Tracking waived F&A as C/S, as well as other C/S, depends largely on how
you do your C/S accounting.  Here are some principles, many of which
suggest not tracking it:

1)      If a particular tracking does not work in your accounting system,
make a record of the waived F&A and keep in both the preaward and post
award files on the account.  Be sure that postaward is on board regarding
how to calculate and report.

2)      If you have "job order cost sharing" accounts -- these are
subaccounts in your accounting system under the account that is paying the
C/S costs, be sure that the accounts are set up.  Some can come from
sources that provide for F&A.  Most are not, e.g., departmental faculty
salary.  So you need a system agreed with your accountants regarding
measuring and reporting the FULL C/S form that.  The full C/S is the
faculty salary, plus benefits (the actual benefits, not benefits at a
pooled rate for direct charges to sponsored programs if you have one), plus
IMPUTED F&A on the salary and benefits.  You do not measure the F&A on
those departmental costs.  However, they are there!  Remember that in
negotiating the F&A rate the institution first calculated all F&A and then
divided it between sponsored programs and the rest of the institutional
activities, and then used only the sponsored part, compared to some other
sponsored direct cost, to calculate the rate.  Therefore it is absolutely
correct to impute F&A at the same rate you would have used if the C/S had
been direct costs for that project (research, instruction, other).  So work
out how the imputation will occur with your postaward!

3)      Be sure that mandatory C/S is reported with the final fiscal report
on the individual award.  Be sure that voluntary committed cost share is
not reported there, but does go into the computation of the F&A rate.

4)      FINALLY -- waived/reduced C/S!  It is possible, but unlikely, that
you have "job order cost sharing" accounts for this, even if you do for
other matters.  SO YOU WILL HAVE TO DOCUMENT BY HAND!  But....
 Why document?  Certainly you will have to if there is mandatory
C/S on a federal project.  Probably both #2 above PLUS waiving some or all
F&A on the sponsor direct costs.  So, document on a project-by-project
basis for these few projects and be sure that post award is prepared to
report it with the project.
 Why waive/reduce F&A as voluntary committed cost sharing at all,
on a federal project?  You are very unlikely to gain any competitive
advantage for your proposal by doing so, and if you do, it reduces your F&A
rate next time you develop one. (You won't notice it if you waive once or
twice, but if you make a large practice of it, you will.)  But if you feel
you must, do as above.
 Why track waived/reduced F&A for foundations, etc., that do not
pay F&A?  They make F&A an unallowable cost.  So those costs, though real,
should not be trackable in relation to the project.

5)      So your only reason for tracking waived/reduced F&A other than for
mandatory C/S on federal projects is for your internal purposes of finding
out what departments fail to collect the full cost of projects, and how
much.  And don't forget that some departments operate in disciplines where
it is essentially impossible to do so -- arts is an example.  But if you do
want to track for this purpose, do it outside of the institution's
accounting system or record.  A spread sheet or a database should
suffice.  Make it the responsibility of the office that receives the award;
counting it on proposals that never get funded is just wasted effort.

Chuck

At 10:15 AM 7/12/2004, you wrote:
>Morning!  I'd like to bring Kim's question up again, because I am also
>interested in the answers!!
>
>Terri L. Fayle
>Assistant to the Director
>Office of Sponsored Programs
>WDE 1800
>Central Missouri State University
>Warrensburg, MO
>660-543-4264
>fax 660-543-4778
>xxxxxx@cmsu1.cmsu.edu
>
> >>> xxxxxx@BOISESTATE.EDU 07/06/04 03:27PM >>>
>Hi all,
>Another question: How do you track waived F&A used as cost share and
>how do you track the F&A budgeted as part of your institution's cost
>share? I'm trying to capture these costs in our software and would
>like
>to set it up appropriately.  If you distribute earned F&A on a regular
>grant account, do you distribute cost shared F&A the same way?
>
>
>thanks in advance,
>Kim
>
>Kimberly Chanley
>Manager
>Sponsored Projects Accounting
>Boise State University
>208.426.1791
>
>
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Herbert B. Chermside, CRA
Special Asst. to VP-Research
Virginia Commonwealth University
PO BOX 980568
Richmond, VA  23298-0568
Voice:  804-827-6036
Fax     804-828-2051
e-mail xxxxxx@vcu.edu

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