Research and technical services
Grant and project accounting that recovers what the work costs
Research organisations run many funded projects at once, each with its own rules. We account at project level and make sure the work recovers what it genuinely costs to do.
Recovering what the work costs.
Direct cost + shared cost → full project cost
At a glance
Project cost captures direct expenditure only, so true cost is unknown.
Project and grant accounting
Project-wise cost, direct and fully absorbed.
The economics
Why the numbers are harder here
A research-led organisation runs a portfolio of projects funded by different bodies, each with its own permitted cost heads, reporting period, format and rules on what overhead may be charged. None of these align with each other or with the financial year, so a consolidated ledger cannot answer what any individual funder asks.
The recurring financial problem is recovery. Projects are costed on direct expenditure while consuming shared resources — people, equipment, premises, administration — that the funder may only partly reimburse. Without a defensible overhead basis the organisation subsidises its own funded work, usually without knowing by how much.
The problem
Where visibility breaks down
- Project cost captures direct expenditure only, so true cost is unknown.
- Overhead is recovered at a rate nobody can substantiate when challenged.
- Staff time is split across projects and allocated retrospectively from memory.
- Milestone billing lags delivery, so cash trails work by months.
- Equipment bought on one grant is used across several with no attribution.
Where we concentrate
How we focus the engagement
Project and grant accounting
- Cost captured per project and per funder from the outset.
- Grant conditions translated into permitted cost heads before spending begins.
- Staff time attributed to projects contemporaneously, not reconstructed.
- Utilisation tracked against the grant period as well as the financial year.
- Equipment and shared resource use attributed across the projects that use it.
Recovery and billing
- An overhead recovery basis that can be substantiated when questioned.
- Full cost of a project computed, including unrecovered overhead.
- Milestone billing raised on delivery rather than in arrears.
- Contract receivables followed on a defined rhythm.
- Funder reporting produced in each funder's format from one underlying record.
Reporting
Reports worth receiving
- Project-wise cost, direct and fully absorbed.
- Grant utilisation against sanction and period.
- Overhead recovery rate achieved against target.
- Milestone billing and unbilled work.
- Funder-format utilisation statements.
Common questions
Questions we hear in this sector
Why does overhead recovery matter so much here?
Because it is usually where the organisation loses money without noticing. Direct cost is visible and funded; shared cost is neither, so every project quietly consumes capacity that nothing pays for. Quantifying it is the first step to pricing the next grant properly.
Our funders each want a different report. Can that be handled?
Yes, provided the capture is granular enough. The mistake is shaping the accounting around one funder's format — build it around the activity and each format becomes a view of the same underlying data.
Do you prepare utilisation certificates?
We prepare the underlying utilisation working and supporting records. Certification, where prescribed, is issued by an independently engaged licensed professional, coordinated through us.
5th Quadrant maintains project and grant accounting records and prepares utilisation information. Statutory audit and prescribed certifications are performed by an independently engaged licensed professional, coordinated through 5th Quadrant. Full detail is on our Professional Scope page.
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