Chapter 7080
.010 General Information
.020 Effort Reports
.030 Certification of Effort Reports
.040 Importance of Accuracy and Timeliness
.050 Questions
Sample Forms:
.100 Effort Report
Federal
regulations (Office of Management and Budget Circular A-21, Section J.8) require
that educational institutions prepare and maintain documentation to verify the
faculty and staff time devoted to a sponsored project whenever the payment for
such time is directly charged to a sponsored project or claimed as cost sharing
for a sponsored project.
Time directly charged to a sponsored project is the amount of an employee’s
time spent working on a sponsored project where payment for that time is from
that project’s funds.
Time claimed for cost sharing is time spent working on a sponsored project
during the project or program period, but where the payment for that effort is
from KSU funds (non-project, non-federal funds). Cost sharing is defined by the
Federal Government in OMB Circular A-110, Subpart A, paragraph 2.i. as follows
"cost sharing and matching means that portion of project or program costs
not borne by the Federal Government." Additional information can be found
in A-110, Subpart C., paragraph 23, which can be found on the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) site: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a110/a110.html.
Effort
Reports are prepared for each employee which had cost sharing reported and/or
had salary directly charged to a sponsored project during the reporting period.
The reporting periods coincide with academic semesters and will approximately
match the following schedule: January through mid-May, mid-May through
mid-August, and mid-August through December.
The Controller's Office will send Effort Reports to departments approximately
three weeks after the end of the last payroll period and cost share period in a
semester.
.030 Certification of Effort Reports
The
Effort Report identifies which sponsored and non-sponsored activities funded an
employee, which should reflect how an employee spent their time during the
reporting period. Detailed
instructions for verifying Effort Reports is located on the Sponsored Projects
Accounting web site at http://www.k-state.edu/controller/spa/effortrptg/index.html
.
If any information on this form is incorrect, the department should either
contact the Controller’s Office, Sponsored Projects Accounting Section, to
make cost share corrections or contact the Division of Human Resources to make
payroll corrections.
A sample of this report can be viewed by clicking this Effort Report.
Each
Effort Report must be certified by the employee or the individual responsible
for that employee’s time. OMB
Circular A-21, Section J.10.c.(2)(c), states "Reports will reasonably
reflect the activities for which employees are compensated by the institution.
To confirm that the distribution of activity represents a reasonable estimate of
the work performed by the employee during the period, the reports will be signed
by the employee, principal investigator, or responsible official(s) using
suitable means of verification that the work was performed." Personnel
Specialists, Accountants and other Administrative Officers are not considered
responsible for employee’s time and therefore, their signatures are not
acceptable. Federal
auditors have also indicated that stamped or initialed signatures are not
acceptable.
.040 Importance of Accuracy and Timeliness
Federal
auditors will use Effort Reports and statistics prepared there from to audit and
approve or disapprove federal payments to Kansas State University. Therefore it
is very important that the reports be prepared and reviewed
carefully, accurately, and on a timely basis.
Questions
on this chapter should be referred to the Controller's Office, Sponsored
Projects Accounting (SPA) Section at 532-6207.