Molly --

I have been told that once we commit to cost-sharing, even if voluntary,
that we must actually cost-share and report it and be able to prove it.  At
my previous institutions, I had never been audited on voluntary
cost-sharing, so I can't speak from experience with respect to an agency's
or auditor's point of view.  However, I would tend to agree with you and
pooh-pooh the laissez-faire attitude of the program management staff, even
if they put it in writing.  I'd prefer to put in writing any reduction in
cost-sharing and get the funding agency's approval (in writing) for the
file, should that particular award ever be reviewed.

-- Evelyn

At 08:50 AM 8/12/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Hi, all --
>
>I'd like some more thoughts on the question of documentation of cost
>sharing.
>
>The question of the cost-sharing obligation came up at a grantees meeting
>for a
>program which funds a project at my organization. The program management
>staff
>told our project director that since there was no "legislative requirement"
> for
>the cost-sharing for this particular grant program, the amount reported on
>the
>financial status report did not necessarily have to match the amount listed
> as
>non-federal funds on the notice of award. I and others at the meeting
>expressed
>some skepticism that auditors would agree with this interpretation. We
>agreed
>that the more prudent practice would be to make certain that the
>cost-sharing
>amounts indicated in the approved budget of record ARE items which can be
>documented and that the sum reported on the financial status report meet or
>exceed the amount on the notice of award. Agency staff pooh-pooh the need
>for
>this sort of exactness, but I remain unconvinced.
>
>IS there a difference in the way auditors review programs without a
>matching
>requirement in the authorizing language of the program? I'd appreciate
>hearing
>what others have found to be true.
>
>---------
>Molly Daniel
>Grants Specialist
>Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System
>Mattoon, IL
>email: xxxxxx@sblhs.org
>____________________Reply Separator____________________
>Subject:    Re: Cost sharing
>Author: gschmidt <xxxxxx@FAMU.EDU>
>Date:       08/12/99 1:55 PM
>
>
>
>You will be asked every year of the award to document your matching through
>the Financial Status Report.  These are certified by your financial officer
>as being true and accurate, and they are auditable.
>"Peter J. Dolce" wrote:
>> We have a contract from DHHS in which we committed to cost share a
>> certain amount.  I know that A110 says that cost-shared amounts must be
>> verifiable from the recipient's records and have seen, at NCURA
>> sessions, some pretty rigorous means that universities use to document
>> cost-sharing, project by project.
>>
>> Should we expect to be asked, during the close-out period for the
>> contract or at some other time, to document that we cost-shared the
>> amount we said we would in the original proposal?
>>
>> --
>> Peter J. Dolce, Ph.D.
>> Director, Research Support Services
>> Meharry Medical College
>> 1005 Todd Boulevard                Phone 615 327 6703
>> Nashville, TN                             Fax 615 327 6716
>--
>Greg Schmidt
>Manager, Contract & Grant Accounting
>Florida A&M University
>201 FHAC
>Tallahassee, FL  32307-3200
>DUNS:  623751831
>College of the Year - 1997
>850/561-2956 voice
>850/561-2461 fax
>
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Evelyn J. Ford, Manager, Accounting Operations
Office of Research Support Services
School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
356 Anatomy-Chemistry Building
36th Street and Hamilton Walk
Philadelphia PA 19104-6061
voice 215.573.1395   fax 215.573.8802
xxxxxx@mail.med.upenn.edu

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