It is a condition of COALAR grant funding that recipients fully acquit the funds received. Grant moneys should be acquitted within 60 days of the completion of a project through the submission of a completed Acquittal report including a financial statement of expenditure through SmartyGrants.
As part of the acquittal process, grant recipients need to indicate how the money spent can be linked back to the activities for which funding was originally requested. All unspent funds must be returned to COALAR.
Lower risk grants may have their financial statement of expenditure certified by an official from the organisation that received the grant. Higher risk grants should be certified by a qualified accountant. As a general rule, all grants greater than $50,000 should be certified by a qualified auditor. The cost of certification can be included in the grant funding provided.
Funding recipients are required to keep all receipts and records for five years and to make these available upon request.
Reporting
You must submit reports in line with the grant agreement. We will remind you of your reporting obligations before a report is due.
We will expect you to report on:
- progress against agreed grant activity milestones and outcomes
- contributions of participants directly related to the grant activity
- expenditure of the grant.
The amount of detail you provide in your reports should be relative to the size, complexity and grant amount.
We will monitor progress by assessing reports you submit and may conduct site visits or request records to confirm details of your reports if necessary. Occasionally we may need to reexamine claims, seek further information.
Progress reports (for multi-year grants)
Progress reports must:
- include evidence of your progress towards completion of agreed activities and outcomes
- show the total eligible expenditure incurred to date
- be submitted by the report due date (you can submit reports ahead of time if you have completed relevant activities).
We will only make subsequent grant payments when we receive satisfactory progress reports. You must discuss any reporting delays with us as soon as you become aware of them.
Ad-hoc reports
We may ask you for ad-hoc reports on your grant. This may be to provide an update on progress, or any significant delays or difficulties in completing the grant activity.
Final report (for all grants)
When you complete the grant activity, you must submit a final report. Final reports must
- identify if and how outcomes have been achieved
- include the agreed evidence as specified in the grant agreement
- identify the total eligible expenditure incurred
- outline communication activities and impact
- be submitted within 60 days of completion in the format provided in the grant agreement.
All COALAR acquittals are to be submitted online through SmartyGrants.