All faculty and professional staff, including temporary instructors, graduate assistants, and temporary professional employees, who are paid by a sponsored program contract, grant or University cost share must certify effort twice per year for regular pay as part of the Effort Certification process. The Accounting Office will prepare and distribute certification instructions for all departments and activities for which they are required.
If the employee's actual distribution of effort is significantly different from the budgeted distribution, the accounting records will be adjusted if appropriate by the Accounting Office by transferring the personal service costs to the appropriate account(s) and processing any necessary budget revisions. Department chairs and activity heads are responsible for ensuring that the effort certification process is completed on time. A list of delinquent departments will be provided to the appropriate executive officer (provost or vice president) for action. After effort has been certified, further adjustments of these personal service costs will be made only in extenuating circumstances and must be supported by a written detailed explanation of the circumstances and justification for the adjustment. Changes after effort has been certified will require approval of the appropriate executive officer (provost or vice president).
Effort of less than 5% of an employee's regular appointment or assignments is not considered significant. Effort of less than 5% of an academic semester for faculty or six months for professional employees will not be charged to sponsored activities. In cases where a sponsored project period is less than a full academic semester or six months, whichever is applicable, an employee's effort of less than 5% for the total project period will not be charged to sponsored activities. These limits do not apply to extra compensation (which is generally not allowable on a federal grant) or summer compensation.
The effort of all classified employees, including students, temporary employees, and graduate assistants paid on a bi-weekly basis, assigned/appointed to sponsored programs or assigned/appointed to positions for the purpose of fulfilling the University's obligation to sponsored program (cost-sharing), will be certified in conjunction with time reporting.
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