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Appendix A: OMB Circular A-21, Section J8(c)1

J. GENERAL PROVISIONS FOR SELECTED ITEMS OF COST

8. Compensation for personal services.

c. Examples of Acceptable Methods for Payroll Deductions:

1. Plan-Confirmation: Under this method, the distributions of salaries and wages of professorial or professional staff applicable to sponsored agreements is based on budgeted, planned, or assigned work activity, updated to reflect any significant changes in work distribution. A plan-confirmation system used for salaries and wages charged directly or indirectly to sponsored agreements will meet the following standards:

(a) A system of budgeted, planned, or assigned work activity will be incorporated into the official records of the institution and encompass both sponsored and all other activities on an integrated basis. The system may include the use of subsidiary records.

(b) The system will reasonably reflect only for which the employee is compensated by the institution (compensation for incidental work described in J.8.a. need not be included). Practices vary among institutions and within institutions as to the activity constituting a full workload. Hence, the system will reflect categories of activities expressed as a percentage distribution of total activities. (But see Section H for treatment of indirect costs under the simplified method for small institutions.)

(c) The system will reflect activity applicable to each sponsored agreement and to each category needed to identify indirect costs and the functions to which they are allocable. The system may treat indirect cost activities initially within a residual category and subsequently determine them by alternate methods as discussed in J.8.b.(2)(c).

(d) The system will provide for modification of an individual's salary or salary distribution commensurate with an significant change in the employee's work activity. Short term (such as one of two months) fluctuation between workload categories need not be considered as long as the distribution of salaries and wages is reasonable over the longer term such as an academic period. Whenever it is apparent that a significant change in work activity which is directly or indirectly charged to sponsored agreements will occur or has occurred, the change will be documented over the signature of a responsible official and entered into the system.

(e) At least annually a statement will be signed by the employee, principal investigator, or responsible official(s) using suitable means of verification that the work was performed, stating that salaries and wages charged to sponsored agreements as direct charges, and to residual, indirect cost or other categories are reasonable in relation to work performed.

(f) The system will provide for independent internal evaluation to ensure the system's integrity and compliance with the above standards.

(g) In the use of this method, an institution shall not be required to provide additional support or documentation for the effort actually performed.