How to Prepare for a Grant Project — and Not Blow the Reporting

The grant has been awarded, the project has launched — and the team dives headfirst into deliverables, deadlines, and community updates. Financial reporting gets pushed aside: “We’ll figure it out closer to the deadline.” Then it turns out the Facebook ad account is linked to the coordinator’s personal card, the contractor agreement contains no reference to the grant, and the completion act was drafted after the money had already been spent.

We sat down with Maryna Chaplyhina — Chief Accountant at the My City civic organization — to talk about how to avoid these and dozens of other common mistakes. Maryna brings more than 15 years of accounting experience, including seven years working directly in the civil society sector. Through her collaboration with My City, she has reviewed more than 250 projects, consulted with at least 50 implementing teams, and participated in audit support and donor reporting.

What documents or internal processes should an organization have in place before receiving a grant?

I would start not with documents, but with internal order. From the very beginning, you need to define who approves expenses, who sources suppliers, who signs contracts, who delivers documents to the accountant, and where everything is stored.

You also need to verify founding documents, bank accounts, qualified electronic signatures, signing authority, and internal policies — especially procurement policy. It is far better to invest a little time in building a system at the start than to spend the night before an audit digging through last year’s chat history looking for an invoice.

How critical is it to have an accountant or financial consultant involved at the application and budget-writing stage?

I am an accountant, so my answer is probably predictable. But having someone review the budget before submission is strongly advisable. The team knows what it wants to accomplish — an accountant looks at it from a different angle: How do we pay for this? What are the tax implications? Who exactly are we paying? What documents will we need? And how do we prove the result afterward?

For example, a budget might include 30,000 hryvnias for a specialist. But is that a salary, a payment to a sole proprietor, or a payment to an individual? The answer affects both how it is structured and what taxes apply. Those are the kinds of things that are far easier to correct before the budget is approved than after.

What are the most common budget mistakes you see before a project even starts — the ones that come back to haunt teams during reporting?

One of the most frequent is treating the budget as a simple list of expenses:

• Event — 50,000 UAH
• Expert — 30,000 UAH
• Print materials — 20,000 UAH

What I need to understand is what exactly is included in each figure, who we are paying, whether a procurement process is required, what taxes apply, and what document we will receive at the end. Teams also frequently use outdated prices or forget to factor in taxes.

For me, a good budget is not just a table where the numbers add up. It is a budget I already understand how to pay, how to document, and how to present to the donor.

Where should a team start in the first days after signing a grant agreement?

The first thing I would do is not spend any money. The team should first sit down together and go through the grant agreement, the budget, the calendar, and align on: what are we doing, when, how much money do we have for it, who is responsible, and what rules apply.

Right away, agree on a clear workflow: an expense arises — check the budget, the relevant legislation, the procurement procedure, and the grant conditions — prepare the documents — and only then make the payment. Not the other way around: pay first, then ask the accountant how to document it.

How important is it to have a separate bank account for a grant project?

Not always necessary. Start by reading the grant agreement. If the donor requires a separate account, open one.

Even when there is no such requirement, for a large project it is often convenient: you pull up the bank statement and immediately see the cash flow for that specific grant. But a separate account does not replace separate accounting. Every transaction still needs to be properly attributed to the project and the relevant budget line, and supported by documentation.

How do you organize a document storage system so you are not hunting for “that one completion act” a year later?

I prefer the simplest system possible. One main project folder, with subfolders for: the grant agreement and amendments, the budget, procurement, contracts and payments, payroll and team, and reporting. Documents related to a single expense are best kept as a package: contract, invoice, completion act or delivery note, payment confirmation, and proof of result.

And name your files properly. Not “act-new2-FINAL-for-real.pdf” — but something like: “2026-09-15_CompletionAct_SoleProp-Petrenko_design_15000UAH.”

My rule is simple: another person opens the folder and understands exactly what happened — without any explanation from me.

Which budget lines most often generate questions or disputes with donors?

The most common ones are salaries and labor costs, equipment, travel, accommodation, reimbursements, events, and budget line transfers.

Facebook and Instagram advertising is its own story. Writing “advertising — 10,000 UAH” in a budget is easy. But in practice, the ad account is usually tied to someone’s personal profile and personal card. Simply reimbursing that person in cash and calling it done will not work. You need to think through in advance who will be the payer, how the payment will be processed, what documentation Meta will provide, and whether that approach is acceptable under both Ukrainian law and the grant terms.

The key principle here: it is not enough to include an expense in the budget — you also need to understand how to process it legally and how to substantiate it.

What should a contractor agreement include to avoid problems during reporting?

My first rule is: Ukrainian legislation comes first, then the organization’s internal policies, and then any additional requirements from the grant agreement. The contract needs to make clear who we are paying, how much, and for what — along with the timeline and the expected deliverable. In grant-related contracts, I also reference the grant agreement itself: who it was signed with, its number, and its date. That way, even a year later, you can immediately tell which grant the contract belongs to.

And all the documents together need to tell one coherent story: budget → procurement, if required → contract → invoice → payment → completion act → proof of result.

What document errors do you see most often?

Probably the most common is this: the documents technically exist, but when you read them together, they do not add up to a single coherent story. The contract uses one name for a service, the invoice uses a slightly different one, and the completion act just says “services rendered in full.” Or there is a wrong date, a wrong contract number, a wrong amount, incorrect details, a missing signature — or simply no clear indication of what was actually received for the money.

Very often, documents are also prepared after the payment has already been made, once the service has been delivered, and everyone scrambles to reconstruct the paperwork retroactively.

That is why I always look at the full package together: contract, invoice, payment, completion act, and proof of result. They all need to refer to the same service, the same amount, and the same period. And please — read documents before signing them. Fixing a mistake before payment is exponentially easier than fixing it six months later, the night before the report is due.

How long should original documents be kept after a project closes?

There is no single answer that applies to every grant. Retention periods depend on the type of document, the requirements of Ukrainian law, and the conditions of the specific grant. So after a project ends, first check how long you are legally required to retain each type of document — then review the grant agreement. If the donor requires a longer retention period, follow whichever is longer.

In other words: the end of a grant absolutely does not mean you can throw the box of documents away a year later.

How important is it for the entire project team — not just the accountant — to understand the basics of financial reporting?

Extremely important. An accountant simply cannot monitor every action the team takes — especially when they only find out about an expense after it has already happened.

I am not saying a project manager needs to know accounting. But everyone on the team should understand the basics: get approval first, then spend; collect documents immediately; never reallocate budget lines on your own; and if you are unsure — ask before you pay.

When that culture exists, the accountant and the team work together — instead of the accountant chasing everyone down three months later, trying to reconstruct what happened.

What is the most common reporting disaster you see again and again?

Probably this: “We already did everything and paid for it — can you now tell us how to document it correctly?” And that is where things get really interesting. It turns out a procurement process was required, the sole proprietor does not have the right activity code, the expense does not quite fit the budget line, documents are missing, or donor approval was needed first.

Most of these situations would never need fixing at all if the accountant had seen the payment before the money went out. So my simplest principle is: if there is even the slightest doubt — ask first, pay second.

What should a team do a few weeks before a reporting deadline to avoid an all-nighter?

In an ideal world, a few weeks before the report deadline we are not heroically trying to salvage anything — because we have been collecting documents throughout the entire project. But I would still run a final review.

Take the budget and go through every line item and every payment: is everything correctly attributed, are there contracts, invoices, completion acts, delivery notes, payment confirmations, procurement documents, and proof of services rendered? Check all budget amendments separately and confirm that donor approvals are on file. Then reconcile bank statements against your accounting records and the financial report itself.

And above all — do not leave open questions for the last day. If a document is missing or something needs to be clarified with the donor or a contractor, a few weeks out you can still resolve it calmly.