on May 15, 2025, the following email was sent to all faculty who had sponsored accounts or federal capacity funds.

From: Office of the Interim Vice Provost for Research <vp_research@cornell.edu>
Date: Thu, May 15, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Subject: Coming in Fall 2025: Expense Review Tool
To: RESEARCHMAILINGS-L <researchmailings-l@list.cornell.edu>

Dear Researchers,

You are receiving this email because you manage one or more accounts funded by a sponsored award or federal appropriations.

In fall 2025, a new tool will be available to make it easy to review expenses on your accounts. The tool is part of the PI Dashboard. You can see each expense together with relevant documentation to help you recognize all items. The tool was created by Cornell Research & Innovation and Division of Financial Services in collaboration with faculty and other advisors from across research administration. The goal is to make expense review easier to complete and document on a regular cadence. The use of this tool will address concerns from both university and external auditors.

Benefits:

• Expense review using the new tool replaces the annual salary certification process. Researchers will complete salary certification one final time in August/September 2025, and then that process will be retired.
• The expense review tool makes it easier to identify and correct errors within the 90-day window allowed on sponsored projects.

What to expect.  In the early fall, the expense review tool will be ready to use. Each month, you’ll receive an email directly from the PI Dashboard with a link you can use to quickly review your expenses.

Pilot and feedback.  If you’d like to participate in the expense review pilot this summer, send an email to pidash@cornell.edu. You’ll also be able to provide feedback after the tool is live. The project team provides updates on the Expense Review Project site.

We look forward to your engagement with this tool to continue Cornell’s excellence in meeting the requirements for compliance and financial management of research awards.

Gary Koretzky, MD, PhD
Interim Vice Provost for Research

Karen Mahalo
Associate VP & University Controller