In many federal grant budgets, the sum of salaries, wages and fringe benefits constitutes the biggest “chunk of change.” These costs are usually “material” in the language of accounting and auditing. So, it should not be surprising that support for those charges often constitutes the No. 1 documentation vulnerability for recipients and subrecipients.

The diverse list of organizations that have gotten into trouble on the subject is long and distinguished, including a university that recently paid more than $13 million to settle charges that it inaccurately compensated researchers for effort on federal grants. When the Office of Management and Budget launched its federal grant reform initiative, it sought to address this troublesome policy area. Responding to countless comments that previous rules were overly prescriptive, OMB crafted a uniform policy with a new name — “Standards for documentation of personnel expenses.” But, when you scratch the surface, it is still all about “time and effort reporting.”

The federal government now expects all recipients and subrecipients to maintain “a system of internal control which provides reasonable assurance that charges are accurate, allowable, and properly allocated.” Judgments about whether your effort reporting system does that will inevitably be made during upcoming single audits and more than occasional reviews by federal inspectors general.

Review — and possible redesign — of your effort reporting system should be a high priority for your organization. This webinar will help you take on this important task, and cover the following:

• Familiar elements of time and effort reporting that OMB has retained
• How to build on these elements to create the needed “system of internal controls”
• Applicable standards of distribution when an employee works on more than one activity
• Using budget estimates for interim accounting purposes
• The kinds of procedures that must be in place for reconciliations
• Circumstances under which documentation of actual tasks performed is required
• Unique features of an effort reporting system that must be used by institutions of higher education
• Special rules that apply to substitute systems that can be used by governmental units
• Necessary documentation that must be maintained for Fair Labor Standards Act compliance
• Best practices for fashioning compliant documents and document retention

Make sure that the design and operation of your time and effort reporting system will pass muster. Join Bob Lloyd, principal of Federal Fund Management Advisor™, for an informative and practical session that will translate the new policy language for grantees and provide practical advice on how to respond to it.

Who Should Attend?

• Grant and contract managers
• Sponsored projects administrators
• Grant project directors
• Principal research investigators
• Finance directors
• Accounting staff
• Human resources managers
• Internal auditors
• External auditors

Hand-out Materials:

Attendees will receive presentation slides as well as access to background materials.

Allowable Charges

The costs of webinars sponsored by Federal Fund Management Advisor™ are allowable charges to your federal grants and subgrants. The cost principles issued by OMB under its uniform guidance (and applicable to all types of awardees) state, “The cost of training and education for employee development is allowable” (2 CFR 200.472).

Attend this Live Webinar and Earn up to 1.5 CPE Credits