1. When will my research account be opened?
   • You will receive an email notification from Research Financial Services that your fund has been opened. The message will contain critical information about your funding, so please read it carefully.
2. How can I find the balance?
   • Check your research fund and its balance in FAST.
   • If you have questions, please email financial.systems@carleton.ca. Training is available for the Finance Reporting application, Budget Adjustment and Forecasting (BAR), and Journal Voucher applications.

Any research funding issued in a foreign currency will be converted to Canadian dollars, and the spending power in the fund will be assigned based on the exchange rate used at the date of fund creation. Researchers are thus encouraged to build their budgets in Canadian dollars to ensure that sufficient funding exists to conduct the work.

The exchange rate is determined on the day the payment is made. Therefore, a calculation made at the time of application is likely to have a variance from that which will be processed.

For example, if 1.00 CAD = 0.78 USD, at an exchange rate of 0.7808 (using nominal rate). In this case, we recommend assuming a 1.00 CAD = 0.68 USD to ensure that sufficient funding is requested in case the exchange rate fluctuates over the course of the project.

Note: Researchers are encouraged to use the Bank of Canada rate and then apply an additional reduction (usually 10¢) to the rate of exchange.

Given that Carleton’s Procurement Policy stipulates specific requirements for equipment by total cost, the method of purchase depends on the expense amount. For general assistance in complying with the university’s procurement policy, contact Procurement Services and for research post-award expenses, contact the Research Post-Award Administrators.

Please complete the P-card application and submit it to your department’s head for approval. Once signed by your department, you will need to submit the application to the designated Procurement Officer, who will contact you with more details.

The RPA service can help determine if an expense is eligible to be charged to your index (fund). Please email us with details including:

• what product or service you would like to purchase;
• how much it will cost;
• how it relates to the research; and,
• which index (fund) you would like to use.