The Government Accounting Branch Grants Team deals with all financial aspects of NIH grants with a focus on the review of Federal Financial Reports (FFRs). 

A Federal Financial Report is a statement of expenditures reported against funds awarded to a grantee institution.  In short, grantees are awarded funds and they are required to report the expenditure activity to the awarding institute either annually or at the end of the project period depending upon whether or not the grant is under SNAP.  SNAP is the Streamlined Non-Competing Award Process.  If a grant is under SNAP, an FFR is not due until the end of the project period.  If a grant is non-SNAP, an FFR is due annually, at the end of each budget period.

There are two different types of FFR that a grantee can submit.  There is the NIH FFR and the PMS FFR. The PMS FFR, also known as the quarterly Federal Cash Transaction Report (FCTR), is submitted electronically to Payment Management System (PMS) and verified by accountants there.  The form looks the same, but it's used for different reasons as different sections are populated for NIH and PMS.  The NIH FFR pertains to expenditures as where the PMS FFR pertains to cash drawn.

Scientific Review and Evaluation Award (SREA)

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Center for Scientific Review's (CSR) Scientific Review and Evaluation Activities (SREA) program coordinates the processing of payment of honoraria, per diems, and other fees to extramural scientists who participate in conferences or committees to review proposed grant applications for the NIH. 

The Government Accounting Branch Grants team uses an application called the SREA Payment and Reporting System (SREA PRS) which was developed to assist the SREA Management Service Center with the prompt and proper payment of the scientific reviewers.  The Grants team processes the SREA payments on a biweekly basis.  The SREA PRS application allows for tracking delayed and returned payments, and provides reporting services for OFM, the IRS, and other interested parties.  Statistics are reported in the application and provide data regarding payouts so that users can make sure the reviewers are getting paid in a timely manner.  The team liaisons with CSR regarding payment processing and other related issues.