Monthly Project Reviews

Departmental Research Administrator Action Items:

(Fill up the tank, vacuum, wash and wax)

• Review all expenses incurred on a project in comparison to what you expected to be incurred and the sponsor approved budget and budget justification.  
• Confirm all incurred expenses are allowable, allocable, reasonable, within the sponsor approved period of performance, and well documented.  Make timely adjustments, as needed.
• Communicate status of the account to the PI(s) including alerting your PI of any project deviations from that which was awarded that require sponsor prior notification or approval.  Timely prepare sponsor prior notification or approval requests, as needed.  
• Make adjustments based on feedback from the PI(s).
• Monthly Review Checklist 

Where to Start

• Actual expenses can be reviewed in:
  • OBI CER  – available to those with the requisite reporting authorities.  ORA highly recommends utilizing either the OBI CER Expenditure Balance or Expenditure Details reports for monthly reviews and reconciliation.  
  • eCertification – available to sponsored project task managers and overseers.
• Anticipated or projected expenses should be reviewed from your unit’s preferred portfolio management tool and source documents.  For example: 
  • the ORA Portfolio Management Tool
  • the Engineering Research Administration (ERA) Forecast Sheet
  • Appointment forms/emails 
  • Etc. 
• The sponsor approved budget and budget justification can always be found in SeRA.

What exactly can I charge to a project?

• Refer to the SPONSOR APPROVED project budget and budget justification.  
  • Some sponsors will attach the detailed budget [and justification] they approve to the award documents they send to Stanford.  In other instances, the sponsor will reference in award documents the budget [and justification] that was submitted at the time of proposal.  In either case, these documents can always be found in the SeRA attachments for any SPO.
  • Note: even if a sponsor approves a cost, the cost still must be allowable to be charged as per Stanford University policy, be allocable to i.e., benefit the specific project, be reasonably incurred, and be incurred within the sponsor approved budget period.

But can I charge that?

Any costs [personnel and non-personnel] that were not explicitly budgeted and approved by the sponsor can only be charged to a sponsored project if they meet all the following criteria:

1. Allowable - The costs are allowed as direct charges by the given sponsor, specific award, and Stanford University policy.
2. Allocable - The costs directly benefit the project.
3. Reasonable – The costs would be incurred in a fiscally prudent manner.
4. Timely – The costs would be incurred within the sponsor approved budget period.
5. The costs are within the internal rebudgeting latitude awarded by the given sponsor and award.  
   • If no to #5, but the criteria 1-4 have been met, prepare and submit the appropriate sponsor prior approval request.

Effort & Salary Management

• Key Personnel Includes PI(s), Co-PI(s), and any Senior/Key Personnel listed on the sponsor Notice of Award(s) 
• Compare effort/salary incurred to date and forecasted through the end of the current budget period using the OBI CER Expense Details and/or OBI PLM reports + your portfolio management too against that which was committed to the sponsor which you can find in SeRA.
  • Federal Grants - Most require sponsor prior approval for a 25% or more reduction in effort for any Key Personnel
  • Federal Contracts – Many require sponsor prior approval for a 25% or more reduction in effort for any Key Personnel.  Refer to your specific award’s terms and conditions. 
  • Non-federal awards - Refer to your specific award’s terms and conditions.  Most have specific terms and conditions relating to how much effort can or cannot be charged as well the threshold for requiring sponsor prior approval for a change from the level of effort proposed.
• Effort/salary should ALWAYS be commensurate with effort devoted.
• Effort should NEVER be charged exclusively “because that’s what we proposed".
• Effort/salary should ALWAYS be charged when it is devoted.
  • For example - If someone works on a project during the academic year, their effort/salary should be charged to the project in the academic year.  Conversely, if someone works on a project in the summer, their effort/salary should be charged to the project in the summer 
• If a key person’s effort on a project will significantly* deviate from that which was committed to the sponsor, PROACTIVELY prepare and submit a prior approval request for the change 

*As defined by the relevant sponsor and award

• Note, it is very common for sponsors to award projects not exactly as they were proposed.  This can include, but is certainly not limited to:
  • The awarded $ and time may be different (typically less) than that which was proposed.  This can apply to the entire award, only specific budget periods, or even to only specific cost categories.
    • Some sponsors will ask for a revised budget and justification if they intend to award a project for significantly less $ and/or time than what was proposed.  Others do not.
    • Unless explicitly advised by a sponsor, an award made for less $ and/or time than proposed does NOT = a commensurate reduction in PI and key personnel effort.
      • For example: If we proposed to Sponsor X for $100K for each 12-month budget period of the project and included a 10% CY or 1.2 person months PI effort commitment, and Sponsor X awards us only $85K/yr and/or only a 9-month year 1 performance period, the PI effort commitment remains 10% CY/ 1.2 person months.
  • Key personnel listed on the sponsor award notice may not include all the key personnel listed on the proposal

Monthly Review of Salary Expenditures

• Review and confirm the amount charged in salary for each project person equates to what your investigator intended to be charged in terms %s or person months that the project personnel are devoting to the given project.  For example, if a post doc with an annual salary of $84K or a monthly salary of $7K works 50% on Project A and 50% on Project B in a month, confirm $3.5K salary charged to Project A and $3.5K charged to Project B for the given month.
• For awards subject to a sponsor salary cap, most notably NIH awards, ensure, as applicable, both the correct salary charges on the sponsored account have posted as well as that the over the cap (OTC) charges have posted to the relevant non-sponsored PTA(s) correctly in terms of both dollar amounts and expense type (ET).
• Review and confirm correct expense types (ETs) and job codes are being used – this affects which fringe rate is charged, so it is good you know whose salary should incur staff fringe vs contingent fringe etc.

Personnel Cost Transfers

• If you entered any personnel cost transfers via LDAs and/or GFS updates, confirm you see that they have posted as intended.
  • Pro tip: Log all cost transfers you enter in a month on your portfolio management tool and then remove them as you confirm they have posted.

Tuition Expenditures

• For projects that support grad student RAships, in the first month of each quarter beginning term tuition allowance (ET 51960) posts to projects.  This is NOT billed to sponsors.  Then in the last month of each quarter, the previously charged beginning term tuition allowance (ET 51960) is credited and tuition allowance (ET 51975) is charged.  See the below image for an example of this.  The tuition allowance (ET 51975) charges are billed to sponsors.  Thus, for monthly reviews of first and last months of each quarter, review and confirm for any RAships the correct beginning term charges and credits and final tuition charges posted.

  
• If you entered any GFS updates to adjust tuition charges in a quarter, confirm you see that they have posted correctly
  • Pro tip: Log all cost transfers you enter in a month on your portfolio management tool and then remove them as you confirm they have posted.

Fringe Benefit Expenditures

• Review and confirm the correct fringe benefit rates are being charged.
  • Remember, the Tuition Grant Program (TGP) fringe rate is assessed on regular benefits-eligible salaries charged to all non-government funded PTAs including sponsored projects. The TGP rate is applied to regular benefits eligible employee salaries paid by non-government sponsors in addition to the fringe benefit rate. 
• For budgeted staff project personnel that accrue vacation and sick leave, such as Academic Staff Researchers (ASRs), we do NOT show or include their Vacation Accrual and/or Disability Sick Leave (DSL) Rates in proposal budgets.  However, the Vacation/DSL Accrual is assessed at the time of the salary expenditure (salary * Vacation/DSL Accrual rate = accrual). The accrual enables Stanford to charge the appropriate funding source for the vacation earned by benefits-eligible staff as they are working. Vacation/DSL Accrual is assessed as it is earned, rather than as it is taken. Application of the rates build a central University fund to pay for vacation salary when staff either take vacation or leave the University.   
  • Let’s look at an example: 
  • Dr. Cardinal, an ASR, has an annual salary of $120,000 and was budgeted for 100% effort on a federal award in FY24.

  • Dr. Cardinal's Budgeted 100% Salary for FY24	$120,000
    Dr. Cardinal's Budgeted Fringe Benefits for FY24 (28.4%)	$34,080
    Total	$154,080

  • During FY24, Dr. Cardinal works 100% on the federal award as proposed and takes vacation for the half the month of April.  
  • Review the below chart to see how Dr. Cardinal's salary, fringe benefits (28.4% for FY24), and vacation accrual (8.9% for FY24) will post to the federal award and the difference between the total incurred amount and that which was budgeted above. 
  • 
  • When the ASR takes vacation, the award to which their salary is being charged will NOT be charged for the commensurate amount of their salary and benefits.  If the ASR takes all the vacation they accrue while working on a project, the vacation accrual charges and credits will net to zero.  
  • IMPORTANT: In practical application, staff working on sponsored projects often take less vacation time than they accrue resulting in sponsored projects incurring the cost of vacation accruals without receiving all the offsetting credits.  When this occurs, incurred personnel costs will exceed budgeted personnel amount.  This will require investigators and award managers to either rebudget from other project budget categories, as available and allowed by the given award's terms and conditions, to cover the additional personnel costs or identify another funding source to support the project costs in excess of those awarded from the sponsor.  If you are managing a project budget with a significant amount of personnel that accrue vacation, it is highly recommended that you discuss with your investigator the financial implications of vacation accrual costs and devise a proactive management plan.
  • For more information on which employees at Stanford accrue vacation and sick leave, review the Stanford Administrative Guide 2.1.6.

Travel Expenditures

• Confirm travel was budgeted or that the sponsor allows for the purchase of unbudgeted travel without prior approval.  Careful, some sponsors allow domestic travel, but restrict foreign travel.  How do you know if this applies to your award?  Refer to the Terms and Conditions of the Notice of Award in SeRA!
• If you approved the travel charges when they were first charged hopefully this is all review and can be done fairly quickly, if these charges are new to you, review them as if a first-time approver and confirm all incurred expenses are allowable, allocable, reasonable, within the sponsor approved period of performance, and well documented.

Supply Expenditures

• Confirm supplies were budgeted or that the sponsor allows for the purchase of unbudgeted supplies without prior approval.  
• Again, if you approved the supply charges when they were first charged hopefully this is all review and can be done fairly quickly.  However,  if these charges are new to you, review them as if a first-time approver and confirm all incurred expenses are allowable, allocable, reasonable, coded with the correct ETs, and are within the sponsor approved period of performance, and well documented.
• Watch for and ask questions about any anomalous charges and/or means of charging.  For example, if a lab group always uses POs and pcards, and for the first time you see multiple service center ijrnls, investigate and confirm they are allowable, allocable and reasonable for the given project(s) to which they were charged.

Participant Support Costs - Allowed on Federal Awards Only

• See the Participant Support Costs (PSC) information on the ORA Can I Charge That? page

Non-Personnel Cost Transfers 

• If you entered any non-personnel cost transfers, confirm that they have posted.
  • Pro tip: Log all cost transfers you enter in a month on your portfolio management tool and then remove them as you confirm they have posted.

Subawards

• Refer to Managing a Subaward

Capital Equipment Expenditures

• Confirm capital equipment was budgeted or that the sponsor allows for the purchase of unbudgeted capital equipment without prior approval.
• Confirm all capital equipment expenditures were in fact for items that meet the definition of capital equipment.
• Confirm all capital equipment expenditures were coded with the correct ET. 
• Confirm sales tax was charged or not charged correctly - When the federal government will hold title of equipment, we do not pay state sales tax.

IDC Expenditures

• Confirm the correct base [MTDC, TDC, TC, Other] and rate % is being applied on each task of a project.  This is especially important when a project has both on and off campus tasks, different rate schedules have been applied over the life of the award, and/or if the sponsor has been approved for a reduced IDC rate.

References

Research Policy Handbook 3.2 Management of Project Expenditures

Research Policy Handbook 15.8 Cost Transfer Policy for Sponsored Projects 

DoResearch Rates: F&A/IDC, Fringe Benefits etc.