Billing and Collections

Billing and Collections

Billing and collections is a collaborative effort requiring Contracts and Grants Accounting (CGA) and the individual department to partner together. Depending on the type of award, either CGA or the department will handle the procedures and responsibilities.  Broadly, CGA handles the majority of specific billing tasks including updating the Research Administration System (RAS) with the department reviewing RAS regularly and contacting CGA to ensure billing is complete and payment is received and applied correctly.

Department Responsibilities Pertaining to All Award Types

  • Award agreements stipulate that payments should be sent to CGA.
  • Review RAS regularly to ensure that billing is complete and payment is received per the terms and conditions of the award. The “Invoice/Payment Reconciliation” in RAS shows payment and invoice history
  • Review the RAS Department AR Invoice Inquiry Report for outstanding invoices.
  • Review unapplied cash deposits using the Deposit/Payment Inquiry Report.
  • Contact CGA in the case of untimely payments, enabling CGA to coordinate communications with the sponsor.
  • Alert CGA immediately about any sponsor changes including concerns about collectability, address changes, contact changes, etc. Many billing and collections problems can be avoided if information is shared quickly ensuring proper submission of invoices.

Responsibilities for Specific Award Types

Letter of Credit Awards

CGA executes invoicing and processes money draws for Letter of Credit (LOC) awards for federal agencies.

Since UCSF can only draw money from the Federal government after invoices are paid, departments should ensure that all accounts payable invoices are received and approved timely.

Cost Reimbursable (except LOC) Awards

CGA processes billing for Cost Reimbursable awards.

Where required by contract, departments provide supplemental documentation that substantiates the expenses being invoiced.

Fixed Price Awards (units of service, milestone, installment, advance payment, etc.)

In the case of fixed price awards, it is especially important that the PI and department track progress of the project and ensure that progress reports and other deliverables are submitted to the sponsor timely so that billing can be generated.

Departments are responsible for initiating invoices for certain types of fixed price awards (e.g., State awards, units of service) and are required to submit these invoices to CGA using RAS no less than five business days before a bill is due to the sponsor.

CGA will process the majority of invoices for awards that receive payments on an installment basis per contract terms.

Clinical Trial Awards

Department creates and sends clinical trial award invoices to sponsor and a copy is submitted to CGA for recording in RAS.

All payments from sponsors should be mailed directly to the Contracts and Grants Lockbox for processing and entry into the RAS Accounts Receivable system.  Departments must NOT prepare a journal to record sponsored projects payments into the General Ledger.  If you receive a check for a sponsored project, see Handling Checks Received for Sponsored Projects for instructions. 

Departments should review the list of payments which have been received but not yet recorded against the benefiting project in RAS regularly. The Unapplied Cash Deposits Report lists these payments and information that was captured from the check/wire including sponsor name, department, amount and deposit date. Contact CGA if you identify a payment that should be credited to your Project.

Uncollectable Invoices

Uncollectable invoices are charged back to departments when due to untimely PI progress reports, late billing by department, disallowed costs by sponsor, failure to pay because sponsor is not financially viable, and when a sponsor defaults on accounts receivable balance after CGA attempts collection. Chargeback (of expenses) will occur six months (180 days) after the issuance of a bill through the RAS system.

CGA is responsible for uncollectable accounts receivables that were due to CGA processing.