Grant closeout: three finishes, in order.
You have 120 days after the end date to pay what you owe and file final reports. Closed means three finishes, in order: department done, sponsor billed, grant locked.
The clock
Everything owed on the grant has to be paid off, or liquidated, inside the same 120-day window. Some older training material still says 90 days for everything. That is out of date (2 CFR 200.344).
Three finishes
- Department done. The department or PI clears open purchase orders, payroll corrections and anything with subawards, and checks off their closeout tasks.
- Sponsor billed. The central grants office bills the last costs and files the final report, inside those 120 days.
- Grant locked. Only then stop new costs landing and stop the system recalculating. Switching the grant off does not always stop people picking it on a new transaction, so check.
Two late surprises
A late payroll fix: if the final report is not filed yet, process it and bill it. If it is filed, that is a conversation with the sponsor about a revised report. Never post it quietly.
A missing final invoice from a subrecipient: their 90 days leaves you about 30 to pay, bill and report. If the invoice is not coming, get a written final statement and close out the commitment.
Start early. About 60 to 90 days before the end date, flag the grant as closing and send the department its task list.
Two ways to take this further
The free health check runs sixteen checks on your grants area, and the free Effort Certification Review tests your own export in your browser.
The Sponsored Award Review is the scored version, $1,950 for your whole institution.
More guides like this: Workday Grants guides from an independent consultant.