I have asked this question once before with few responses.  Now that more
of us have experience with audits for CAS compliance through audits of our
DS2 and through A-133, I would like to ask the group again.

What are you requiring from your investigators to ensure compliance with
CAS 501.  We are requesting an explanation for the various budget line
items and documentation of the calculations for those line items that are
summarized by major budget category.  As expected, we have some faculty
members who are complaining that we ask for more than the universities
where their peers/colleagues work.  I do not believe this completely but am
concerned that we might be going a bit overboard on this issue.  It may be
that we didn't require much explanation in the past and now we appear heavy
handed.  OR it may be that we must be certain that budgets do not contain
unallowable costs and the only way we can be sure is to ask.  We do not
have a formal centralized budget development person or group.  We simply
review the budgets before the proposal is approved for submission.  Since
this is usually a last minute approval, the PI is not too happy when we
locate a budget error, ask for additional information or need them to
rework some numbers.  We are considering expanding our services to assist
with budget development so if you have some pros and cons for that, please
provide those comments as well.

Thanks in advance for any info you can provide.  I will be happy to
summarize the responses if anyone else is interested and I love to surf web
pages for policy and procedure guidance so please feel free to cite your
address if you have one to share on this topic.

Thanks.
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Martha M. Taylor, Director             (xxxxxx@mail.auburn.edu)
Contracts and Grants Administration
310 Samford Hall
Auburn University, AL 36849-5131

334-844-4438
334-844-5953 (fax)