Effort Reporting
April 2015
Effort Reporting
What is it & why do we have to do
it?
 Report content
 Verifying reports
 Correcting reports
 Salary transfers & cost share
corrections
 Certifying reports

Effort Reporting

Federal regulations 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.
Effort Reporting

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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).
Effort Reporting

2 CFR 200.430 Compensation Personal Services

Recognizes that functions are
“inextricably intermingled” and that
precise measurement is not always
feasible.
Effort Reporting
Federal auditors will use Effort
Reports and statistics prepared from
them to approve or disapprove
federal payments to KSU for direct
costs and acceptance of cost shared
salaries.
 Accuracy and timeliness are
extremely important.

Generating Effort Reports
Created at the end of each semester
for all employees with time directly
charged to sponsored projects
and/or cost shared time.
 Created after cost share for that
semester has been reported.

Generating Effort Reports
Reports will be sent to the
employee’s position-owning
department.
 Reports will be sent in a .pdf file.
 The department will need to print
out a paper copy of each report.

Report Content

Each report contains two sections:

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Non-Sponsored Activities
Sponsored Activities
Percentages calculated for the report are
a summation of the reporting period;
individual pay periods are not itemized.
Benefits are not included on Effort
Reports.
Report Content

How are the percentages derived?
Amount paid on a project divided by
Total Amount Salary Paid
 Amount cost shared on a project
divided by Total Amount of Salary Paid

Verifying Reports

Review:
% Salary Effort
 % Cost Shared Effort
 Totals


Totals column should represent a
reasonable estimate of the work
performed during the reporting
period.
Verifying Reports

A variation in pay versus effort of up
to 5% is acceptable

A report indicates an employee worked
75% on instructional activities and 25%
on a grant. The actual time the
employee worked on instructional
activities was 70% and 30% was spent
on the grant. The difference is 5% so
an adjustment is not needed.
Verifying Reports

Variations greater than 5% need
adjusted on the effort report

A report indicates an employee worked
75% on instructional activities and 25%
on a grant. The actual time the
employee worked on instructional
activities was 50% and 50% on a
grant. An effort adjustment is needed
and related payroll or cost share
corrections must be initiated.
Verifying Reports

An employee’s total effort percent
can never be greater than 100% or
less than 100%, regardless of the
number of hours or FTE’s worked
during a semester.
70 hours a week = 100%
 35 hours a week = 100%

Verifying Reports
Do NOT include any Voluntary
Uncommitted cost share
 Voluntary Uncommitted cost share is
faculty-donated time above that
agreed to as part of an award.

Voluntary Uncommitted
Example #1

Summer NSF Project
 100% Instruction during academic term (pd by KSU)
 100% Research during summer term (pd by sponsor)
 10 hours per week of research during academic term –
Time over and above the full-time instruction, without
additional pay. Assume a 40 hour work week for
instruction, now have 50 hours total. Normally 40/50
or 80% instruction and 10/50 or 20% research.
 No academic term budget or promise for cost share on
the NSF Project.
 Report as 100% instruction because extra 10 hours is
voluntary uncommitted effort.
Voluntary Uncommitted
Example #2

Extra Effort Example

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50% Research
50% Instruction
Half teaching load – 24 hours (pd by KSU)
Half research load – 24 hours (pd by KSU
and/or sponsors)
Extra research – 24 hours
Actual time is 48/72 or 67% research and
24/72 or 33% instruction.
Report as 50%/50% because extra research is
voluntary uncommitted.
Effort Adjustments

When the percentages on the effort
report do not provide a reasonable
estimate of the actual work
performed by the employee, the
effort percentages need adjusted.
Effort Adjustments
Write in the Effort Adjustment
column the appropriate adjustment
needed for the affected projects or
activities and correct the total
percentage(s) as appropriate
 Initiate the appropriate payroll
transfer or cost share reporting
adjustment.

Effort Adjustments

After the salary and/or cost share
adjustments have been made, a
revised effort report will be initiated
and sent to the department for
certification.
Salary Transfers and Cost
Share Corrections

When salary transfers and/or cost
share corrections affect a previously
certified effort report, a revised
effort report will be generated and
sent to the department for recertification.
Certifying Reports
Effort Reports need to be signed by the individual the report
covers**.
Exceptions include:
1) Supervisors may sign for graduate & undergraduate
students.
2) Supervisors may sign for research assistants.
3) Supervisors may sign for an employee when they are
unavailable for signature, such as on sabbatical, when they
are no longer employed by the university or other prolonged
absence.
In all cases, the individual signing the report must be directly
aware of and have first-hand knowledge of all effort being
reported for an employee.
Certifying Reports
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.

Submitting Reports
Effort reports should be returned to
SPA
 The due date is printed at the
bottom of each report.

Effort Reporting
Any questions?
 Contact Laura Hohenbary
laura8@ksu.edu or 2-6207
