Expense Review FAQ

Q. Who should use EXPENSE REVIEW?

All PIs with sponsored account expenses.

Q. Can I use EXPENSE REVIEW to record non-sponsored expense reviews?

There is no “Complete Review” button on the non-sponsored tab, but Departments can add a report note that requires faculty member to complete non-sponsored expense reviews.

Q. Why must I review within six weeks?

Allows salary corrections within 90 days

Fulfills University policy and makes Audit happy, too.

Q. How can I tell if my faculty have completed their reviews?

Currently you can’t easily, but we’re fixing this.

My PIs page will have status information on it, as will report selection menu on Expense Review page.

You will receive a monthly email that includes the status of the people you support.

College and central administrators have a review status dashboard for their faculty.

Q. Can I complete the review for my faculty?

No, only the account manager and central administrators can see the “Complete Review” button.

Many department administrators tell me they plan to sit with their faculty during their bi-monthly meetings while they go over the report.

Q. What if someone puts an SSN in a note or question and it’s locked?

SFS staff can edit notes and questions after the review is locked.

We will want to train faculty about what’s appropriate in the permanent record.

Q. Will I have to do annual salary certification?

There will be one more round, completed in Expense Review for July-Dec 2025.

No. EXPENSE REVIEW replaces annual salary certification for all colleges.

Q. When will EXPENSE REVIEW go live?

It is live now and will be required of everyone in February.

Q. What happens if my faculty don’t complete their reviews?

You will see this in the “My PIs” page; you can reach out to them to make them aware.

Some administrators sit with their faculty during a bi-monthly meeting to discuss research finances and review the expenses together.

Eventually, SFS will escalate with faculty, their chair, and eventually their dean, etc.

You are not responsible for faculty compliance.

Q. Does Expense Review and PI Dash help me with projecting expenses? and Q. Why does the PI Dashboard not include encumbrances?

EXPENSE REVIEW is an after-the-fact review tool.

Encumbrances, as implemented in KFS, often produce unexpected results on sponsored awards, particularly if the current period extends beyond the fiscal year or the award is funds term employees with re-appointment dates before the encumbrance end date.

Our Faculty advisory committee preferred did not want to see encumbered balances that were right only some of the time.

We will add encumbrances on non-sponsored accounts and hope to address projections for sponsored accounts.

Q. Can I download the report?

Copy and paste to Excel works well. We plan to add a download button.

Q. Can I print the report?

Right now, Expense Review doesn’t support printing. We plan to support printing soon.

Q. Can I add a note addressing a question a faculty sent me about a transaction?

Not right now. Notes are locked after the faculty completes the review.

We’re considering adding post-completion notes.

Q. I’m using my campus tool (CaveBear, CISIS, CHE, STAR) for expense reviews. What now?

Use EXPENSE REVIEW for expense reviews.

Tools with no added functionality will be retired (e.g., CHE’s tool).

Tools with additional functions will remain (e.g.: CISIS and CaveBear’slabor planning)

Q. Are there known bugs?

Transactions on closed projects are not shown. We’ll be fixing this in January.

Some notes from very early users were dropped. We’ll be adding them in January.

We show too many empty accounts and sub-accounts. We plan to address this soon.