| Considerations |
Details |
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Requirements |
Although federal reporting requirements for cost sharing activities vary from agency to agency, OMB circular A-110 requires ongoing tracking and certification of cost-sharing activity.
- Formal cost-sharing commitments, excluding personnel effort of 5% or less, must contain the total actual cost-sharing amount.
- This amount will be reported to the sponsoring agency according to the terms and conditions of the award.
- At the end of the reporting period, the department generates the report from CSS, includes the principal investigator's (PI's) signature, and submits it to OPAFS.
- OPAFS will include the cost-sharing information in the project financial reports that are sent to the sponsoring agency.
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Objectives |
Cost-sharing information accumulated by the campus should:
- Demonstrate compliance with the terms of specific awards
- Support financial reporting to the agency on the entire scope of the project
- Satisfy consistency requirements of the Cost Accounting Standards (CAS), as they apply to costs that are proposed and accounted for
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Cost Sharing Contribution Report |
These requirements and objectives can be met through the Cost Sharing Contribution Report produced by the Cost Sharing System (CSS), the University's official system for tracking, verifying, and reporting formal cost sharing.
The contribution report provides accumulated cost sharing by budget and/or project period and tracks start and end dates, ceiling amounts, and specified months for cost sharing.
UCSD uses CSS data and reports for:
- Cumulative cost sharing, monitoring, and expenditure reporting for a specific project
- F&A rate development
- CAS compliance review
- Determining the availability and source(s) of funding to meet cost sharing commitments
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Reporting costs not captured by the Cost Sharing System |
UCSD is also responsible for reporting non-UCSD costs or UCSD costs not made available to the cost sharing system. Non-UCSD entities provide UCSD with a cost sharing certification to pass along to the agency.
Examples:
- A subcontractor on a UCSD award has committed cost sharing
- UCSD personnel funded by fellowships that are paid outside the payroll system
- UCSD personnel funded by Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) or Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
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Certifying |
The contribution report includes a certification that committed effort was completed on the project.
- A sponsoring agency typically recognizes committed effort as an estimate, not a firm monetary amount.
- The actual cost of the effort will constitute the reportable cost sharing on that project.
- If the expenditures differ significantly from the budget, an explanation and/or adjustment may be required.
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Certifying non-UCSD effort |
Effort not paid by UCSD must be certified by the individual or entity contributing the effort.
- Certification may be by letter, e-mail, or other available documentation.
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Audits |
Be prepared to provide auditors with supplementary information and records that might be needed to explain non-UCSD costs that were contributed and certified.
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Risks |
Inaccurate or non-existent tracking and/or reporting may negatively impact the PI, department, and the University, possibly causing:
- A reduction of the agency award by the amount of any unmet formal cost sharing commitment
- A reduction in future funding
- A reduction of the campus F&A rate (each point of the rate equates to about $12 million per year)
- Additional audit disallowances
- Damage to the University's reputation
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Record retention |
Records are maintained for audit purposes according to the University's Records Management Disposition Manual, PPM 480-20.
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