat the award as if separate year accountability is not required. Submit an OSP/GCA MOD for a Schedule change, Temporary Internal Extension and GCA will extend the end date of the existing award line.

Subaward Award Lines

When GCA processes an Award Setup Request (ASR) that includes a SAGE Budget subaward worksheet, a subaward award line is automatically created in Workday. The outyears of the subaward will require a renewal award line if the award to UW requires separate year accountability. If the subaward award line for an outyears is not established with processing of the renewal (supplement and extension) MOD, submit a GCA Only MOD to request the subaward award line.

Note: If the sponsor does not require separate year accountability, only one subaward award line is needed.

Visit GCA’s Subawards webpage for more information.

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