Effective research administration over the life of the award will help eliminate problems during closeout process. Federal granting agencies have a requirement that closeout documents be submitted to the government within 90 days after the end of the period of performance; therefore the research administrator must ensure that expenses are complete and have posted to the PTA within 60 days of the project end date. The Office of Sponsored Research will then prepare the final financial report and submit it to the sponsor.

Technical, patent and invention reports must also be submitted in a timely manner. Award notices specify requirements for reports. PIs who fail to submit timely technical or progress reports, for example, risk losing their funding, and jeopardize the funding of other Stanford PIs. Recently, Stanford University has seen an increasing number of sponsors, both Federal AND non-federal, exercise their right to suspend funding in these situations.

All financial records should be retained for a minimum of three years after closeout, longer if circumstances require it.