Cost Share Accounting Procedures

Procedure Date: February 2020
Revision: 1
Last Review: August 2022

Proposing Mandatory and Voluntary Committed Cost Share

During the proposal stage, if cost share is included in the proposal, a Cost Share form (SP-11) must be uploaded to the InfoEd proposal record and submitted to Sponsored Projects along with the proposal. The SP-11 must be electronically approved within InfoEd (via the internal proposal approval routing process) by the principal investigator(s), chairs(s)/director(s) and dean(s)/vice president(s) of the units committing cost share. Requests for institutional cost share from Research & Innovation must be received by the vice president for research and innovation at least three weeks prior to the proposal submission deadline. For cost share allowability, visit our Institutional Sponsored Project Cost Sharing Policy page.

Accounting for Cost Shared Expenses in Workday

If the project is awarded and the cost share accepted by the sponsor, one or more grant cost share worktags will be created by Sponsored Projects to account for cost shared expenses that can be recorded in Workday. (Procedures for cost share from waived facilities and administrative costs and/or third-party cost share is described in the next section.) The grant cost share worktag will be linked to both the non-sponsored fund to which a cost shared expense will be charged and the award number of the project. Grant cost share worktag titles will have the suffix, "CShare."

Grant cost share worktags should be assigned to expenses or payroll allocations when they are first entered in Workday, rather than retroactively.

Retroactive Accounting Adjustments to Report Cost Share

If an expense was not identified correctly as cost share when it was posted, an accounting adjustment must be entered in Workday to add or change a grant cost share worktag. If the accounting adjustment is being submitted more than 30 days after the expense posted, a Retroactive Cost Share Justification form (SP-7) must be attached to the accounting adjustment in Workday to explain why the expense was not originally identified as cost share or an incorrect grant cost share worktag was entered.

The form must be signed by the princiapal investigator (PI) of the project that is reporting the cost share and the department chair or director. SP-7 forms for accounting adjustments assigning cost share worktags to payroll expenses that have already been certified also require the signature of the dean/vice president.

Grant-to-Grant Cost Share

Occasionally, expenses from one sponsored project may be used to meet a cost share requirement for a different project. This is referred to as grant-to-grant cost share. Because Workday will not allow two grant worktags on the same expense, grant-to-grant cost share must be recorded outside of Workday.

Grant-to-grant cost shared payroll expenses must be reported and certified on a manual effort report form and submitted via email to Sponsored Projects. Non-payroll grant-to-grant cost share must be submitted via email to Sponsored Projects and include a Workday financial report documenting the expense to be used as cost share.

How to Add a Grant Cost Share Worktag in Workday

To add a grant cost share worktag to an expense or to a payroll allocation in Workday, first enter the PG or GF worktag of the account that will pay for the expense. After the Cost Center, Function, Fund, and Unit information loads, add the grant cost share worktag.

This procedure for adding a grant cost share worktag to a non-sponsored worktag should be used for both initial cost allocations and accounting adjustments.

Accounting for Waived Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Costs

Waived F&A expenses used to meet a cost share requirement will be calculated by Sponsored Projects.

Accounting for Third-Party Cost Share Expenditures

Third-party cost share expenses cannot be recorded in Workday. Therefore, the expenses must be documented as follows and the documentation must be emailed to Sponsored Projects.

Documenting Third-Party Cost Share - Corporate or Non-Profit

• Employees must have timesheets documenting time worked on projects that is contemporaneous with work performed.
• Fringe is only allowable if actual cost is noted and is based upon percentage of pay.
• F&A costs or overhead is not permitted.
• Non-salary costs must have receipts and/or be valued based upon industry standard methodology and allocable percent, e.g., space valued at current rental rates and percent usage on project.

Documenting Third-Party Cost Share - Private Individual

• Volunteer must have logs showing when they worked on the project.
• Volunteer rates of pay must be consistent with those paid for similar work in the labor market.
• Fringe and F&A or overhead is not permitted.
• Non-salary costs must have receipts and a cover memo from an authorized signer.

Documenting Third-Party Donated Space and Equipment

• Value of space and equipment must be based upon percentage of use associated with the project.
• Base value must be determined annually based upon comparable market rates or some other consistent methodology.

Salary Cap Cost Share

Salary in excess of a sponsor's salary cap is an unallowable expense and cannot be charged to a sponsored project. It must be charged to a non-sponsored account and is, therefore, a form of uncommitted cost share. When setting up an award with a salary cap, and it is anticipated that there will be over-cap salary expenses, Sponsored Projects will set up a Salary Cap Cost Share worktag linked to the non-sponsored account that will pay the expenses. Salary Cap Cost Share worktags will have a suffix of - SalCap CShare. Over-cap salary must be expensed to the non-sponsored account and linked to the project through the Salary Cap Cost Share worktag. Salary cap cost share cannot be used to meet a project's cost share requirement and will not be reported to the sponsor as cost share.

Reporting

Sponsored Projects will distribute a cost share report monthly. It is the PI's responsibility to review the report and monitor cost shared expenditures.

• Payroll expenses recorded in Workday must be certified through the effort reporting process. Uncertified effort is an unallowable expense and cannot be used to meet a cost share requirement.
• Non-salary expenditures for University expenses must be recorded in Workday.
• Waived F&A expenses will be calculated by Sponsored Projects and added to the monthly cost share report.
• Third-party cost share must be reported on company letterhead, signed by an authorized company official, include supporting documentation as detailed above and be verifiable.

The frequency and formats for reporting cost share to the sponsoring agency will be dictated by the award terms and conditions or sponsoring agency guidelines.

Closeout

Awards requiring cost share will be closed under the same procedures and policies as all sponsored activity.