Innovations

Spreading the Word on Faculty Effort Requirements

by Suzette Ashby-Larrabee

Faculty effort on grants and contracts has become a topic of national interest and attention. (As a reminder, faculty members paid by a grant or contract and/or have cost sharing commitments must document how much time they spend on a particular project.)  The federal government requires payroll costs charged to grants and contracts and committed cost sharing effort be documented and signed by the faculty member and reviewed quarterly by Management Accounting and Analysis (MAA).  For University of Washington faculty this is accomplished via the Faculty Effort Certification (FEC) form. 

Recent audits at several universities such as Johns Hopkins, Northwestern and Harvard have resulted in multi-million dollar settlements directly related to effort reporting problems at those institutions. These problems, combined with policy changes at the national level and heightened attention by federal sponsors, have increased the potential risk related to effort reporting.

To address this concern, teams from MAA and Grant and Contract Accounting have worked with customers and process partners to review effort reporting at the University.  The teams collaborated to develop both an institutional policy statement regarding FECs and a course to educate and assist faculty and departmental staff in navigating the complexities of accurately documenting, reporting, and certifying effort.

The development of a mandatory online training course for all research faculty receiving grant funding or having committed cost sharing effort on a grant was completed in August.  Considering that potential risk to the University for non-compliance with federal regulations is significant, faculty not completing the training by the November 30 deadline will lose their authority to submit grant proposals and to authorize grant purchases after that date until the training has been completed.  Faculty members have until November 30, 2005 to complete the training.   To date, approximately 46% of UW faculty have taken the course.  

In addition, a Grants Information Memorandum (GIM) is in the final stages of approval. This document will serve as an additional guidance tool for faculty and departments on issues surrounding effort reporting.

For more information about faculty effort, visit: http://www.washington.edu/research/maa/fec/