Grant Writing Post-Award Management and Reporting 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A federal grantee fails to submit its annual performance report on time. What is the most likely consequence?
- Automatic grant termination
- Withholding of future payments until the report is submitted (Correct answer)
- Immediate referral to the Office of Inspector General
- A mandatory 10% budget reduction
Correct answer: Withholding of future payments until the report is submitted
Federal agencies typically place a hold on future payments or draw-down requests until delinquent reports are submitted and accepted.
Question 2: Which financial management system requirement under Uniform Guidance ensures that federal funds are not commingled with other funds?
- Segregation of duties
- Separate bank accounts for each grant
- Identification of federal award expenditures separately (Correct answer)
- Daily bank reconciliation
Correct answer: Identification of federal award expenditures separately
Uniform Guidance requires that grantees maintain accounting systems that identify the receipt and expenditure of federal awards separately from other funds.
Question 3: What is 'program income' in the context of a federal grant?
- Revenue generated from fundraising events held during the grant period
- Gross income earned by the grantee that is directly generated by grant-supported activities (Correct answer)
- Salary income paid to project staff from grant funds
- Matching funds contributed by a third party
Correct answer: Gross income earned by the grantee that is directly generated by grant-supported activities
Program income is gross income earned by a grantee from grant-supported activities, such as fees for services or sale of goods produced under the award.
Question 4: During a site visit, a federal program officer reviews timesheets and finds that a staff member charged 100% effort to the grant but also worked on other projects. This is an example of:
- Allowable cost allocation
- Effort reporting misrepresentation (Correct answer)
- Reasonable cost documentation
- Indirect cost recovery
Correct answer: Effort reporting misrepresentation
Charging 100% effort to a grant while working on other projects is a misrepresentation in effort reporting and can constitute fraud.
Question 5: What is the standard federal grant record retention period under Uniform Guidance after the end of the grant period?
- 2 years
- 3 years (Correct answer)
- 5 years
- 7 years
Correct answer: 3 years
Under 2 CFR 200.334, financial records, supporting documents, and other records must be retained for three years from the date of submission of the final financial report.
Question 6: A grantee organization hires a relative of the executive director as a project consultant. This situation raises concerns about:
- Indirect cost allocation
- Conflict of interest and nepotism (Correct answer)
- Subrecipient monitoring
- Program income reporting
Correct answer: Conflict of interest and nepotism
Hiring relatives of organizational leadership raises conflict of interest concerns that must be disclosed and managed according to the organization's written conflict of interest policy.
Question 7: Which of the following is considered an unallowable cost under most federal grants?
- Staff training directly related to the project
- Lobbying activities to influence federal legislation (Correct answer)
- Printing and copying project materials
- Travel to attend a project-related conference
Correct answer: Lobbying activities to influence federal legislation
Lobbying costs—including costs to influence federal or state legislation—are expressly unallowable under 2 CFR 200.450.
Grant Writing Post-Award Management and Reporting 3
A federal grantee fails to submit its annual performance report on time.
What is the most likely consequence?