Research

Guidelines on internal accounting and reporting for Cooperative Research Centres

A focus on research of an international quality and the fostering of an outstanding research culture have positioned UWA as one of the best universities in Australia and in the top 150 in the world.

Further Information

In the 1998 and 2001 Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) rounds, UWA was named as the host institution of one CRC and as a core participant or collaborator in seven others.

This escalation in activity has meant that the University has had to review its procedures for the administration of Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs).

In the past this has been devolved to the faculty/school, and although this practice will continue, there is now a need to formally identify lines of responsibility and to introduce a more systematic internal reporting of CRC activities and benefits

It is standard practice that a separate academic organisational unit is established for all University centres where there is likely to be a complexity of accounts.

Under the Guidelines for the establishment and review of UWA Centres, CRCs are identified as one of a small group of centres established through winning major competitive external funding, and they automatically receive centre status and a unique identifying business unit code.

  1. Responsibilities and commitments
  2. Role of the Responsible Officer
  3. Funding
  4. Reporting

Responsibilities and commitments

If a CRC has significant activity at UWA then a responsible area and a Responsible Officer should be identified at an early stage. All other contributors to the CRC who have a UWA affiliation need to also be identified, including the UWA Board representative (if any) and any other contributing University faculty/school/centre.

Back to top

Role of the Responsible Officer

The role of the Responsible Officer is to:

Back to top

Funding

Cash and in-kind commitments by UWA participants should be clearly identified at the time of signing the Commonwealth Funding Agreement and Centre Agent Agreement, and should include the source of internal funds.

Research Matching Fund commitments will be paid annually or on an agreed schedule, and will only be paid on receipt of the annual report and coversheet from the Responsible Officer.

All funds flowing through the CRC that are received by UWA as part of its formal involvement, should be allocated to a project grant in fund group 55 (Commonwealth Government Cooperative Research Centres) against the business unit of the Centre.

These funds are exempt from the University infrastructure charge because the University is contributing in-kind as part of its core participation in the CRC.

The guidelines for the Higher Education Research Data Collection require that the research funds received by UWA from the CRC (and allocated to fund group 55) should be identified as either, funding derived from:

  • the Commonwealth grant to the CRC
  • non-university participants in the CRC
  • third parties contributing to the CRC.

Industry funding to a participating University school for an activity which falls outside the CRC should be paid directly to the school, and the standard University infrastructure levee should be applied. Please consult the guidelines for charging infrastructure of research grants and consultancies. These industry funds should not be reported in the CRC Annual Report.

Funding from CRCs in which UWA is not a partner should also be paid directly to the school, and the standard University infrastructure levee should be applied. This is because the University does not claim an equity share in the CRC.

Faculty or school expenditure that is a result of an agreed CRC activity should be charged to the fund group 55 project grants under the Business Unit of the CRC. This is especially the case when recovering salaried positions of the school.

Back to top

Reporting

The CRC Conditions of Award require on-going performance monitoring and reporting.

Each CRC is required to provide an annual report of its activities to the Department, set in the context of the CRC’s overall research, educational and business strategy within three months of the end of each financial year. This report should include a budget statement with details of in-kind and cash contributions of the partners, and it is a Commonwealth requirement that an audit be undertaken to provide an independent assessment of the Centre's commitments and contributions.

In calculating the University in-kind contribution, a salary multiplier should be applied against all professional staff time committed to the CRC activities, including for CRC-funded personnel. This multiplier will vary between high-cost (127 per cent of the imputed cost of academic staff time devoted to the project), medium-cost (114 per cent of academic staff time) and low-cost (100 per cent of academic staff time) schools. Research Services should be consulted for advice on appropriately costing in-kind support.

CRCs are also required to report by mid-June to the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research regarding the research funds they have passed to each participating university in the previous financial year.

Back to top

It is the role of the Responsible Officer to check the advice of the CRC Centre Agent against the figures in the fund group 55 project grants, to advise the CRC of any changes and to negotiate amendments.