Set Up a Grant and Grant Budget

Classification: Additional Application · Salesforce Platform · GoldFinch Native · Configured Solution

Overview

Create or identify the approved grant record before recording grant-related financial activity. The grant record provides the award terms and reporting dimensions needed to organize budgets and relate GoldFinch transactions.

The grant record and grant budget are not standard GoldFinch Accounting functions unless expressly included in the customer’s licensed solution and implementation scope. Customers may maintain grant records in an appropriate Salesforce or Salesforce-native grant-management application. Grant budgets may be maintained in CloudBudget or another approved budgeting application.

CloudBudget is a Salesforce-native budgeting application that operates on the same Salesforce Platform as GoldFinch. CloudBudget licensing, implementation, and support are separate from the GoldFinch subscription unless otherwise stated in the applicable agreement.

Recommended grant information

The exact fields depend on the selected application and configuration. Common information includes:

• Grant name and award number
• Grantor and funding source
• Local, state, federal, private, or other classification
• Award amount and currency
• Grant beginning and ending dates
• Applicable organizational, state, or federal fiscal-year references
• Match percentage or amount and the approved match source
• Indirect-cost rate, allocation base, limitations, and effective dates
• Program, project, department, fund, CIP project, or project category
• Drawdown method, reimbursement terms, reporting frequency, and deadlines
• Responsible grant owner and financial reviewer

Establish the grant budget

1. Create or select the grant record and confirm the award status and dates.
2. Enter the original award amount.
3. Establish the approved budget in the selected budgeting application by account, cost category, project, program, period, or other required dimension.
4. Record matching requirements and identify the approved source of the organization’s match.
5. Record the approved overhead or indirect-cost rate and allocation base.
6. Submit the budget for review when you configure an approval workflow.
7. Retain the original budget and record approved amendments as controlled budget revisions.
8. Confirm that the budget dimensions align with the GoldFinch transaction dimensions used for actuals reporting.

Connect GoldFinch activity

GoldFinch operational and accounting transactions can be related to the approved grant, project, program, fund, or other reporting dimensions. The organization must define which GoldFinch records create commitments, expenditures, reimbursements, receipts, or other reportable amounts.

Configure, test, and reconcile the relationship and calculation rules before users rely on budget-versus-actual reporting.

Budget control

A configured solution can compare original or revised budgets with commitments, posted expenditures, reimbursements, receipts, and remaining funds. Design warning thresholds, approval requirements, and spending controls around the organization’s policies and the governing grant terms.

Do not describe these controls as automatic GoldFinch functionality unless you have implemented and tested the specific validation, workflow, and calculation.

Control considerations

• Preserve the original approved budget.
• Require authorization for budget revisions.
• Use effective dates for rate or rule changes.
• Define whether open commitments reduce the available budget.
• Reconcile reported actuals with GoldFinch source transactions and the general ledger.
• Review the configuration after grant amendments or material changes in award terms.