Effort Reporting

Effort reporting is a method of assuring sponsors that projects have been charged the appropriate amount for salaries and wages and that the amount of effort required as a condition of the award was actually met. Per the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, 2 CFR 200, charging salaries and wages to sponsored project accounts based on budget estimates is initially allowable, but institutions must also review the charges “after-the-fact” and make all necessary adjustments so that the final amounts charged are “accurate, allowable and properly allocated.” Any necessary adjustments should be initiated by the project PI.

Procedure

Annually the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs will initiate time and effort reporting forms for each employee identified as being paid or having committed cost sharing on a federally-funding project during the reporting period.

The time and effort reporting procedure is as follows:

1. Based upon identified effort paid by federal sponsors, university committed cost sharing and any revisions received from the principal investigator, generate time and effort reports and distribute
2. Employees or certifiers will review and certified time and effort reports for potential salary adjustments, cost transfers or degree of tolerance limitations. Consider whether effort should be recertified.
   1. Cost transfers to National Institutes of Health grants by grantees or subawardees should be completed within 90 days of when the error was discovered, must be supported by documentation which fully explains how the error occurred and effort must be recertified.
3. Reports not returned within 30 days of issuance, will receive a final reminder to the employee and his/her supervisor
4. Electronically archive certified time and effort reports on the university’s file server which is backed up on a regular basis. Provide the original reports to Business Services to maintain according to grant retention guidelines.