PI’s are required to verify that they have reviewed the tutorial by sending an email to Tanja F. Blackstone,
tfblackstone@una.edu, stating that ‘Time and Effort training has been completed’.
Time and Effort Reporting for
Federal Grants
Presentation for Private Investigators
By: The Grant Accounting Office
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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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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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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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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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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Fines for Noncompliance
• University of Alabama
– Birmingham
- $3.4 Million
• Northwestern
University
- $5.5 Million
• John Hopkins
University
• Florida International
University
- $11.5 Million
• Cornell University
- $4.4 Million
• Harvard University
- $2.4 Million
- $2.6 Million
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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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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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Effort Example
Percentage of Effort
Calculation:
% of Effort for a Federally
Sponsored Project
=
Amount Paid by Project
during Period
Divided by
Total Effort Must Equal 100%!
Administration
• 25%
Federal Grant
• 25%
Instruction
State Grant
• 25%
• 25%
Total Amount Paid from
All Sources During the
Period
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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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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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Timeline
Actual salary is charged during the quarter based on HR assignments.
Reporting period of the quarter ends.
The Grant Accounting Office creates Certification Reports. These will be delivered to the PIs by the 15th of the month after the quarter.
Effort Reports are Certified.
The employees will certify the reports, and the PIs will later review and co-sign them. A Progress Report should also be attached to the report.
PI’s will mail the reports back to the Grant Accounting Office.
These are due in 2 weeks.
Post review will be completed by Dr. Tanja Blackstone, Director of Sponsored Research.
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Certificate
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Progress Report
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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.
• Example:
- Quarter Period =
January to March
- April 15th = Receive
Effort Certification
Report
- Due with in two weeks
• The reports are due in two
weeks in the Grant Accounting
Office.
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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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Contact Information
• Grant Accounting
• Sponsored Research
Anita Holcombe
Dr. Tanja Blackstone
Accountant II, Grants
Director, Spon. Research
126 Bibb Graves Hall
208 Bibb Graves Hall
Florence, AL 35632
Florence, AL 35632
256-765-4273
256-765-4523
agholcombe@una.edu
tfblackstone@una.edu
Office:
Department:
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