Contents

• Overview
• What is Award Balance Enforcement?
• ⚠️ Important Notes
• What Happens When Award Balance Enforcement is On
• Step-By-Step Instructions
  • Enable Award Balance Enforcement
• Free Up Money on the Award
• Track Spending in the Award Ledger
  • Open the Award Ledger
  • What You’ll See in the Award Ledger
• Related Articles

Overview

This article shows Program Admins how to turn on Award Balance Enforcement in Next, and what happens when an expense or disbursement would push an award’s spending past its award amount.

What is Award Balance Enforcement?

Award Balance Enforcement keeps an award’s expenses and disbursements from adding up to more than the award amount, so spending never goes over what was awarded. It’s a cycle setting, so you can turn it on for some cycles and leave it off for others.

Who can do this: Organization Owners, Client Admins, Program Owners, Program Managers

What Happens When Award Balance Enforcement is On

Expenses and disbursements can’t add up to more than the award amount. The amount left is the award’s available balance. If something would go over the available balance, Next shows an error and stops it. 

(For example, if a $6,000 award has $5,000 in expenses and disbursements, the available balance is $1,000. Anything over $1,000 is blocked.)

What counts toward the award amount:

• Disbursements, as soon as they’re created. This includes disbursements scheduled for later, not just ones that have been paid.
• Expenses, as soon as the awardee submits them. This includes rejected expenses, until they’re voided or resent.

When Next blocks spending:

• Disbursements: Next checks them at two points:
   
  • Before the awardee is notified: If the disbursements on the award agreement add up to more than the award amount, you can’t notify the awardee. To remove disbursements, see ➡️ Disbursement Schedule Field.
     
  • After the award is accepted: This includes disbursements added with Add Disbursements or in an amendment. If the amount is more than the award’s available balance, you can’t save it, and an error shows the available balance.
     
• Expenses: If an awardee logs an expense for more than the award’s available balance, they can’t submit it, and an error shows the award’s available balance.
   
• Lowering the award amount in an amendment: You can’t lower the award amount below what’s already counted against the award (expenses and disbursements). An error shows the lowest amount you can enter.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Enable Award Balance Enforcement

1. In the program, click the gear icon on the far right of the cycle to open Cycle Settings.
   
   
    
2. In Cycle Settings, click Financials in the top menu, then click Financial Settings in the left-hand menu.
   
   
    

3. Switch the Award Balance Enforcement toggle to Enabled.
   
   

   The toggle is only editable before a cycle is published or placed in Test Mode (and for Direct Awarding cycles). If it is grayed out, the cycle is already in Test Mode or published.

    

4. Click Save Changes in the upper-right corner.
   
   
    
   • A confirmation message appears in the bottom-left corner of the screen.

Free Up Money on the Award

If something is blocked, you can:

• Void an expense or disbursement that isn’t approved, completed, or paid yet. See ➡️ Void an Expense.
   
• Claw back an expense or disbursement that’s already paid (if enabled in the organization). The money is freed up once the clawback is complete.
   
• Increase the award amount with an amendment. The new amount applies once the awardee accepts it. See ➡️ Increase Award Amount.
   
• Add a disbursement that increases the award amount. When using Add Disbursements to add a disbursement, select the "Add to Award Amount" checkbox. The award amount goes up by the disbursement amount.

Money is also freed up automatically when:

• An awardee discards an expense.
   
• A disbursement or expense is rejected during approval (for cycles that use approvals).

Track Spending in the Award Ledger

The Award Ledger lists every expense, disbursement, and clawback on the award, and shows the award’s available balance. You and the awardee can both see it.

Open the Award Ledger

For admins:

1. In the cycle, click the Awardees tab in the left-hand menu, then click the awardee’s name.
   
   
    
2. At the top of the screen that opens, click the Award Ledger tab.
   
   
    

For awardees:

• Go to Your Awards, open the award, click the Financials tab at the top, then click Award Ledger in the left-hand menu.
  
  
   

What You’ll See in the Award Ledger

A. The totals at the top summarize the award:

• Total Award Amount: The full award amount.
• Award Balance: The amount still available to spend.
• Amount Blocked: The amount set aside for logged expenses and created disbursements that aren’t paid yet.
• Paid: The amount already paid out.
   

B. Below the totals, each row is one expense, disbursement, or clawback:

• Blocked: The money is set aside. The expense was logged or the disbursement was created, but it isn’t paid yet.
• Debited: The money is paid. The expense was approved or the disbursement was completed.
• Voided: The money is freed. The expense or disbursement was voided or discarded.
• Credited: A completed clawback added money back to the award.

Related Articles

➡️ Cycle Settings: Financials Overview
➡️ Increase Award Amount
➡️ Reduce Award Amount

 

What did you think of this article? Please leave a comment below! 
Your feedback helps us improve the experience for everyone.