Scream in fustration

I don't wether to laugh or cry.

We had a grant that ended a year and a half ago. We just got a letter from the department that handles grant money. It was a notification that the amount of money we had been awarded was $15,600+ less than originally planned for. Based on the names on the forms, it looks like we didn't spend said amount. So they were crediting us said amount.

Then because the account is dead, they gave the money back to the granting agency.

I already asked the obvious question - "Why did it take a year and half to find this out?"

I still haven't gotten a good answer.

My boss will have a small kitten when he finds out there was $15K + that could have been spent for the lab, but was given back to the agency.

Part of the problem was that the grad student must have put in the budget a certain amount to a company. Then when he left, didn't tell anyone that the money was there.

Just wish someone could have caught it. Things are going to start getting tight, and the supply money would have been nice.