FAQ

• Non-salary matching has to be in a separate account.
• Salary (and related fringe benefits) matching can be documented with Personnel Activity Reports (PARs).
• Matching has to be documented as in two items above if matching was quantified in the agreement.
• Action needed at the time that the sponsored project account budget is submitted:
  • For non-salary, provide the Office of Research Services with a budget that includes a source account from which Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) will allow matching expenditures. Please contact FAR to confirm that they will approve and process a matching budget from the intended source account.
  • For salary match, please contact Office of Research Services.

Neither Research Services nor Sponsored Programs Accounting and Reporting has such an account. Some relatively unrestricted local accounts in the 0350-1099 fund range or the 1503-1799 fund range may be usable to cover Graduate Assistanceships for RAs on sponsored projects that do not pay for their Graduate Assistance charges.

On federal funds (whether received directly or indirectly from the federal government), you cannot pay a secretary or a clerical specialist unless the position was specifically approved by the sponsor. Normally that means that a justification for the need for the secretarial or clerical position was provided to the sponsor as a part of the proposal process – and that the sponsor approved the proposal. If that is not the case, the justification to the sponsor and the sponsor approval will have to be obtained before the individual’s pay is charged to the sponsored project.

Please reference our fund assignment chart.

Yes, If there is a sponsor, the project agreement will need to be handled by the Office of Research Services – or, in some cases, the Development Office – or, in some cases, both offices. The Development Office, the Office of Research Services, and the Office of Contracting and Risk Management have the experience to review your situation and direct you to the right office. Please contact the Office of Research Services – or the Development Office if you are planning a sponsored project.

Please send correspondence to: Box 41105 Lubbock, TX 79409-1105 or if delivering please bring to Room 306, Drane Hall, so that it can be date and time stamped.

Please refer to our who to call list.

Please refer to the cost transfer instructions.

Please refer to the Texas Tech University Travel Department website for instructions.

No, please refer to OP 79.06.

See section 5 of OP 72.09..

See section 5 of OP 63.08.

The ledger sheets are suppressed after the account is closed by Sponsored Programs Accounting and Reporting. There are several steps in the account closing process. A final bill must be submitted, usually between 30-90 days after the grant ends. Before the final bill can be submitted all encumbrances must be cleared by the department, this includes payroll, purchasing, and travel. All monthly recurring charges must be charged to the account, i.e. procurement card charges, copy charges, and communication charges. If the account has cost share, Sponsored Programs Accounting and Reporting must verify that the cost share commitment has been met. Once the final bill has been submitted and all of the payments by the granting agency have been received the account is ready to be closed. A rule of thumb an account will not be closed until at least 120 days after the end date.

The first thing to look at is to determine whether money is available to be re-budgeted (the OLE2 table in TECHFIM can be used to determine the amount of money available). Then it must be determined whether the money-move is allowable. For example, sometimes moving money into or out of Capital Outlay is unallowable. If you are not sure whether or not the money-move is allowable, you should contact your accountant in Sponsored Programs Accounting and Reporting (see Fund Assignments) or Research Services.

Make sure that the paperwork is being processed by either Research Services or the sponsor, and that the sponsor has approved the extension.

A Personnel Activity Report (PAR) is documentation of an individual’s effort for a specified time period. Depending on the individual’s Job Class code, they will either receive a PAR for each month or for each semester. The percentages on the PAR represent the percent of effort that an individual worked on each account listed for the period in question (month or semester). This percentage is based on the payroll amount that the individual receives from each account listed on the PAR for the entire period of the PAR. It is preferable that the individual listed on the PAR confirm that the percentages are an accurate representation of his or her time worked on the project by signing the PAR and returning it to Sponsored Programs Accounting and Reporting. If the individual cannot sign the PAR then a person with “suitable means of verification” of the individual’s effort should sign. The mail stop is on the upper right hand area of the PAR. The PAR is designed so that by simply flipping the PAR over and placing it back into the envelope that it was originally mailed in, Sponsored Programs Accounting and Reporting’s name & address will appear on the envelope. Refer to the training portion of this web site for more information on PARs.

The Personnel Activity Report (PAR) is documenting the amount of effort that an individual is devoting to each account listed on the PAR. It is not showing the Full Time Equivalencies (FTEs). The PAR will always show 100% (allowing for rounding error) no matter if the individual is quarter-time, half-time, full-time, etc. Example: the individual is paid from 2 accounts (0.25 FTEs on each) and is paid the same from each account. The PAR will show 50% for each account. Since the PAR is calculated based on pay rate, if the individual has the same FTEs on each account but is paid more from one account than the other, this will distort the percentages accordingly. Refer to the training portion of this web site for more information on PARs.

The Personnel Activity Report (PAR) is sent to the account manager of the account that has the highest percentage on the PAR. Individuals signing the PAR must have the required “suitable means of verification” of the individual’s effort. This would preferably be the employee named on the PAR. Only in cases where the employee is not available to sign the PAR by the certification deadline should another responsible official sign the PAR. The responsible official signing the PAR report must have a “suitable means of verification” of the work performed which includes verifiable knowledge of the employee’s duties and responsibilities and the actual time devoted to those various activities during the effort reporting period. General knowledge of a sponsored project or the study results is not sufficient to certify the actual effort. Refer to the training portion of this web site for more information on PARs.

Sub-recipient monitoring consist of collecting A-133 audit findings and determining if any audit findings are related to the sub-contracts with Texas Tech University. A periodic review of expenditures processed against subcontract awards may also be performed. All institutions expending $300,000 prior to 12/31/03 or expending $500,000 after 1/1/04 require reporting non-compliance of OMB Circular A-133. SPAR is responsible for collecting the A-133 letters from agencies when they are sub-recipients of TTU to ensure compliance of pass thru funding.

SPAR sends A-133 letters to collaborators stating any findings if found in Texas Tech University’s portion of the Statewide Single Audit. The most recent information can be found on the ORS website and the SPAR website. A new report on the Statewide Single Audit report will be available each May.

The top three audit findings among auditors are:

1. Cost Transfers: Cost transfers should be kept to a minimum in order to reduce audit risk, please refer to the Cost Transfer Instructions if you need to cost transfer expenditures.
2. Effort Reporting: Your part to minimize audit risk on Effort Reporting is to review for accuracy, certify and return Personnel Activity Reports (PARs) within a short period after receiving the PARs. Please review training material on this website and the FAQs referring to PARs for further information. Other audit risks can be minimized within SPAR by correcting PARs as quickly as a retro-PAF is submitted. An annual review by the Internal Audit department of TTU’s Effort Reporting Policies and Procedures would minimize another Audit Risk.
3. Federal Unallowables: Charges made from internal service, central service, pension, or similar activities or funds must follow the applicable cost principles provided in OMB Circular A-21. According to OMB Circular A-21, to be allowable under federal awards, costs must be given consistent accounting treatment within and between accounting periods. Consistency in accounting requires that costs incurred for the same purpose, in like circumstances, be treated as either direct costs only or indirect costs only with respect to final cost objectives (OMB Circular A-21, Sections C.10 and C.11). Expenditures that are normally considered indirect costs include clerical and administrative salaries and wages, postage, local (basic) telephone and memberships.

   Please note that TTU Operating Policy and Procedures (OP) 65.08 states that for sponsored projects funded either in total or in part, either directly or indirectly with federal funds, beginning September 1, 1999, direct charges for the following five expense types are allowable only when there has been specific inclusion of these types in the accepted project proposal, the project agreement, the sponsor's guidelines, or other written correspondence from the sponsor. Note that this does not apply to projects that do not receive, either directly or indirectly, any federal funds. The five expense types are:

1. Salaries of administrative and clerical staff
2. Office supplies
3. Postage
4. Local telephone costs (not including long distance service)
5. Memberships.

Local phone charges are unallowable on federal grants. On State, Local, and Private sponsored programs, refer to your agreement or contact the accountant assigned to your account.

Additional Compensation checks are processed through Human Resources (HR). Please refer to the Who to call list for who to contact in HR.

No, but you may receive overtime or a lump sum payment. Please refer to OP 70.16.

As part of A-21, Service Center accounts are allowed to charge federal grants/contracts for sales and services performed but must follow OP 62.23. SPAR reviews the rates for service center accounts to ensure TTU is in compliance with federal regulations and to ensure the federal government is receiving best customer rates.

A service center account can charge a federally sponsored program account only if SPAR and FAR have previously approved the service center’s rates according to OP 62.23. If the rates have not been approved then no sales or services can be provided to federal sponsored projects.

Yes, if a sponsored project was proposed and approved to allow payment for research participants by the awarding agency then research participant payments are allowable. There are four payment methods:

1. Cash
   • Requires a cash advance through a Request for Cash Advance form
   • If a SPAR account is used must be approved by Accountant in charge of the Account
   • Submitted to Accounts Receivable
   • Cannot be used to purchase Gift Cards and/or Certificates
   • Payments to TTU Employees must go through Payroll and Non-Resident Aliens must be processed through a Check Issuance Request (RI).
2. Cash Equivalent
   • Cash Equivalent is Gift Cards and/or Certificates
   • Reimbursement for undistributed gift cards and/or certificates will not be allowed
   • Cannot be given to TTU Employees per OP 69.02 and cannot be given to non-US citizens or Permanent Resident Aliens
3. Check
   • If more than $75 then completing Check Issuance Request (RI) is required
   • If less than $75 then cash advance should be the option of choice.
   • Regardless of paying by check or cash all payments to TTU Employees must go through payroll
   • Payments to non-US citizens or Permanent Resident Aliens must be processed through a RI.
4. Non-Cash can be paid under strict scrutiny following income tax reporting
   • Non-cash items must be properly reported
   • Non-Cash to a TTU employee must follow OP 69.02
   • Non-Cash items to non-US citizens or Permanent Resident Aliens are subject to reporting and a 30% federal income tax withholding. The department will need to pay the tax on behalf of the individual and cannot be paid by federal funds. The gross-up tax amount is 42.8%.

Yes, Gift cards and/or certificate purchases are allowable and should be purchased via a check issuance Request (RI) with proper documentation to report payments to Research Participants. Although, gift cards and/or certificates can be purchased they cannot be disbursed to TTU employees and/or non-US citizens or Permanent Resident Aliens. Reimbursement will only be allowed on accounts that provide for “Patient &/or Subject Costs” account code 7Q1018 in Banner (Obj.-Sub-Obj.: 23-8642 in TechFim).

Texas Tech University System is committed to utilizing small businesses, minority-owned small business firms, veteran-owned small business firms, and women-owned small business firms to the fullest possible extent. The Federal Small Business Liaison works with TTU departments and small businesses to enable and report on this small business usage.

This form allows Texas Tech to classify various types of small businesses. For more information see the Federal Small Business web site at http://www.depts.ttu.edu/spar/sblo/ .