Carryforward

Many projects, primarily federally-funded ones, span several years but have discrete annual budget periods. In theory at the end of each budget cycle, the balance in the project account should be zero. Because it is virtually impossible to accomplish this, many federal sponsors allow balances to be automatically carried over to the next budget period (there should never be an overdraft in the account). Those agencies that want information regarding significant balances require principal investigators to provide it in their continuation proposals. Check the sponsor's guidelines for the definition of "significant." For example, the NIH definition of significant balance for carryforward is over $250,000 or 25 percent of the budget period award (including the previous year's carryforward).