Sponsor Approved Budget (SAB) and Prior Approvals

Depending on the terms of the award, it may be necessary to request prior Sponsor approval for certain types of expenses. For example, prior approval may be required to buy equipment or to travel outside the US. When a request for approval will impact the SAB, the DLCI must indicate in their request how the SAB will be affected. Prior Approval requests that will result in a change to the SAB need to be routed as a Progress Report in KC and should include (a) the revised budget, (b) an explanation of the need for the requested change and (c) a revised budget justification. See the example below for illustration of the way a request for approval might affect the SAB. Also see: Submitting a Change Request

The SAB will only reflect changes that have been communicated to and approved by the Sponsor, so that the budget of record corresponds to the most recent budget in the Sponsor’s records. Adjustments to the budget that do not require Sponsor approval will not be reflected in the SAB.

NOTE: Many budget changes do not require Sponsor approval, and not all Sponsor approvals will update the SAB. Check the terms of the specific award in Kuali Coeus to determine whether a change requires Sponsor approval.  If Sponsor approval is required, consult with your contract administrator to determine if a revised budget should be routed as part of the request..

Some examples of prior approvals that could impact the budget include:

• Reduction of PI effort by more than 25% from amount originally committed
• Addition of an unbudgeted subaward
• Addition of unbudgeted equipment
• Carryforward of unexpended funds from a prior year

Example: SAB effect of request to add subaward

Professor Jane Jones receives an award from the NSF which does not require prior approval to rebudget between travel expenses and materials and supplies, but does require prior approval to add a subawardee.

When Prof. Jones decides to engage her colleague Dr. Smith through a subaward, her request to the NSF for this approval should include a revised budget that reflects the new spending plan and includes the subaward. Since Prof. Jones has already spent $3,000 on travel, the new budget should not budget less than this for travel. Prof. Jones decides to eliminate the equipment and some more materials from her budget to fund the subaward. Overall, this will result in the following changes to her budget: