The accounting rules are complicated. Indirects must be provided to investigators in adequate amounts to ensure the grants are managed well. Basically we operate in the dark. Have clear guidelines for each agency in advance. There seems to be no monitoring of this at any level.
PIs can make honest mistakes and never know something is wrong until an audit.
Suggestion Better departmental administrative support - someone to ask. F Problem Had difficulty purchasing incentives for subjects for one study, and was told this item had to be directly identified in the project budget. I feel I have little or no control over use of my budget number for internal UW purchases. Suggestion There have been major changes in the NIH-related policies in the last year. In general, GCS and GCA have done an excellent job at communicating them to faculty.