Award Management

9.6 Effort Reporting

Federal regulations contained in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Uniform Guidance (2 CFR 200) require institutions to maintain systems that reasonably reflect the distribution of employee effort charged to sponsored projects. These requirements exist to ensure that salary and wage charges to sponsored awards are accurate, allowable, and properly documented.

To meet these standards, the University maintains an effort reporting and certification process that provides after-the-fact confirmation of effort expended on sponsored projects by University employees. Effort reports are generated for exempt employees who devote effort to sponsored activities, including those whose compensation is supported in part by sponsored projects, associated organizational units, or state appropriations tied to grants and contracts.

Each reporting period, employees (or designated certifiers) are required to review and certify the distribution of effort expended in fulfilling the obligations of their University appointment, including effort allocated to each sponsored project. Certification confirms that the reported effort reasonably reflects actual work performed during the period.

When a certified effort distribution differs from payroll charges, payroll adjustments must be processed to align salary, fringe benefits, and associated Facilities & Administrative (F&A) costs with the certified effort.

Timely and accurate effort reporting is a shared responsibility among employees, Principal Investigators, departments, and central administrative offices and is essential to maintaining compliance with federal regulations and sponsor requirements.

Completion of required Effort Reporting (PAR) Training is mandatory for individuals responsible for certifying effort.

Go to Section 9.7 >>

1. Post-Award Administration
   1. Role of PI in Post-Award Administration
   2. Role of PI in Subrecipient Monitoring
2. Financial Management
   1. Financial Management Reports
3. Summary of Revenue & Expenses
4. Detail Transactions Report
   1. Open Encumbrances Report
   2. Balance Sheet
5. Post-Award Changes & Approvals
   1. Changes Requiring Prior Approval
      1. Re-budgeting
      2. Additional Compensation
      3. Changes in Objectives or Scope
      4. Absence or Change of Key Personnel
      5. Foreign Travel
      6. New-Subcontracts/Sub-Agreements
      7. No-Cost Extensions
      8. Carry Forward
      9. Relocation or Transfer
6. Effort Reporting
7. Other Financial Management Issues
   1. Overspent Projects
   2. Underspent Projects
8. Reporting Responsibility
   1. Interim Progress Reports
   2. Project Close-Out
      1. Final Technical Report and Other Deliverables
      2. Final Financial Report
      3. Final Inventory Report and Title to Property
      4. Patent and Invention Report
   3. Late Reports or Non-Reporting
      1. Government Agency Policies
      2. University Policies
9. Records Retention
   1. University Ownership and Responsibilities
   2. Principal Investigators Responsibilities
   3. Duration of Retention of Data
   4. Access to Records
   5. Transfer of Data or Records When a Researcher Leaves the University