Required Financial Technical Assistance
Grantees who are required to have Financial Technical Assistance (FTA) will be asked to participate in our 3x3 Financial Technical Assistance Program. The aim is to help these organizations build their capacity to manage their finances confidently and strategically. The plans can include financial management training, budgeting tools, and support for financial expense reporting, and ongoing guidance.
Financial Accounting and Auditing Policies
All grantees must agree to comply with the Financial Accounting and Auditing Policies stated in this Exhibit and incorporated as Terms and Conditions of this Grant Agreement.
Note: It is the grantee’s responsibility to track their budget. Grantees will only receive their allotted grant funds even if overspending occurs. Please contact your Program Officer if you have any questions concerning this.
Accounting System
Grantees shall establish and maintain an accounting system to record and track all expenditures billed to their BCYF Grant.
This shall include a system to identify, review, and approve the accuracy of third-party services billed directly to the Grantee by the third party.
The accounting system shall record all income and expenses for the Grantee's entire organization. All grant expenditures must be supported by invoices and/or receipts, a detailed description of the services rendered or items purchased, date of performance and invoice issuance and the purpose for the transaction.
The accounting system shall be in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).
It is the responsibility of the Grantee to document their compliance. BCYF may at any time request submission of these records for review.
Grantee Monthly Expense Reporting Guidelines
Purpose:
This standard operating procedure establishes the electronic management of the submission of Baltimore Children and Youth Fund (BCYF) grantees expense reports from the Financial Technical Assistance team’s perspective. The establishment of these policies and procedures will ensure that expense report submissions are sufficient and meet the reporting requirements of both BCYF and the City of Baltimore. These guidelines are used as a learning tool to assist FTAs understanding of how grantees should prepare monthly financial expense reports, maintain documentation, and report information to BCYF. These guidelines should be assessed periodically to ensure they are consistent and relevant to the current environment as electronic submissions can broaden the type of supporting documentation provided.
Definitions:
FTA - Financial Technical Assistance Provider
Grantees - recipient of a grant, scholarship, or other assets
PBC - Prepared by the Client
Legend - explanation of characters, symbols, or markings on a document that are usually unfamiliar to the reader
Procedures & Guidelines
Financial Reporting System
How should I keep track of BCYF grant expenses?
If utilizing a financial reporting system such as QuickBooks Online, Zero, Wave, etc., please see below:
Enter each BCYF expense transaction into your organization’s financial reporting system, notating the amount, date, description of services/purchase, payee, method of payment, and funding source (i.e., BCYF grant).
Monthly bank reconciliations should be performed in the accounting system matching the bank ending balance to the balance in the accounting system. These monthly bank reconciliations should be kept available for BCYF review.
Maintain a vendor filing system by retaining copies of vendor invoices, receipts, and evidence of payment.
If your organization does not utilize a financial reporting system, the following is recommended:
Track all expenses in a spreadsheet program, such as Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets.
Each expense category (i.e., salary and wage, travel, transportation, etc.) should be its own line item and should list the date of invoice, date of payment, method of payment, payee (i.e., vendor name, employee, etc.), reference number (i.e., invoice number), and amount.
Maintain a filing system, electronic or paper, that includes copies of each invoice, receipt, payroll register, and proof of payment.
Preparation of Expense Reports
The following is an overview of how grantees should prepare the required Monthly Financial Expense Report for the BCYF Grant Award.
Key Points to Remember
| Expense reporting is an accounting of how you are spending grant funds in accordance with your approved program budget. While budget modifications are not required, we strongly recommend consulting your Program Officer for approval before incurring expenses for any item or service that was not previously approved. |
| BCYF required all grantees to submit Monthly Financial Expense Reports for review and approval via the Grantee Portal. Reports are due by the 25th of the following month during the Grant Period. |
| Expenses and supporting documentation should be reported on a cash basis of accounting, which is the month the transaction clears the bank or credit card;
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| The Monthly Financial Expense Report should reflect the actual cost, not an estimate. Although your program budget was approved with estimated/approximate amounts, when preparing the monthly expense report it should be based on actual costs incurred that can be validated with supporting documentation. |
| If a grantee does not report an expense due to an error or it was not included in a previous month, the grantee can report the expense in the following month’s report. The grantee can only report missing expenses from the previous month. Therefore, a May Monthly Financial Expense Report may include May and April expenses, but expenses prior to April cannot be included.
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| Late fees or bank fees that are incurred on an allowable expense cannot be covered by BCYF grant funds and should be removed from the total cost of the expense. |
Supporting Documentation
As part of your grant agreement with BCYF, each Grantee is required to submit Monthly Financial Expense Reports detailing how funds are expended. Grantees are also required to submit supporting documentation that details the date funds were disbursed, who received the funds, for what purpose, and proof they were received.
Within this manual, BCYF provides instructions and examples of proper documentation to assist with meeting the requirements of managing the public funds received.
Proof of Payment
Throughout this document, “proof of payment” will be referenced. Below is a description of various ways proof of payment should be documented and presented.
Checks
Documentation should include the following:
Copy of the check – front and back of the canceled check
Note: A canceled check refers to a check that has been cashed and the payment has cleared. You can find a copy of this within the cleared transaction on your bank statement.
Copy of the bank statement showing when the check was cleared
Mobile Payments
Electronic receipt from the vendor (PayPal, Cash App, etc.). Details should include the following:
Who was paid
The amount that was paid
The date the transaction cleared
You must also provide a copy of the bank or credit card statement with the transaction highlighted.
Bill.com or other bill payment or batch payment service
The following transaction details must be provided:
The batch in which the payment exists with the payment in question and the total highlighted
The payment for the invoice including detail of the vendor, amount and date
The bank statement with the batch total highlighted
Payroll Journal
Details should include the following:
Who was paid
The amount that was paid
The pay date
Please see “Personnel Costs: Payroll Processing Service” for more information.
Cashier’s Check / Money Orders
When handling transactions involving cashier’s checks, please ensure you collect and file the following documents:
Copy of Cashier’s Check/Money Order - front and back
Copy of the bank receipt showing proof of withdrawal
Bank and/or credit card statement showing that the cashier’s check/money order was drawn from your bank account
Acknowledgement form, to include:
Recipient’s name
Form of payment
Date of receipt
Purpose of the transaction
Recipient’s signature
Documentation Guidelines
Vendors/Independent Contractors/Partners
For payments made to this category, documentation should include:
The invoice should include the date(s) the service was performed, reason for the service, the rate, if applicable and total pay due.
Proof of Payment
If your organization uses a batch payment system (ex. Bill.com) for vendor payments, supporting documentation should include:
The invoice should include the date(s) the service was performed, reason for the service, the rate if applicable and total pay due;
Funds Transfer Detail report: List showing that the invoice payee/amount is part of the full batch payment total; AND
Proof of Payment - that the batch payment total has cleared your bank statement or credit card statement.
Personnel Costs
If your budget includes more than one staff member, a spreadsheet summarizing your cost calculations per personnel is highly recommended.
Payroll Processing Service - If you use a payroll processing company (ADP, Paychex, Intuit, etc.) to process your program’s payroll, and the company withdraws the cash needed to meet payroll automatically from your bank account, then adequate documentation would include:
Payroll register/payroll summary showing the actual payroll costs and pay date for each personnel.
Narrative explaining each portion of the expense (including allocation %)
Proof of Payment Ex: Bank Statement
Manually Payroll Processing - If you use a payroll processing company, but the company does not automatically withdraw funds from your account, [or] if you use software to calculate payroll but you physically process the paychecks, then adequate documentation would include:
Print out of each personnel payroll calculation (paystub) being expensed to the grant,[AND]
Narrative explaining each portion of the expense (including allocation %)
Proof of Payment Ex: Bank Statement
Fringe Benefits
Use the line-item description in your approved budget as a starting guide for reporting expenses in this area. Keep in mind that documenting the actual
costs of these expenses is required.
Grantees are allowed to expense fringe benefits of personnel that directly contribute to the program’s purpose.
The following are acceptable fringe benefits that can be applied to your BCYF grant:
Employer paid taxes (FICA and MD Unemployment)
Worker’s compensation employer payments
Employer sponsored benefit plans
Employer sponsored medical benefit plans - Employer portion only.
Employer sponsored dental benefit plans - Employer portion only.
Employer sponsored vision benefit plans - Employer portion only.
Employer retirement matching contributions - Employer payments only.
Employer sponsored Disability Insurance - Employer payments only.
Employer sponsored Life Insurance plan - Employer payments only.
Note: The non-profit organization is the owner of the policy and payments are made directly from the non-profit organization.
Unallowable costs:
Personal payments or non-employee sponsored plans are not allowable.
Examples:
Personal IRS tax payments such as estimated tax payments
Personal retirement payments
Personal disability insurance including AFLAC
Personal life insurance policies
If your fringe benefits costs include only payroll taxes, then supporting documentation for personnel costs indicated above may be sufficient and cover this area without the need for additional paperwork.
MD Unemployment - a copy of the Experience Rate Notice from the State of Maryland will need to be provided to validate your unemployment rate for the year that is included in the grant period. It is important that unemployment costs are only included in your financial report for the amount incurred per employee instead of the flat rate. The Payroll Journal can be used as supporting documentation of unemployment costs incurred per applicable employee.
If your fringe benefits costs include payroll taxes, plus insurance, retirement, worker’s compensation, etc., then you need to provide the following supporting documentation for each benefit type:
Worker’s Compensation
Copy of the policy with coverage dates that include the grant period;
Invoice for the total annual premium if not already included in the policy;
Schedule of Worker’s Compensation Classifications for Maryland that shows the rate(s) being charged;
Proof of payment of annual premium based on payment schedule (i.e. monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, etc.)
Health, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance and 401(k)
Monthly invoice from provider that shows total amount due;
List of Subscribers and amount paid per subscriber/employee, highlighting those employees working on the BCYF grant program;
Proof of payment of the entire invoice, that cleared during the month of the financial report;
For any fringe benefits where the employee contributes to the payment of the premium, be sure to only claim the portion of the premium that the employer actually paid. Thus, employee contributions will need to be subtracted from the total premium costs claimed on the financial report.
Shared Costs
For expenses like Occupancy/Utilities/Communications, where only a portion is allocated to BCYF, please indicate on the invoice and/or financial report the percentage being charged to BCYF, and provide the following:
Occupancy - an Invoice from the Lessor, or copy of your rental agreement that indicates the amount of rent charged toward your grant is required; and should be included in the portal every month;
Utilities/Communications - a copy of the bill; [AND]
proof of payment of the full expense amount via copy of check – front and back of the canceled check - OR bank statement.
Administrative/Indirect Costs
Administrative/Indirect Costs are only allowable for organizations with over a $750k budget annually. It is important to document the policies & procedures used by your organization to allocate a percentage of such costs to the grant. Your supporting documentation must include the expenses your organization includes in General and Administrative (G&A) or Indirect Costs, and what percentage is allocated to the grant. If your organization uses a percentage of Direct Costs, documentation must include the amounts of direct costs in the month being reported that were used for your calculation. This can be done in a memo or spreadsheet format. The allocation of indirect costs can not exceed 15% of the total grant award amount (EX: $50,000 grant = a total of up to $7,500 may be charged to indirect costs).
Stipends
Your organization must provide the following documentation for stipends:
If paying by check, please submit the following information:
Registration forms
Memo (detailing the service provided)
Copy of the check - front and back of the canceled check
Copy of the bank statement showing when the check was cleared
If paying via gift card, please include the following information:
Acknowledgement form signed by recipient
Receipt for gift card purchases
Transportation
If you include transportation costs as an expense, you must provide documentation only for those expenses related to the program.
Mileage- IRS standard mileage rate for business travel, published annually; in 2025, this rate is 70 cents per mile recorded, with date, destination, and purpose recorded
Gas and Oil- cost, date, destination, and purpose must be recorded
Copy of MTA passes- cost, destination, and purpose must be recorded
Car Rentals- limited to situations where such travel provides direct benefit to program
Uber/Lyft costs- limited to situations where it is the most economical transportation available
If your program has its own vehicle, the transportation expense reported for that vehicle must be EITHER mileage OR direct costs of gas, oil, and other maintenance costs.
Financial Expense Report Submission
| The Grantee/Fiscal Sponsor must compile the following:
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| The Monthly Financial Expense Report must be submitted via BCYF’s grantee portal by the 25th of the following month.
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| Program Officers are available to provide guidance and recommendations for proper submission of documentation prior to submission of your official report to BCYF. |
| The purpose of the FTA’s review is to provide a detailed overview/analysis of the monthly expense report, and guidance and recommendations for proper submission and documentation prior to submission of the official report to BCYF. |
| Any rejected Monthly Financial Expense Reports should be resolved by the Grantee within 2-3 business days of the report being rejected. Please note that no new expenses should be added when resubmitting your report. Missed expenses can be included in the following month’s report (e.g. August expenses submitted in the September report) or a Late Expense Appeal can be submitted. |
| If costs are disallowed by your FTA or BCYF, you must submit a revised Monthly Financial Expense Report to the Grantee Portal with documented allowable costs for the appropriate month. The revised Monthly Financial Expense Reports will be reviewed by the FTA and BCYF for the appropriate expenditure of program funds. |
| The FTA will review your Monthly Financial Expense Report submission and approve it via the Grantee Portal with detailed notes for resolution within 10-15 business days of the report due date. |
Summary
All Monthly Financial Expense Reports should be submitted to BCYF no later than the 25th of the following month for the duration of the grant period.
All submitted monthly expenditures should follow the cash basis method of accounting.
For guidelines related to allowable and unallowable costs, please refer to the Allowable Costs Reference Guide.
For questions or assistance related to your monthly expense reports, please contact your assigned FTA and cc your Program Officer.