Requests for reimbursement of all expenditures, including travel, purchase orders, payment requisitions, and personnel action forms (PAFs), must be submitted within sixty (60) days of expenditure and/or effort date.

Exception to Expenditure Submission Policy for month of project end:

• All non-payroll related expenditures are due within three (3) days of project end.
• Payroll related expenditures (PAFs) are due by the 10th day of the month the project ends, along with PI certification that the effort will be completed by the project end date. In the event that a PAF is for a PI, certification must come from a co-PI or the PI's supervisor.

**Requests submitted after the policy deadlines are subject to non-payment due to reporting deadline restrictions from funding agencies.**

Any questions concerning Grant Expenditure Submissions should be directed to the Office of Grants & Contracts Accounting.

A stipend payment is for effort that occurs outside of business hours or in the summer.

Step 1

What time of the year did this effort occur – Academic Year or Summer?

•  If effort compensation is for a Faculty Member during the Academic Term
  • Have his/her business hours been defined and approved through the Office of Grants and Sponsored Programs (OGSP) process? Please see the OGSP website or contact OGSP for more information on this.
  • Effort compensation approval requests cannot process until this is complete.

• If effort compensation is for a Faculty Member during the Summer Term, did he/she teach a summer class?
  • If so prepare a signed statement listing the class times they taught, associated office hours, and statement verifying that grant effort was completed outside of these hours.
  • If not, prepare a signed statement to that effect.
  • Signatures that should be included:
    • Employee
    • Employee’s Departmental supervisor or Dean

• If effort compensation is for a Staff Member during any term
  • Effort must be completed after UNA regular business hours (M-F 8:00 – 4:30 during regular academic term and M-Th 7:30 – 4:30; F 7:30 – 11:30 during the Summer.)
  • Exceptions:
    • A recognizable lunch break
    • A staff member working a shift other than day shift. (In this event please provide signed documentation from a supervisor or Human Resources of the employee’s shift.)

• All employees need to report the dates, times and a detailed description of the effort on a Time and Effort Reporting time sheet and certify it with their signature.
  • This document, when compared to the applicable schedule listed above, will verify that compensated grant effort occurred outside of time for which the employee is being compensated by UNA.
  • Please note: there is no set format for a time sheet as long as it provides the information and signature listed, however there is a fillable template posted on the Office of Grants & Contracts Accounting (OGCA) Forms page.

 Step 2

The payment request

• How often will the work associated with this stipend be completed?
  • Routinely every month over the life of the grant (or for a specified time period) - stipend payments can be set up on assignment to pay out in regular monthly installments. 
    • This will be set up through HR workflow.
    • Employees will be required to submit a description of their compensated effort on a quarterly basis with their Time and Effort certification.
  • No set schedule/there will be gaps between time work is completed
    
    • Stipends related to work of this nature will be requested on an as completed basis if allowed by your funding agency and contract.
    • These requests should be turned in through HR workflow.
    • Backup supporting the stipend request should also be submitted to OGCA using the OGCA Stipend Backup Cover Sheet.
    • Stipend Requests will NOT be approved until backup is received.

Please remember the following important notes:

• If a request is put in after the first of the month, the HR process will instruct you to date it the first of the next month and it will not be paid out until that next month. (For example submitting a request on July 2 will have to be dated August 1 and will not be paid until the August payroll processes.)
• Stipend requests should be submitted as soon as possible and as close to the quarter of the grant effort as possible, but no later than 60 days following the occurrence of the effort for which a stipend is being requested. (The only exception is fiscal year end - September. Contact OGCA for instructions on how to handle items to be paid for September.)
• Backup documentation
  • Documents will be retained for reporting and audit purposes with OGCA.
  •  Some documentation will be required for all requests. Depending on the nature of the work there may be additional items needed.
    • Required documents
      • Signed Stipend Request Cover Sheet  -  can be found on the OGCA Forms page
      • Time and Effort Reporting time sheet – See Step 1 (Suggested format can be found on the OGCA Forms page)
      • Copy of page from the award contract showing payment to employee is allowable

• • • Other documents that may be needed (depending on the nature of the effort)
      • Agendas
      • Sign in Sheets
      • Approval from funding agency if request differs from terms of the contract
      • Any documentation to help show reasonableness and allowability of the effort and stipend being requested

Any questions concerning the Employee Grant Stipend Request process should be directed to the Office of Grants & Contracts Accounting.

What is Effort Certification?

Effort Certification is the formal reporting of employee activities as required by federal cost accounting regulations.  Labor reports are used to certify that the amount of effort expended on a funded grant or contract award corresponds to the salary allocated to the project.           

According to the federal regulations, OMB Circular A21 J8b(1)c, “In the use of any methods for apportioning salaries, it is recognized that, in an academic setting, teaching, research, service, and administration are often inextricably intermingled.  Precise assessments of the factors that contribute to costs are not always feasible, nor is it expected.  Reliance, therefore, is placed on estimates in which a degree of tolerance is appropriate.”

Certificate Instructions:

Employee Effort Certification Reports, generated by the Office of Grants & Contracts Accounting on a quarterly basis, will reflect the percentage distribution of efforts expended by University of North Alabama employees involved in federal, state, local, and private grants or contracts.  The report will account for 100% of an employee’s actual effort on all activities compensated through the university for the given time period.

It must be noted that UNA will only report on faculty and staff employees associated with grants.  Graduate and standard university students should not be included in the reporting.  These students should be filling out separate time sheets kept as documentation by their principal investigators. 

After receiving certificates, each employee should check over their certificate for accuracy. If everything is acceptable, the employee and the PI should sign and date the certificate. (If the PI also receives a certificate, he only needs to sign and date the employee section.) Certificates should then be returned to the Grants & Contracts Accounting Office, within 2 weeks of distribution, where they will be kept on file for reporting and audit purposes. If an employee or PI does not agree with the information presented on the report, they should return the certificate to OGCA unsigned along with backup reflecting the suggested correction. Upon verification of the submitted correction, OGCA will work with Payroll to correct compensation records through the Payroll redistribution process and will issue the employee a revised certificate.

General UNA Definitions

Effort = the portion of total professional effort devoted to a specific function or project expressed as a percentage of the total professional effort.  Total effort must equal 100%.  Effort includes teaching, administration, research, and other university activities.  It does not include private consulting to outside parties.

Ex) Percentage of effort = Amount paid by project during period
                                          Total amount paid from all sources during period

Individual = Faculty, staff, and other employees who receive salary support from a federal sponsored contract or grant.

What is the purpose of this documentation?

Our primary focus for this documentation is to verify that the percentage of effort placed on an award is not less than the percentage of salary charged to the accounting unit.

All questions concerning Time and Effort Certification should be directed to the Office of Grants & Contracts Accounting.

Grant PIs may now request a Purchasing Card (PCard) specifically for their grant if it meets the following criteria:

• Time period of at least 1 year remaining at the time of application
• Purchase card eligible available budget of at least $3000.00 (Ex. an award totaling $3000 with $1000 budget in stipends would not qualify) 

If your award meets these qualifications please contact Accounts Payable for information on the application process.*

If your award does not meet these qualifications please contact OGCA to discuss your purchasing options.

*(Please note you will be required to complete Post-Award Finance 101 training with OGCA before receiving your PCard.)

A reallocation is an after-the-fact reassignment of expenditures, either salary or non-salary, to a budget other than the one it was originally charged. Reallocations can be either to the grant award fund or from the grant award fund. Requests for reallocations should be submitted to the Office of Grants and Contracts Accounting(OGCA) within a 60-calendar day period from the expenditure posting date or 30 days before the award end date, whichever comes first. Below are some examples of why an expenditure reallocation may be allowed:

• Correction of a clerical error
• Reallocation of expenditures from a salary assignment due to actual time spent on award
• Reallocation of expenditures because the grant award fund has unexpended funds (if allowable under the terms of the award)

Important Points to Remember Concerning Reallocations:

• The expenditure reallocation request must be submitted using the Expenditure Reclass/Correction form. This document must be signed by the Principal Investigator of the grant fund certifying that the expenditure being reallocated is allowable.
• The request must be supported by documentation that clearly explains why the reallocation is being made. The explanation must be sufficient for an independent reviewer (e.g. an auditor) to understand the reallocation and conclude that it is appropriate.
• The expenditure reallocation request should be submitted as soon as possible, within 60 days of the posting, or 30 days before the award end - whichever comes first.
• When an expenditure reallocation involves funds in different departments, the request must also be authorized by the cost center head of that department.
• When salary/wage reallocation is appropriate, the OGCA will submit the PIs request as the backup for a Payroll Redistribution form to Payroll, who will complete the reallocation. This process is used when variances between the distribution of compensation and effort exist.

Any questions regarding Expenditure or Payroll Reallocations should be directed to the Office of Grants & Contracts Accounting.

Budget revisions move funds from one expense line to another. All grant award budgets and guidelines are dictated in the award documentation.

• Budget revision requests should be submitted to the Office of Grants and Contracts Accounting (Bibb Graves 102) on the Grant Budget Revision Form authorized by the Principal Investigator.
• All budget revisions should be made prior to the anticipated expenditure of grant funds.
• Principal Investigators should ensure that budget revisions are accurate, have been approved by the funding agency (when needed), and are accompanied by appropriate backup documentation indicating such.

Any questions concerning Grant Budget Revision requests should be directed to the Office of Grants & Contracts Accounting.

Cost Sharing is defined in Federal Uniform Guidance (UG) found at 2 CFR 200 as the portion of the program or project costs not paid by the sponsor. Cost share policies and procedures are listed on the Office of Grants and Sponsored Programs Website.

Office of Grants & Contracts Accounting Post-award Processes and Procedures:

The principal investigator (PI) must provide documentation of cost sharing to the Office of Grants & Contracts Accounting (OGCA). This documentation must be submitted consistent with the reporting requirements of the funding agency.

When required or committed (per the award contract), cost sharing may include:

• Other University Matching Funds - it is the PI's responsibility to monitor expenditures to make sure the commitment is met.
• Third Party In-kind Contributions - the PI must provide verifiable documentation of third party non-cash (in-kind) contributions.
• Cash Contributions - cost share met through cash contributions will be recorded separately in a restricted fund set up by OGCA
• Contributed Effort  - in-kind contributions of effort on Federal/Non-Federal projects by individuals also receiving any compensation through payroll/accounts payable are required to complete Match Effort Certification (as detailed below).
  
  • PI notifies OGCA that in-kind effort described in award agreement has been completed.
  • PI provides backup narrative describing the effort completed.
  • OGCA generates the Match Effort certificate and distributes it to PI.
  • PI obtains required signatures and returns signed certificate to OGCA for reporting requirements.

All award cost share will be subject to an internal audit of records by OGCA as required by Business and Financial Affairs.

Questions concerning Post-Award Cost Share reporting and audit should be directed to the Office of Grants & Contracts Accounting.

An award closeout is the final reconciliation and report of expenditures and activities. The Office of Grants & Contracts Accounting (OGCA) and the Principal Investigator (PI) must work together to coordinate the award closeout process.  While it is the responsibility of the PI to monitor their award termination date, as a courtesy OGCA sends memos notifying the PI of the upcoming award closeout at 90 and 30 days prior to the award termination date. OGCA also works with the PI to complete the closeout checklist including:

• Closeout reconciliation sheet
• Verification that Banner self-service balance is equal to zero
• Outstanding encumbrances/commitments cleared
• Verify receipt of all reimbursement checks
• Cost share commitment (if applicable) verified
• Assignment of residual funds (as indicated on reconciliation sheet), if applicable
• Final financial report completed and submitted to funding agency. (Copy in file)
• Final Time & Effort certification signed and filed
• Allocation of indirect cost
• Retain grant P-card and notify Accounts Payable of award closeout (if P-card issued)

Any questions regarding Grant Award Closeout and Indirect Cost Allocation should be directed to the Office of Grants & Contracts Accounting.