VT3 (RTF—Intra Fund Group—26 Accounts)
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A VT3 is used only for allowable minor adjustments between subaccounts within the same sponsored project budget group (26- accounts). VT3 is not for transferring funds from one grant to another grant, which is strictly prohibited except for extremely rare and unusual sponsor-approved circumstances.
Unlike VT1s and VT2s, VT3 documents have an additional set of grant/sponsor-specific rules that apply to them. Generally speaking, when a grant proposal is funded, there is an approved budget included as a part of the proposal. It reflects budgeted amounts in each of several spending categories, coinciding with a budget narrative. It is basically an explanation of how a department intends to use the grant funds. Sponsors obviously like for you to adhere to your proposal, but occasionally we need to transfer funds from one category to another to accommodate minor over-spending in one budgeted category.
How It Works
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- Review Terms and Conditions of the Award related to the Official Budget and potential allowable modifications to the Official Budget. Some sponsors allow for minor budgetary realignment and do not require a budget/proposal amendment if the budget category totals remain within 10% of the originally proposed budget. These transfers can be processed directly on a VT3 and (depending on the account number) they will route to a specific accountant in Contracts and Grants who is familiar with each sponsor’s requirements and will not approve the document if it is inappropriate.
Other sponsors require prior justification and specific approval if the budget will need an adjustment. In these cases, a budget amendment must be processed and approved by the sponsor INSTEAD OF processing a VT3. The sponsor may have a hard copy, email, or online electronic form to fill out to request an amendment that shows the old budget and the new budget. This has to be processed through the Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP) since it will require a formal change in line items; accounting cannot change the line items in these budget groups without sponsor approval. The budget amendment will be processed like all formal documents through OSP with a proposal review form and required signatures, and then sent to the sponsor for signatures. The sponsor returns the fully executed document to OSP and accounting then processes the line item change.
NOTE If changes are to be made to a subcontract sub account and OSP has not received a subcontract amendment to adjust funding, the additional budget will be placed into a subcontract holding account until an amendment is received.
- Create the VT3. If no budget amendment is required, payer originates the VT3 doc in *DEFINE. To avoid having your VT3 returned, make sure that you have entered the right account, for the right purpose, under the right signature authority.
Tips for completing the VT3:
- “Comments”: Explain why money is being moved, not what the transaction is. For example, “To provide funds for temporary appointment of work study” is a good statement of the reason for the VT3. “Moving $ from MNO to Wages” is the action; it is not a reason to move money.
- “Accounts” Verify that there are adequate funds in the debit account before processing VT3. Exception: It is OK to be in overdraft when debiting from faculty salary accounts.
- “Object code”: This will enter automatically. It is always 9072 (default) for a VT3.
- -09 Sub-Accounts: If you are debiting or crediting an -09 sub- account, you will get the message: “No budget items entered in account.” When this happens, mark the moreable under “Amount” and enter “9999” in the line item screen. You will also need to re-enter the amount to be credited/debited.
- Debiting or crediting multiple accounts: Move the moreable to the left of “1.“ RTF Transactions” in order to access the screen in which you can split the amount debited or credited between multiple accounts.
- Routing: The VT3 needs two departmental approvals, creator and approver. If no budget amendment is required, the VT3 will route to a contact in Contracts and Grants. If there is an amendment, contracts and grants will realign the budget per the approved amendment from OSP and there is need for a VT3.
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Note: PDF files require
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Contact
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Please direct comments on the Procedures Guide to
cola_comments@utlists.utexas.edu.
Tips or FAQs
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- If some sub-accounts are indirect cost (IDC) earning and some are not (e.g., 37/70/71 subs are usually exempt from IDC), you will need to confirm the applicable IDC rate [should be clearly outlined within the budget] to calculate the IDC after the allowable transfer is made. For example, the current standard research IDC rate is 52%. This rate is used in the following example below, but you will use the actual rate for the specific budget in question when re-calculating the IDC.
- $amount to transfer/1.52 = $amount to credit to overhead earning subs
- $amount to credit to overhead earning subs x .52 = $amount to credit to overhead.
- Example: Total transfer to 71 non overhead earning sub account = $9,802
$9,802/1.52=$6,449 amount to credit to overhead earning subs (12 & 14)
$6,449 x .52 = $3,353 amount to credit to overhead
In this case, the VT3 entries would be as follows:
2639585412 $3,891 C TRANSFER FUNDS
2639585414 $2,558 C TRANSFER FUNDS
2639585490 $3,353 C TRANSFER FUNDS
2639585471 $9,802 D TRANSFER FUNDS
Last Modified: 31 July 2009
