R.I. Gen. Laws § 35-12-2
The purpose of this chapter is to authorize and implement a system of financial planning which would allow the university of Rhode Island (the "university") to more accurately match revenues and expenditures for externally funded research programs for each fiscal year. The general assembly has found and hereby declares that it is in the public interest to encourage independent research activity at the university and further that it is essential to the financial well being of the state and the university that revenues from externally funded research programs be allocated to the fiscal years in which they accrue and be matched to the expenditures for the programs that are incurred for that fiscal year. The general assembly has further found that under the present system revenues are often received after the close of the fiscal year although the expenditures to which they are matched were incurred prior to the close of the fiscal year, and that, in fact, under certain programs, funds must be expended and then reimbursement sought from the contracting agency at a later date, often after the close of the fiscal year.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 35-12-2