Tri-agency financial administration


Summary of changes

CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC have revised the Tri-agency Guide on Financial Administration. A summary of the most significant changes appears below.

All changes are effective April 1, 2023.


Part 2: Use of grant funds

Subsection Nature of changes
Principles governing the appropriate use of grant funds
  • be a direct cost of research for which the funds were awarded, with benefits directly attributable to the grant

Part 3: Financial matters

Subsection Nature of changes
Transfer of funds Notes: Agency-specific requirements
CIHR permits the transfer of grant funds to individuals supporting the grant activities at other locations, including but not limited to principal applicants.
Extension period for the authority to use grant funds
Table 1 - NSERC

College and Community Innovation program (all funding opportunities)

The grant recipient may submit a request for an extension to the automatic extension by 1 additional calendar year (i.e., 12 months), under the following circumstances only:

  • Extended leaves of absence during the grant period
  • Uncontrollable delays to funded research/activities

Part 4: Intellectual property and other tri-agency funding-related policies

Subsection Nature of changes
Intellectual property CIHR: Intellectual Property and Patents
NSERC: Intellectual Property
SSHRC: Intellectual Property and Copyright

Part 5: Provisions for leaves from grant activities

Subsection Nature of changes
Leaves (grant recipient) Leaves for research, career, personal or professional development (grant recipient)

Part 6: Administrative changes

Subsection Nature of changes
Termination of a grant The Agencies are responsible for authorizing the termination of a grant when the grant recipient no longer meets the eligibility criteria as per the Continuing eligibility section or is unable to carry out the grant responsibilities. The Agencies may also authorize the termination of an institutional grant when the conditions under which the funding was awarded are no longer being met.

Appendix 1

Subsection Nature of changes
Definition of terms Applicant: This definition is agency specific. Please refer to the appropriate agency’s website.

CIHR definition
NSERC definition
SSHRC definition
Definition of terms Authority to use funds (ATUF) period: the period during which grant funds are to be expended, between the start date of the grant as noted on the formal notification of the award and the end date of the grant; this period also includes automatic extensions (as noted in Table 1: Programs with automatic extensions by agency) or any other requests for an extension.
Definition of terms Equipment: Any item (or interrelated collection of items comprising a system) of tangible and intangible (software, licenses, etc.) property which is used wholly or in part for research.

Appendix 3: Forms


Tri-agency logos

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