Check every grant charge before the auditor does.

ALK reads lab invoices, travel claims and transcripts, checks each one against your own rules and grants, and keeps the reason for every decision on file.

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What changes with ALK

Grants, claims and transcripts, before and after ALK.

Travel reimbursements

Before

Travel costs questioned in 11 of 18 NSF audits of universities

With ALK

Every claim checked against your travel policy and the grant before it's paid

Grant charges

Before

$3M in questioned grant costs sustained across 11 university audits

With ALK

Every charge checked against the grant it's charged to, with the reason on file

Transfer credit evaluation

Before

Up to 24 weeks for a transfer credit decision

With ALK

Every course matched to your equivalency table, judgment calls sent to an evaluator

Before, travel reimbursements: NSF Office of Inspector General, Promising Practices for NSF Award Management (OIG 22-6-002, Jan. 2022); 18 audits of university award recipients completed since Sept. 2018. Findings included per diem overcharges, alcohol on receipts, upgraded airfare and travel after the award period ended. Before, grant charges: NSF Office of Inspector General, Semiannual Report to Congress, April to September 2025 (audits resolved in that period). Before, transfer credit evaluation: AACRAO and Sova, LEARN Commission final report (Dec. 2025), citing Sova's study of five public California institutions (May 2025).

SEPTEMBER’S TRAVEL CLAIMS

See 15 travel claims checked against your policy and the grant.

At Ravenford University, the university we use to show ALK at work, every travel claim has to pass the travel policy and the grant it’s charged to. Here are September’s claims, start to finish.

app.alk.work/workflows/travel-and-expense-claims

Ravenford’s travel policy open next to the workflow, with the hotel, meal and Ravenford card rules.

15 travel claims read and sorted: Grant Exceptions 2, Return to Claimant 5, Approver Sign-off 3, Ready to Reimburse 5.

ALK explaining that the September 17 hotel night is personal because the symposium ended at 12:30 pm that day.

Abena Mensah’s hotel folio, with departure on September 18 and $259.46 for the night of the 17th.

The Return to Claimant stage with ALK’s note for each of the 5 claims.

The Approver Sign-off stage awaiting approval, with Dr. Ruth Calloway, Department Chair, as the approver for Dr. Lindqvist’s claim.

ALK Analyst charting September’s travel claims by grant fund and stage.

Telling Pulse what to watch: every charge by grant fund, with any charge on a fund that was not open flagged.

The Pulse view for Molecular Genetics grant charges: 2 charges, $4,239.01, on a fund that had ended.

Replay

Each check on September’s claims comes from software you can use on its own, in research finance or the Registrar’s office. Here’s each one.

Travel reimbursements

Check every travel claim against your policy.

ALK reads the claim form and every receipt, checks hotel nights, meal limits and receipts against your travel policy and the grant charged, and drafts a note for the claimant saying what to fix. In September, 5 of Ravenford's 15 claims went back, from $34.00 of wine on a research grant to an $838.89 hotel the department's travel card had already paid.

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ALK PRODUCT SUITE

Travel and Expense Claims | Ravenford University

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	Claimant name	Total claimed	Hold reason	Note to claimant
1	Dr. Thea Gallowan	2257.36	Alcohol on a research grant	Remove the alcoholic beverages of "$34.00" and the related liquor tax of "$3.40" from the claim, as alcohol cannot be charged to a research grant.
2	Dr. Livia Castellane	2286.63	None	—
3	Dr. Teresa Quintal	1481.16	None	—
4	Callum Pryde	1328.51	Missing receipt	Attach an itemized receipt for the September 3 dinner, or remove the $57.80 expense from the claim; the current entry states that the receipt was not attached.
5	Rafael Corvelo	1289.26	None	—
6	Ines Moreau	1331.96	Meal included in registration	Remove the $24.60 lunch claimed for 2026-09-03 and the $26.85 lunch claimed for 2026-09-04 because the registration includes lunch on both dates.
7	Dr. Maren Lindqvist	2186.23	None	—
8	Tobias Wrenfield	561.63	Fund not open to this claimant	—
9	Abena Mensah	1643.02	Personal hotel night	Remove the personal September 17 lodging night, "$259.46", from the lodging claim of "$1,037.84" because the event ended at 12:30 pm that day. Attach the required fund-approver sign-off for the claim total of "$1,643.02"; the approver signature is missing.
10	Dr. Corinne Ashgrove	1412.11	None	—
11	Owen Achterberg	154.35	None	—
12	Dr. Lea Fontaine	1460.84	Already paid on a Ravenford card	Remove the $838.89 hotel lodging charge because it was already paid with Ravenford Visa ending 2290 and cannot be claimed again.
13	Jude Okoro	645.61	Fund ended before the charge	—
14	Noor Haddad	141.04	None	—
15	Mei Lin Zhou	279.72	None	—

Main15

Grant Exceptions2

Return to Claimant5

Approver Sign-off3

Ready to Reimburse5

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Grant management

See every charge that lands on a closed grant.

Supplier invoices, Science Stores charges and travel claims all land on a grant. ALK checks each one against the grant it's charged to, and one view keeps every fund in front of you. In September, 2 charges, $4,239.01, landed on a grant that ended September 15, flagged before anyone paid them and before they needed a cost transfer.

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ALK PRODUCT SUITE

Grant charges | Molecular Genetics

Total Charges by Fund

Total Amount (CAD)

Last refreshed 4:55 AM

1 source

Charges by Status

Total Amount (CAD)

Last refreshed 4:55 AM

1 source

Grant Charges Summary

Total Charged

45,295.70

Sum of Amount (CAD) across all 27 charges

Amount In Question

7,878.16

Sum of Amount in question across all 27 charges

On Hold Count

Count of charges with Status = On hold

On Hold Total

14,658.25

Sum of Amount (CAD) for charges with Status = On hold

Awaiting Sign-off Count

Count of charges with Status = Awaiting sign-off

Ready Count

Count of charges with Status = Ready

Last refreshed 4:55 AM

1 source

Hold Reason Breakdown

No PO number: 2 charges on hold (Fenmore Glassware Co. $439.01; Pinehurst Oligos $903.10) totaling $1,342.11 in question.
Missing receipt: 1 charge on hold (Callum Pryde, TEC-26-0908) with $57.80 in question.
Fund not on the list: 1 charge on hold (Westmount Gas & Welding Supply, WGW-505218) with $493.81 in question.
Personal hotel night: 1 charge on hold (Abena Mensah, TEC-26-0917) with $259.46 in question.
Alcohol on a research grant: 1 charge on hold (Dr. Thea Gallowan, TEC-26-0904) with $34.00 in question.
Fund ended before the charge: 2 charges on hold (Jude Okoro $645.61; Northlake Bioreagents Inc. $3,593.40) totaling $4,239.01 in question.
Meal included in registration: 1 charge on hold (Ines Moreau, TEC-26-0910) with $51.45 in question.
Fund not open to this claimant: 1 charge on hold (Tobias Wrenfield, TEC-26-0913) with $561.63 in question.
Already paid on a Ravenford card: 1 charge on hold (Dr. Lea Fontaine, TEC-26-0923) with $838.89 in question.

Last refreshed 4:55 AM

1 source

Westmount Gas & Welding’s $493.81 invoice names a fund that isn’t on the department’s list.

6 charges, $22,282.52: 3 lab invoices for Dr. Maren Lindqvist to sign off ($16,328.50) and 3 travel claims for their approvers ($5,954.02).

Northlake Bioreagents $3,593.40 and Jude Okoro’s $645.61 training days, both on fund 4-21604 after it ended September 15.

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Audit readiness

Have the answer ready for any audit.

Ask a plain question about your grant charges and get every held invoice and claim, the amount in question and the reason, ready for a single audit, a funder's review or your own internal audit. In September, $7,878.16 was in question across 11 held charges, from a grant that had already ended to $34.00 of wine.

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ALK PRODUCT SUITE

Chart the Amount in question by Hold reason for every charge on hold.

	A	B
1	Hold reason	Amount in question
2	Alcohol on a research grant	$34.00
3	Already paid on a Ravenford card	$838.89
4	Fund ended before the charge	$4,239.01
5	Fund not on the list	$493.81
6	Fund not open to this claimant	$561.63
7	Meal included in registration	$51.45
8	Missing receipt	$57.80
9	No PO number	$1,342.11
10	Personal hotel night	$259.46
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Amount in Question by Hold Reason (Charges On Hold)

Transfer credit evaluation

Evaluate transfer credit against your own equivalency table.

ALK reads each transcript, matches every course to your equivalency table, applies your grade and course-age rules and sends only the judgment calls to an evaluator. Sara Hollinrake's 58% in statistics passed at Brackwater College, which passes at 50%, but not under Ravenford's 60% rule, and the lines on her transcript show why.

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ALK PRODUCT SUITE