As PI, you play a large role in preparing reports during your grant, though you don't submit them. Instead, you give information to your business office so it can send the reports to us.

Still, it's good practice to keep abreast of your due dates. That way you'll know when your business office will need information from you and when to check that your business office has indeed sent it.

Table of Contents

• Ongoing Required Reports
• Know When to Submit Financial Reports
• Federal Financial Report
• Keep Tabs on Subawardees
• Invention Reporting Has Four Parts
• Understand the Annual Progress Report
• Use the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR)
• Report How You Share Data and Organisms
• Progress Reporting for Renewal Applications
• Meet Your Audit Requirements

Ongoing Required Reports

Once your project is underway, you and your institution have these ongoing required reports:

• Financial reports
• Subaward reports
• Invention reports
• Progress reports
• Audit requirements

In some cases, you may have additional requirements. For example

• If you're working with human subjects, you need institutional review board approval every year  and must send additional reports as described on Research Using Human Subjects.
• If you're working with animals, you need institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC) approval every three years and must send additional reports as described on Research Using Vertebrate Animals.

For a list of the most common reporting requirements, go to our table at Standard Reports for NIH-Funded Grants. Review your Notice of Award and contact your business office for a full listing of all reports required for your grant.

Along with the items described above, your institutional business official needs to submit an Annual Report on Possible Research Misconduct to the Office of Research Integrity. ORI will impose a bar on your award if it does not receive this report.

Depending on its size, structure, tax status, and amount of federal funding, your institution may also have to report the total compensation of its five most highly-compensated executives for itself and subawardees receiving $25,000 or more during the grant period.

You may also want to check the NIH Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act and Frequently Asked Questions on executive compensation, subaward reporting, and other requirements.

Know When to Submit Financial Reports

Some items go directly to HHS as a quarterly Cast Transaction Report.

As a term of award, your business office has to report expenditures. Make sure you know reporting schedules.

Federal Financial Report

Your business office submits financial data to NIH using the Federal Financial Report (FFR).

Timing of this report depends on your terms of award. Most grants require one FFR within 120 days after your grant's end date. Some grants require more frequent reporting.

Check your Notice of Award to make sure, and contact your grants management specialist with any questions.

For more information, go to the eRA Commons Federal Financial Report (FFR) page.

Cash Transaction Report

In addition to the FFR, your business office sends a quarterly Cash Transaction Report (CTR) directly to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

CTR includes items 10a, 10b, and 10c of the FFR, but your institution sends it separately using the Payment Management System, a secure non-NIH database.

Your CTR is due within 30 days after the end of each fiscal year quarter and within 90 days after the end of your project.

For due dates, use the following table, and contact your business office to find out your internal deadlines.

For more information, go to Grant Recipient Information from the HHS Division of Payment Management.

Keep Tabs on Subawardees

For each subawardee that receives more than $25,000 during your grant, your business office reports information to the FFATA Subaward Reporting System. Your institution is exempt from this requirement if it is a federal agency or has less than $300,000 in gross income for the previous tax year.

For more information, go to the following pages:

• Subawards (Consortium Agreements) for Grants SOP
• NIH Frequently Asked Questions on FFATA, including subaward reporting.

Invention Reporting Has Four Parts

You must report any inventions made during your grant.

For these three items, your business office sends the information through iEdison.

1. Fully disclose an invention to us in writing within two months after you (the inventor) provide a written disclosure to your institutional official. Include the grant, inventor's name, and a complete technical description.
2. When submitting a renewal or noncompeting application, include either
   
   • A list of all inventions conceived or brought to practice during the preceding budget period.
   • Certification that no inventions were made during the period.
3. Submit an annual utilization report when you've elected title to an invention or begin to receive royalties or licensing fees from inventions that are not patented.

For the fourth item, submit a final invention statement and certification, HHS 568, at the end of your project. Read more at Final Reports for Grant Closeout.

Learn more about invention reporting at the NIH Intellectual Property Policy site.

Understand the Annual Progress Report

Make sure your business office turns in your progress reports on time or risk a late award.

To maintain support of your research each year, your business office submits a Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) to NIH before the beginning of each budget period.

Your program officer reviews this progress report to determine whether NIAID will continue funding your project, and your grants management specialist evaluates your grant's administrative and fiscal status.

You have several ways to find out when your progress report is due:

• Contact your business office.
• Check the eRA Commons for a list of your reports and their due dates.
• Go to Progress Report Search by IPF Number. If you don't know your institution's profile number (IPF), look it up at IPF Number Search.

Make sure your business office turns in your progress reports on time—late or incomplete progress reports cause late awards.

To see the "who, what, when, and how" of your reporting requirements, go to our table at Standard Reports for NIH-Funded Grants.

Use the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR)

Access the RPPR through the eRA Commons. eRA automatically populates some information, but you should check for mistakes.

Note that for a multiple PI grant, only the contact PI may edit the RPPR.

For more information, go to the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) SOP.

Report How You Share Data and Organisms

If you created a new model organism, your program officer will assess how you have shared it, so include the number of requests you've received and fulfilled.

Describe data, research materials, and other information resulting from research and how they may be shared with other investigators. We summarized the requirements at Create a Resource Sharing Plan.

Progress Reporting for Renewal Applications

If you're submitting a competing renewal application, do not submit a progress report for the prior award.

When you apply, describe your progress in the Research Strategy as a section with the header "Progress Report" so your program officer can easily find it.

For more on renewals, read Apply for Renewal.

Meet Your Audit Requirements

Even if your institution is exempt, you still need to maintain your grant records in case NIH wants to review or audit them.

Your institution will be audited if it spends $750,000 or more a year of HHS award money.

Educational and other nonprofit institutions are subject to OMB Circular A-133.

For-profit organizations can satisfy audit requirements with either of the following:

• A financial audit. See the Government Auditing Standards (the "Yellow Book").
• An audit that meets the requirements of Circular A-133.

Audits are required annually. Grantees usually have 30 days after the receipt of the auditor's report to respond to audit findings.

Your institution should submit audit reports using the Federal Audit Clearinghouse's Internet Data Entry System.

If your institution is exempt from an audit, you should still maintain your grant records in case NIH needs to review or audit them.

Find more information online

• 45 CFR 74.26(d)
• OMB's Circulars

When your award ends, you’ll need to file Final Reports for Grant Closeout.