News
Fiscal Year End Procedures & Reminders
During the close of the fiscal year, Sponsored Research is committed to balancing normal procedures along with time sensitive fiscal year end items. To ensure a smooth fiscal year end closeout, we are sending the following reminders:
Award Setup
Until August 15, 2025: Awards currently on hold due to pending items required from the department will be held. After August 15, Sponsored Research will proceed with setup with the budget restricted.
After September 1, 2025, departments should:
- Submit an AMR with the outstanding items
- Request the projects be rebudgeted and remaining account codes opened
Ancillary reviews have been sent to department contacts on all impacted awards. For assistance in reviewing and responding to ancillary reviews, refer to the Ancillary Reviews and Ancillary Review Submission job aids. If an updated budget is requested, reference Reconcile Awards Budget for system help.
Just-in-Time
Northwestern continues to receive Just-in-Time requests as well as RPPR follow-up requests for information required before issuing new or continuing awards. These requests will be routed to departments as promptly as possible. PIs are asked not to respond until Sponsored Research has reviewed the full and complete response. As a reminder, only an Authorized Organizational Representative may submit the final response to the sponsor.
Award Modification Requests (AMRs)
Award modification requests are usually processed in order of submission; however, we understand that occasionally there is an urgent deadline-driven request that needs to be prioritized. If there is a sponsor deadline for your AMR, please take the following steps:
- Include the sponsor deadline in the short title of the AMR
- Upload the sponsor request confirming this deadline into the supporting documents area of the AMR
If you have concerns about the timeliness of a submitted AMR, please contact Maura Cleffi at m-cleffi@northwestern.edu.
Reminder: Checking AMR Status
To view the most up-to-date status, in the timeliest manner, please utilize the resources in CERES to look up the status of any transaction. We kindly ask you to do this prior to reaching out to SR as we want to dedicate as much time as we can to processing transactions. If you need to reach out to SR, use the “Send E-mail” feature within CERES as it provides a direct link to the record and provides the greatest transparency to SR staff if a request must be reassigned. For additional help, reference the
“Check Item Status in CERES” job aid.News Repository
2025
- SR News & Updates (July 17, 2025)
- Topics: NOAs from National Institutes of Health, NIH Subaward Update, New NSF Research Security Requirement, Prespending Under Interim Funding Quick Reference, NIH Progress Report Follow Up
- NIH Accelerates Timeline for Public Access to Research Results (June, 18, 2025)
- Update on NIH Outgoing Subaward Stop Work Order (June 17, 2025)
- SR News & Updates (June 16, 2025)
- Topics: New Annual Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Program Certification for PIs/co-PIs, Indirect Cost Rate Guidance for Proposals to Federal Sponsors, Advance and At-Risk Accounts Process Changes. PAA Team Updates
- SR News & Updates (May 23, 2025)
- SR News & Updates (May 5, 2025)
- SR News & Updates (April 28, 2025)
- NIH NIH Policies Resource (March 28, 2025)
2024
- Winter Recess Deadlines for Sponsored Research (November 14, 2024)
- SR Resource Updates: Progress Reports, Capsules, SRAs, and MTAs (October 28, 2024)
- NSF Mandatory MFA Use for Research.gov (October 23, 2024)
- Upcoming NIH Common Forms Changes (October 15, 2024)
- FY2025 Fringe Benefit Rates Announced (August 12, 2024)
- Fiscal Year-End Business Processes (July 12, 2024)
- Export Controls and IT Security Ancillary Reviews Procedural Change (March 27, 2024)
- Graduate Student Stipend Rates in Proposals (March 6, 2024)
- NIH Salary Cap Update FY2024 (February 2, 2024)
- NIH eRA Commons ID Requirement Effective January 25, 2024 (January 8, 2024)