Short answer
The Anomaly Detector scans your books for four common mistakes. It flags an expense coded to a fund that does not allow it. It flags a restricted fund release that is bigger than the balance. It flags two gifts from the same donor for the same amount within three days. It flags an indirect cost charge that does not match your rate rule. Each flag links to the record. GrantPipe does not change your numbers. Your team makes the fix.
The problem
Grant books fill up fast. Expenses post every day. Gifts come in. Money moves between funds. Most of it is right. A little of it is wrong.
A cost gets charged to the wrong fund. A release frees more money than the fund held. A donor gets entered twice. An indirect charge uses last year’s rate. None of it looks wrong at a glance.
Then the audit comes. The auditor pulls a sample. They find the miscoded cost. Now you are explaining a mistake that sat in the books for a year. Worse, the cost might get disallowed. That means you pay it back.
The data was there the whole time. Nobody had time to check every line.
How GrantPipe solves it
GrantPipe checks the lines for you. Every day, it scans your books for four common mistakes. When it finds one, it flags the record and tells you why.
The flag links straight to the record. You open it, look, and decide. GrantPipe does not touch your numbers. Your team makes every fix.
The four checks
The Anomaly Detector runs four checks. Each one looks for a different mistake.
The first check finds miscoded expenses. Each restricted fund has a list of categories its money may cover. GrantPipe checks every expense against that list. A cost charged to a fund that does not allow that category gets flagged.
The second check finds over-releases. A restricted fund holds money for one purpose. When you spend it, you release it from the restriction. If a release is bigger than the balance left, GrantPipe flags it. It shows the release amount, the balance, and how much the release went over.
The third check finds duplicate gifts. Two gifts from the same donor, for the same amount, within three days, get flagged together. One of them may be a double entry.
The fourth check finds indirect rate mismatches. GrantPipe finds the active indirect cost rule on the grant. It uses the base type to add up the direct costs. Then it works out the expected indirect amount. If the posted amount does not match, it flags the line and shows both numbers.
How the checks work
For miscoded expenses, the test is a match. GrantPipe compares the expense category and account to the allowed list on the fund. If nothing matches, it flags the cost. An expense with no category and no account is left alone.
For over-releases, the math is simple. GrantPipe takes the fund’s starting balance, adds money added, and subtracts money already released. That is the available balance. If a new release is bigger than that balance, it fires the flag.
For duplicate gifts, GrantPipe groups gifts by donor and amount. Inside each group, it looks at the dates. Two gifts within three days are flagged.
For indirect rate mismatches, GrantPipe rebuilds the base from the direct cost lines. The base type on the rule sets which costs count. Then it multiplies the base by the rate to get the expected amount. The posted amount has to match.
The Anomaly view
GrantPipe shows every open flag in one place. Flags are sorted by how serious they are. The worst problems sit at the top.
Each row shows the flag type and a short reason. It shows which record is involved. For an over-release, it shows the amount over. For an indirect mismatch, it shows the posted and expected amounts. For a duplicate gift, it shows the gifts in the group.
You can filter the list by flag type. See only miscoded expenses. See only over-releases. See only duplicate gifts. See only indirect mismatches. A count on each filter shows how many of that type are open right now.
Click any row to open the record. You see the full detail and decide what to do.
Daily alerts
You do not have to open the view to stay current. GrantPipe checks the books on a daily cycle. When a new serious flag appears, your team gets an alert.
The alert respects your settings. It follows your work hours. It follows your notification choices. Each flag alerts once, so your inbox does not fill up with repeats.
Who it is for
Finance leads who close the books. They need to catch a miscoded cost before it reaches a report. The view gives them a daily list to clear.
Grant managers who answer to funders. They need clean books at audit time. The flags help them fix problems while there is still time.
Executive directors who sign the reports. They want to know the numbers are right before they put their name on them.
How this is different from other features
Budget Sentinel watches whether your spending is on track and warns you before a line goes over. The Anomaly Detector watches whether your bookings follow the rules. The two work together. See Budget Sentinel for overspend and lapse alerts.
The restriction-aware classifier helps you code an expense to the right fund as you enter it. The Anomaly Detector checks the bookings after the fact and flags the ones that slipped through. For the entry-time help, see restriction-aware GL classification.
What GrantPipe does not do
The Anomaly Detector does not change your books. It does not recode an expense. It does not reverse a release. It does not merge a duplicate gift. It does not correct an indirect charge. Those are human decisions.
GrantPipe raises the flag and links to the record. Your team makes the call. The flag stays open until you act. GrantPipe does not clear it for you.
What it replaces
The line-by-line review before the books close. The audit-week scramble to explain a cost nobody caught. The awkward note to a donor whose gift got entered twice.
For the full picture of your restricted funds, see restricted fund tracking.
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Related feature pages
See Budget Sentinel. See restriction-aware GL classification. See restricted fund tracking. See the product overview. See pricing and plan fit.
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Source: 2 CFR 200.501 Uniform Guidance
Q&A
What is an accounting anomaly detector for grants?
It is a daily scan of your grant books. It looks for bookings that do not match the rules you set. When it finds one, it flags the record and tells you why. It does not change anything. It just helps you catch the mistake while there is still time to fix it.
Q&A
What is an over-release in fund accounting?
A restricted fund holds money for one purpose. When you spend that money, you release it from the restriction. An over-release is a release that is bigger than the balance left in the fund. It means the books show more money freed than the fund ever held.
Q&A
Why do duplicate gifts matter?
A donor sometimes gets charged twice by mistake. Or a gift gets entered twice. Both inflate your totals and can upset the donor. GrantPipe flags two gifts from the same donor for the same amount within three days so you can check before the books close.
Frequently asked