The Administrative Core coordinates the fiscal, scientific, and administrative aspects of the ProgramProject Grant. Although Drs. Goldstein and Brown share the overall administrative responsibility for thisgrant, their administrative duties are divided. Dr. Goldstein is in charge of budgetary and personnel matters.Dr. Brown is in charge of purchasing equipment and supervision of graduate students and postdoctoralfellows.Drs. Goldstein and Brown are assisted by their Financial Affairs Manager, Ms. Kay Pokladnik. Ms.Pokladnik is assisted in her duties by a Laboratory Manager, Scott Clark. In addition to their administrativeresponsibilities, Ms. Pokladnik and her staff are also responsible for the typing and preparation of all ourmanuscripts, grant applications, and research progress reports. Ms. Jeri Rogers and Ms. Mary Hestand,Administrative Manager and Senior Administrative Associate, respectively, for the Department of MolecularGenetics, draw their salaries from the Department, and not from the Program Project Grant. Nevertheless,they are available to provide back-up support to Ms. Pokladnik and her staff during vacation periods, sickleave, and busy work days.On the basis of experience gained during the past 29 years of operation of this Program Project, wehave found that the most efficient and inexpensive way to administer the financial aspects of this Project is tomaintain one formal account that is divided into the categories used by the University of Texas SouthwesternMedical Center. These categories consist of salaries, maintenance and operation, equipment, and travel. Inthe past we have had extreme difficulty in trying to maintain nine separate accounts (one for each of the sixResearch Projects and one for each of the three Core Units). The advantages of one account versus nineaccounts are several-fold: First, with one account all financial records can be kept by one person, Ms.Pokladnik. If we were to administer nine accounts for Years 31 to 35, this would require that a newAdministrative Assistant be hired. Second, with one account we can purchase in bulk various items that areused in all six Research Projects and in the three Cores (such as 32P-nucleotides, 3H-sterols, chromatographysupplies, transfection reagents (Fugene 6), gloves, micropipettes, etc.), and thus reduce costs considerably.Third, with one account Ms. Pokladnik can prepare a weekly summary of expenditures for review by Dr.Goldstein. This weekly review has proved extremely helpful in preventing duplications in expenditures forfrequently purchased items.Although only one formal account will be kept, the overall allocation of funds to the individualResearch Projects and Core Units will be made along the budgetary lines suggested by the NHLBI Council.Should a reallocation of funds between Research Projects or Core Laboratories become necessary, thismatter will be handled by the Executive Committee as discussed in the PROGRAM INTRODUCTION.The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas maintains an accounting office thatkeeps a monthly record of all expenditures by budget category and makes certain that only allowable itemsare purchased and that monies are spent appropriately. The University conducts periodic internal audits thatexamine expenditures of grant funds as well as other matters. Our last Departmental audit was conducted inApril, 2005, and no financial irregularities were found.
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