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Office of Sponsored Awards Management

Risk Account

When a Principal Investigator (PI) receives a new sponsored award, there is sometimes a period of time between the award notification and receipt of the awarded funds. To allow the PI to begin work on the sponsored project before funds are in hand, the Office of Grants and Funds Management can establish a risk account (also referred to as an advance account).


Procedure to Request a Risk Account

Requests to establish a risk account in advance of receiving a sponsored award must be approved by the department or unit chair/director and dean of the department/unit requesting the establishment of the account. To initiate the process, the PI should prepare a memorandum or email containing the following information:

  1. Title of project
  2. Sponsor
  3. Minimum dollars required, by object code, to accomplish objectives
  4. Dates of proposed risk account (not to exceed three months)
  5. Justification (e.g. the proposal is approved and awaiting final administrative action by the sponsor)
  6. Name and email address of the department/unit's SAM sponsored awards administrator

The memorandum or email should be sent to the department chair. Upon approval by the department chair, the request should be forwarded to the unit's or department's dean for approval. Fully approved requests are forwarded on to the designated SAM sponsored awards administrator with a copy back to the department and PI.

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