Need for Improved Financial Reporting and Monitoring Related to National Institutes of Health Research Funds at Universities

This final report presents the results of our review of selected research projects awarded to universities throughout the United States. Our review showed that National Institutes of Health funds were not always spent as budgeted. We also found that in many cases awarded funds were not used during the budget period and were carried forward to the next award period. Both practices are permissible under current Government regulations. We also found that 52 of the 100 research projects reviewed, totaling about $18.5 million, had unspent budget balances totaling $1,392,184, about 7.5 percent, at the end of the award period. Projecting these results to the 11,453 research projects totaling about $2.7 billion in our sample universe, we estimate that 5,956 awards would have unspent budget balances totaling $159,446,834, about 5.9 percent of the total amount awarded.