Red X iconGreen tick iconYellow tick icon

Closure of Research accounts and transferring surpluses (P, Q, and E accounts)

It is the responsibility of the department to monitor the end dates of commercial (E) accounts and miscellaneous E accounts.

When any research account is to be closed and the surplus transferred, the following form must be completed and sent to Research and Enterprise. Once signed off at Research and Enterprise by the Business Development Manager, a copy is then sent to the Financial Services Division who will then journal the surplus to the nominated activity code.

Research Account Closure form (PDF)

Some commercial accounts have high activity, for example:

  1. Miscellaneous E accounts that have multiple contracts with a number of clients
  2. E accounts with contract terms of several years with multiple milestones

Surpluses for these accounts are sometimes required to be transferred during the term of the contact after milestones have been completed and not on completion of the contract; or on completion of miscellaneous E contracts. In these cases, the completed form (link above) must be sent to Research and Enterprise to be signed off by the Business Development Manager, a copy is then sent to the Financial Services Division who will then journal the surplus to the nominated activity code.

Note that surpluses are normally used for teaching, research or community service purposes and the expenditure must be business related. Surpluses cannot be transferred to another commercial account or an externally-funded research account.

Visit For researchers for more information and support for University of Otago researchers.
Back to top