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Time and Effort Reporting for Federal Grants Presentation for Private Investigators By: The Grant Accounting Office required to verify that they have reviewed the tutorial by sending an email to Tanja F [email protected] , stating that ‘Time and Effort training has been completed’.

Time and Effort Reporting for Federal Grants

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Time and Effort Reporting for Federal Grants. Presentation for Private Investigators By: The Grant Accounting Office. PI’s are required to verify that they have reviewed the tutorial by sending an email to Tanja F. Blackstone, - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Page 1: Time and Effort Reporting for Federal Grants

Time and Effort Reporting for Federal Grants

Presentation for Private InvestigatorsBy: The Grant Accounting Office

PI’s are required to verify that they have reviewed the tutorial by sending an email to Tanja F. Blackstone, [email protected], stating that ‘Time and Effort training has been completed’.

Page 2: Time and Effort Reporting for Federal Grants

What is Effort Certification?• Effort Certification is the formal reporting of

employee activities. • It is required by federal regulations in order to test

the reasonableness of award salaries.

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Page 3: Time and Effort Reporting for Federal Grants

Importance of Reporting• Labor reports are used

to certify that the amount of labor expended on a federal grant corresponds to the salary allocated to the project.- The expectation is for

the salary charged to the grant to not be greater than the percentage of effort expended.

• Federal agencies are accountable to Congress for appropriate usage of their funds. - Therefore, recipients

of federal awards must be transparent in the activities associated with their grant.

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Page 4: Time and Effort Reporting for Federal Grants

Governmental Regulation• OMB Circular A-21 (Principles for Determining Costs

Applicable to Grants, Contracts, and Other Agreements with Educational Institutions) states…- “that, in an academic setting, teaching,

research, service, and administration are often inextricably intermingled. A precise assessment of factors that contribute to costs is not always feasible, nor is it expected. Reliance, therefore, is placed on estimates in which a degree of tolerance is appropriate…”

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Page 5: Time and Effort Reporting for Federal Grants

General Assumptions•Documentation

must...- Appropriately reflect

compensation that an individual receives from UNA’s payroll system

- Ensure that salary charges reasonably match actual effort

•Verification must…- Be performed by the

individual who is paid by the grant» UNA has the PI verify

the report, as well.- Include proof of

performance» UNA requests that a

Progress Report justifying the level of effort is attached to the report.

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Page 6: Time and Effort Reporting for Federal Grants

Risks of Noncompliance• UNA is expected to meet federal guidelines for

Effort Certification.• In recent years, the federal government and its

auditors have become active in reviewing effort reports. A number of universities have received large fines for noncompliance.

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Page 7: Time and Effort Reporting for Federal Grants

Fines for Noncompliance•University of

Alabama – Birmingham- $3.4 Million

•Northwestern University- $5.5 Million

• John Hopkins University- $2.6 Million

•Florida International University- $11.5 Million

•Cornell University- $4.4 Million

•Harvard University- $2.4 Million

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Page 8: Time and Effort Reporting for Federal Grants

Definition of Effort• Effort = the percentage of time spent on any

activity expressed as a percentage of total time fulfilling the assigned university responsibilities

• 100% Effort = total time estimated for UNA activities (activities compensated through the UNA payroll system)

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Page 9: Time and Effort Reporting for Federal Grants

Definition of Effort• Includes…

- Teaching- Administration- Research- Other university

activities

•Doesn’t Include…- Private consulting to

outside parties- Incidental, one-time

payments in excess of base salary

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Page 10: Time and Effort Reporting for Federal Grants

Effort ExamplePercentage of Effort Calculation:

% of Effort for a Federally Sponsored

Project=

Amount Paid by Project during Period

Divided byTotal Amount Paid from All Sources During the Period

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Total Effort Must Equal 100%!

Page 11: Time and Effort Reporting for Federal Grants

Federally Sponsored Activities

• Includes effort devoted to grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements sponsored by the federal government for the purposes of training, public service, or research

• OMB Circular A-21 states, “…Charges to sponsored agreements may include reasonable amounts for activities contributing and intimately related to work under the agreements, such as delivering special lectures about specific aspects of the ongoing activity, writing reports and articles, participating in appropriate seminars, consulting with colleagues and graduate students, and attending meetings and conferences, but not writing new funding applications…”

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Page 12: Time and Effort Reporting for Federal Grants

Non-Federally Sponsored Activities

• Includes…- Classroom Instruction- Curriculum Development- Departmental Administration- Other Non-Federally Sponsored Effort

» State or Local Grants• Proposal preparation time is included in this

category of effort.

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Page 13: Time and Effort Reporting for Federal Grants

Timeline

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Page 14: Time and Effort Reporting for Federal Grants

Certificate

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Page 15: Time and Effort Reporting for Federal Grants

Progress Report

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Page 16: Time and Effort Reporting for Federal Grants

Due Dates for Private Investigators

• On the 15th day of the month following the quarter, PI will receive the reports.

• During the next two weeks, the PI will have time to get the employees to certify the reports and to prepare Progress Reports. The PI will also need to review and to co-sign the report.

• The reports are due in two weeks in the Grant Accounting Office.

•Example:- Quarter Period =

January to March- April 15th = Receive

Effort Certification Report

- Due with in two weeks

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Page 17: Time and Effort Reporting for Federal Grants

Labor Redistributions• If any changes need to occur, these will be handled

by the Grant Accounting Office and the Payroll Department.

• Redistributions will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

• A new report will be created for certification purposes.

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Page 18: Time and Effort Reporting for Federal Grants

Contact Information•Grant Accounting

Office:Anita Holcombe Accountant II, Grants126 Bibb Graves HallFlorence, AL [email protected]

•Sponsored Research Department:Dr. Tanja BlackstoneDirector, Spon. Research208 Bibb Graves HallFlorence, AL [email protected]

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