Administrative officials are required to efficiently manage resources and effectively mitigate risks to attain program objectives while maintaining a sound financial condition and compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
The Chancellor delegates their authority to expend funds to specified administrative officials by approving the annual campus budget. This delegation does not include the authority to contract on behalf of UC Berkeley. Administrative officials may redelegate the authority to expend funds to other administrative officials. Principal investigators, for example, are delegated responsibility for the design, implementation and management of specific research grants and contracts, but they may delegate to their departmental business officers responsibility for grant financial management. While administrative officials may delegate authority, they continue to be accountable for their areas of responsibility. Specifically, they retain overall responsibility for:
- Compliance with applicable laws and regulations, University policies, collective bargaining agreements, and terms and conditions of gifts, contracts, and grants
- Sound financial condition and good business practices;
- A system of internal controls that identifies and manages risks;
- Employee relations practices that ensure due process, nondiscrimination, and freedom from harassment and retaliation;
- A safe and healthy environment for faculty, staff, students, and visitors;
- Whistleblower activities;
- Conflict of interest activities;
- Research misconduct activities;
- Academic aspects of the department – if the administrative official has been delegated the authority from the Chancellor; and
- The integrity of data and the administrative environment needed to support these responsibilities.