For many municipalities across the country, receiving funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) has been great, and for most, much needed. However, some municipalities are quickly realizing managing a federal grant of this magnitude is complex, and subject to problems if not properly reported on and tracked.
When it comes to the American Rescue Plan and utilizing the allocated funds, tracking and reporting on your organization’s spending is critical for future audits.
To help you with your efforts in managing these funds we wanted to highlight an effective way of tracking your ARPA expenditures with VIP.
VIP comes with a project/grant tracking tool built within its Budgeting module. Utilizing this tool will bring the following benefits:
1. Enter and track the entire amount of ARPA funds you receive.
Start your project by entering the amount of ARPA funds you have received. This will act as your “budget” for your ARPA projects. As you tag expenditures to the project, it will automatically deduct them from your available project budget. This will help you keep track of how much money you have left to allocate.
2. ARPA expenditures will be in one place.
The last thing you want to do is mix ARPA expenditures with your regular day-to-day spending. By creating an ARPA Project in VIP you are setting up a one stop shop for all things ARPA. Your expenses, attachments, etc. can all be tracked and kept in one spot, separate from your other daily items. When it comes time for your audit, you will be glad that you set aside a specific section of VIP for your ARPA funds.
3. Easily tag Requisitions, PO’s, and Invoices to automatically add them to your ARPA project.
One of the risks you run by tracking information outside of VIP are double-entry errors. For example, let's say you decide to use a spreadsheet to track your ARPA funds. What happens if you notice your financial software and your spreadsheet don’t match? Which one do you trust?
VIP makes it easy to quickly add expenses to your project by tagging them during your requisition, PO, or Invoice entry. Once they are tagged, they are automatically added to your ARPA project where they will stay to help you effectively track all your ARPA spending.
Tracking your ARPA spending is vital and can lead to problems if not done properly. VIP makes it easy to track how you have allocated your ARPA funds and will be a life-saver when it comes time for your audit.
If you need help setting up your own ARPA project in our project/grant tool or if your state requires a new fund be created to manage your ARPA funds, please don’t hesitate to reach out by contacting 800.686.9578. We would be happy to answer any questions you have!