Annual Reconciliation of Active Awards

Each year, institutions are required to submit a Statement of Account (i.e. Form 300 and/or Form 301) to the Agency, signed by the designated official at the institution, for every NSERC, SSHRC, and/or TIPS grant(s) they hold for the period ending March 31 of each year. This responsibility is explained in the Annual reporting section of the Tri-agency guide on financial administration.

The information below outlines the process that business officers and research administrators should follow when reporting on their institution’s active awards.

Step 1: Download lists of active awards for the reconciliation exercise 

To download your respective institution’s lists of active awards, log in to the Grants and Scholarships Administrative Portal (GSAP).

Need help or not registered yet? Contact the On-line Services Helpdesk

Step 2: Complete and submit the “Grants in Aid of Research Statement of Account” form to the Agencies

Most funding opportunities require a “Grants in Aid of Research Statement of Account – Form 300.”

Other funding opportunities, such as the College and Community Innovation Program, require a “Grants in Aid of Research Statement of Account – Form 301.”

Submitting Form 300 and 301:

• Form 300: Please use the Financial Data Submission and Reconciliation (FDSR) System to submit your completed Form 300
• Form 301: All Awards that are in Convergence can be submitted via the Convergence portal (https://www.convergence.gc.ca. ): For CCI Awards with a start date of December 1, 2021, or earlier must continue to submit the SOAs via email, using the lists that are posted in GSAP.

Need help or not registered yet? Select User Help or FAQ to obtain more information on the FDSR on-line system or contact the On-line Services Helpdesk.

Contact Us

• Reconciliation-grf-ggsf@nserc-crsng.gc.ca
• reconciliation-grf-ggsf@sshrc-crsng.gc.ca

Frequently Asked Questions

General Information

1. Which grants require a statement of account?
2. Is a statement of account required for a grant that received the first installment at the end of March?
3. A progress report was submitted recently at the anniversary of the grant. Is a statement of account still required?
4. What is the difference between the Form 300 and the Form 301?

List of Active Grants

5. Where is it possible to find the list of active grants requiring a statement of account on the Secure Site?
6. What is the Previous Year column in the list?
7. What is the Current Year column in the list?

Reporting

8. Can other sources of funding be included in the Current Year Grant on the Form 300 or 301?
9. Can a line item be added or deleted on the Form 300 or 301?
10. If an NSERC grant is renewed in the reporting period, what competition year should be displayed on the Form 300 or 301?
11. For a Canada Research Chair (CRC) grant renewed in the reporting period, how is the Form 300 submitted?
12. Can expenditures that exceed agency funds be reported on the statement?
13. The General Research Fund (GRF) is not on the list. Is a Form 300 required?
14. The General Graduate Studies Fund (GGSF) is not on the list. Is a Form 300 required?
15. How are statements of account pertaining to multi-institutional grants completed?

Submitting

16. Can the Financial Data Submission and Reconciliation (FDSR) system be used to submit Form 300 for SSHRC institutional grants for funding opportunities such as Program 633 – SSHRC Institutional Grants (SIG), Program 681 – Aid to Small Universities (AMU), and Program 833 – Community‑University Research Alliances (CURA)?
17. Can the FDSR system be used to submit Form 301?
18. Can the agencies correct a mistake on the Form 300 submitted through FDSR?
19. Can the Financial Data Submission and Reconciliation (FDSR) system be used to submit the General Research Funds (GRF) statements?
20. Can the Financial Data Submission and Reconciliation (FDSR) system be used to submit the General Graduate Studies Funds (GGSF) statements?

Residual funds

21. When can we transfer the expired grant’s residual funds to the GRF?
22. Residual balances must be returned to the Agency. How and where do we send the funds?

General Information

1.  Which grants require a statement of account?

An annual Statement of Account must be signed by the designated official at the institution and sent to the agency, for every active grant for the period ending March 31 of each year, using the Agency’s “Grants in Aid of Research Statement of Account” (Form 300 or Form 301).

2.  Is a statement of account required for a grant that received the first installment at the end of March?

Yes. A Form 300 or 301 is required for all grants active within the period of April 1^st to March 31^st, even if no funds have been spent to date.

3.  A progress report was submitted recently at the anniversary of the grant. Is a statement of account still required?

Yes. A Form 300 or 301 is still required annually for all active grants for the period starting on April 1st to March 31st, even if a research activity report was submitted to a program officer on the anniversary date of the grant.

4.  What is the difference between the Form 300 and the Form 301?

Grants for Colleges and Grants for college’s researchers require an annual Form 301 in terms of statement of account. 

The funding opportunities are listed on the Grants for Colleges page.

Grants awarded from other funding opportunities require a Form 300.

List of Active Grants

5.  Where is it possible to find the list of active grants requiring a statement of account on the Secure Site?

In order to access the Reconciliation of Active Awards Listing on the Secure Site, please follow these steps:

• Go to the Secure Site
• Select your institution from the drop-down menu
• Enter your assigned user name and password
• Click on “Grants”
• Select the appropriate funding agency
• Select the finance link

6.   What is the Previous Year column in the list?

The amount listed in this column is the balance that your institution reported on the Form 300 or 301 that was provided to us in the previous reporting exercise. Therefore, this is the amount that should be reported under the Balance of Grant at Close of Previous Year line of the current Form 300 or 301. If the balance as reported on the previous Form 300 or 301 has since been modified, please provide the Agency with a revised Form 300 or 301, together with the current Form 300 or 301.

7.  What is the Current Year column in the list?

The amount appearing in the report under the Current Year column is the total amount that the agency has paid to the institution for the grant during the current fiscal year. This is the amount that the institution should report on the Current Year Grant line on Form 300 or 301. 

Reporting

8.  Can other sources of funding be included in the Current Year Grant on the Form 300 or 301?

No. Other sources of funding, e.g. funding provided by an industrial partner, from another funding agency, etc., must not be included on the Form 300 or 301.  The Current Year Grant amount corresponds to the payments made by the Agency to the institution during the reporting period of April 1^st to March 31^st.

9.  Can a line item be added or deleted on the Form 300 or 301?

No. In order to ensure proper, consistent and accurate reporting, it is important that institutions do not modify the Form 300 or 301 by adding or deleting a line. The data collected on this form is the agencies’ only means of reporting to Parliament to demonstrate how funds were used. It is therefore important that the institutions respect the format of the form.

10.  If an NSERC grant is renewed in the reporting period, what competition year should be displayed on the Form 300 or 301?

When an NSERC grant is renewed, the grant number remains the same. However, the new grant can be identified using the competition year which corresponds to the year the grant was renewed by the granting committee.

11.  For a Canada Research Chair (CRC) grant renewed in the reporting period, how is the Form 300 submitted?

In these cases, the grant will be listed twice in the list, with two different account numbers, the first line representing the initial grant and the second, the renewal.
For these grants, we will expect two distinct copies of the Form 300:

• The initial Form 300 will be from April 1, 201X, to the end of the grant
• The second Form 300 will be from the renewal date to March 31, 201X, and will include (if applicable) the balance of the previous statement.

12.  Can expenditures that exceed agency funds be reported on the statement?

Yes, if there are installments expected for the grant. 

No, if the grant has reached its end date. Over-expenditures (including over-commitments) must be covered by other sources of funding.

Negatives balances are tolerated only when a future installment is expected.  

13. The General Research Fund (GRF) is not on the list. Is a Form 300 required?

Yes, and the Form 300 must also be submitted on or before June 30th.

14. The General Graduate Studies Fund (GGSF) is not on the list. Is a Form 300 required?

Yes, and the Form 300 must also be submitted on or before June 30^th.

15. How are statements of account pertaining to multi-institutional grants completed?

The host institution must consolidate the total expenses and report on a single Form 300 or 301. The grant holder approval for the consolidated Form 300 or 301 will be provided by the principal investigator at the host institution.

Submitting

16.  Can the Financial Data Submission and Reconciliation (FDSR) system be used to submit Form 300 for SSHRC institutional grants for funding opportunities such as Program 633 – SSHRC Institutional Grants (SIG), Program 681 – Aid to Small Universities (AMU), and Program 833 – Community‑University Research Alliances (CURA)?

Yes. Please refer to the FDSR FAQ

17.  Can the FDSR system be used to submit Form 301?

No.  Currently it is not possible to submit the Form 301 using the FDSR system. These forms must be sent electronically by email to awards.reconciliation@nserc-crsng.gc.ca, by fax to 613-996-0458 or by mail to:

Finance and Awards Administration Division

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada or Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
125 Zaida Eddy Private, 2nd floor
Ottawa, ON  K1R 0E3

18.  Can the agencies correct a mistake on the Form 300 submitted through FDSR? 

No.  Only a resubmission of the form by the institution or the grant holder can correct the errors.

19.  Can the Financial Data Submission and Reconciliation (FDSR) system be used to submit the General Research Funds (GRF) statements? 

Yes.  Please refer to the FDSR FAQ

20.  Can the Financial Data Submission and Reconciliation (FDSR) system be used to submit the General Graduate Studies Funds (GGSF) statements? 

Yes.  You can use the FDSR system to submit your Statement of Account (Form 300) for the GGSF with the below information:

NSERC        

• Grant Program Code: GGSF
• Grant ID: 0
• Grant Fiscal Year: YYYY
• Resulting Grant Number on the SOA: GGSF/0-YYYY
• PIN: 0

 SSHRC        

• Grant Program Code: 001
• Grant ID: 0
• Grant Fiscal Year: YYYY
• Resulting Grant Number on the SOA: 001-YYYY-0
• CID: 0

Residual funds

21.  When can we transfer the expired grant’s residual funds to the GRF?

Residual funds are transferred to the GRF only once the Agency has approved the amounts. However, institutions may provide by email a list of all potential transfers to the GRF that they have identified for the ongoing reconciliation exercise.

You can provide a list by email to the Agency, identifying all potential transfers to the GRF for the reporting period for NSERC / SSHRC approval.
The list must contain:

• Applicant Name / University Account No. / Council Account No. /Amount Requested

When all expected copies of the Form 300 or 301 have been received by the Agency and all discrepancies have been resolved, the Agency will be able to provide the institution with a list of all the amounts authorized in the GRF.

22.  Residual balances must be returned to the Agency. How and where do we send the funds?  

Cheques must be addressed to “Receiver General for Canada” and sent by mail to:

Finance and Awards Administration Division
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada or Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
125 Zaida Eddy Private, 2nd floor
Ottawa, ON  K1R 0E3

Remember to indicate the grant number and grantee’s name associated with the refund on the cheque.

For more information, please refer to the Residual Balances section in the Tri-Agency Administration Guide.