Frequently Asked Questions

The Academic Student Employees (ASEs) 2018-2021 negotiated agreement includes a $100 lump sum payment to ASEs with at least a 50% appointment, payable during the first quarter of employment starting with the 2018-2019 academic year. The payment is allocated to the cost center (budget) that is covering the salary at the time of payment under Object Code 01-80. It is up to each unit to reallocate the cost if the budget does not have sufficient funds to cover the cost or if the cost is unallowable.

This cost is allowable on Sponsored Awards with the following caveats:

It is allocated to the budgets based on the salary allocation at the time of payment; costs cannot be reallocated based on budgetary convenience.

NIH sets the reasonable compensation level for graduate students to either the zero-level or first-level, if appropriately rebudgeted. This $100 in compensation (as it is charged to Object Code 01-80) is unallowable if its inclusion causes the total amount of compensation to exceed the NIH compensation limitation.

After 7/14/23, salary transfers impacting pay periods ending 6/30/23 and prior will need to be done using a Journal Entry in Workday. The process cannot be done in MyFD after 7/14/2023.

Please see the following instructions on processing Pre-Workday Expense Transfers:

Accounting - Pre-Workday Expense Transfer Process (uw.edu)

Important for pre-Workday faculty salary transfers:

Salary transfers that affect faculty paid on sponsored awards prior to 7/1/2023 must also follow a manual process to update the Faculty Effort Certification ("FEC")

Contact effortreporting@uw.edu to initiate the process.

If you have cost transfer questions that do not impact sponsored awards, submit a ticket via UW Connect Finance (available beginning 7/6/23). To learn more, refer to Customer Support.

You may allocate costs across more than one Award as long as the allocation to each Award is in proportion to the benefit provided. For more information, see PAFC's web page on Cost Allocation.

External sponsors may request a copy of the UW’s Single Audit or A-133 Audit. When such a request is made, Sponsors should be directed to the State of Washington website where Single Audits are maintained.

For more information, see PAFC's web page on the UW single audit.

Yes. The goal is to have documentation that the items were received, so indicating on the invoice that the items were received, the name of the person who received them, and the date of receipt is acceptable in lieu of signing the packing slip. 

Verification, by either email or signature, would be noted on any of the following documents that contain an itemized list of the goods or services received: 

—Packing slip received with the goods
—Itemized vendor invoice
—Written request for purchase of goods or services
—Other itemized list of goods or services signed by a responsible individual

No, perjury statements are not a valid form of documentation in lieu of a lost receipt. 

If a receipt is lost, all efforts should be expended to obtain a replacement receipt from the vendor. If a replacement receipt cannot be obtained, and the cost of the item is greater than $75, then the cost must be charged to non-sponsored funding. 

Please see PAFC Documentation Guidelines

Situations where total effort shown on ECC Effort Statements does not equal exactly 100% fall under one of these two situations:

1. ECC Rounding causing total effort to be greater/less than 100.00% by margins ~0.01%: All effort statements are a reflection of 100% of the listed individual's total institutional activity, regardless of their actual FTE. However, each field on an effort statement is rounded to the hundredth's place individually, prior to any grand total being calculated. In some situations, this causes the total "Computed Effort" amount on the statement to stray from 100% by a margin of a couple hundredths of a percent. For the purposes of effort reporting at UW, this small of a margin from 100.00% is de minimis, and the certification can be completed as is.
2. Changes after pre review, causing "Certified Effort" values to be unaligned with "Computed Effort": Total effort can be significantly over 100% when this occurs, necessitating refresh or "reset" of the statement. Any user can fix this by clicking the "Reset Statement" button in the top left corner of the effort statement - screenshot

If the computer is necessary to complete the objectives of the Award, and the cost is primarily allocable to the award, the computer can be listed as a direct cost. 

For more information on direct billing of F&A costs, see the PAFC web page Requirements to Direct Bill F&A.

Sponsor approval is typically required for all equipment purchases. Review the Award and the sponsor's requirements. See PAFC's web page on equipment for more information on such purchases.

No. Any expenditure made for budgetary convenience (“use up remaining funds”) is not allowable. For more information, refer to PAFC's web pages on the Four Cost Principles and End of Award Expenditures.

No. The equipment purchase threshold is $5,000 (for total acquisition, which includes shipping and taxes) and any item that meets that threshold must be treated as equipment.

No. Even though laptops do not meet the definition of Equipment, it does not mean that they can be disposed of by giving them away. All items purchased on an award are the property of either the sponsor of the University. 

Laptops should be retained by the department and continued to be used for research. If an individual wants to purchase the laptop, then this should be arranged via UW Surplus. Any proceeds from the sale of a laptop should be credited to the Budget under which the laptop was original purchased.

This would not be an allowable use of university funds, including grants, contracts, or gifts. At the discretion of the Dean/Director, discretionary funds may be used for these costs.

For a single Award, where the controlled substance(s) are required to achieve the objectives of the Award, charging the annual license fee to the Award as a direct cost would be allowable. If the controlled substance(s) are required to achieve the objectives for multiple Awards or other activities, allocating the annual fee to each of the Awards or other activities on some reasonable basis as a direct cost would be allowable. In cases where it is not possible to determine proportional benefits, the annual license fee should be treated as an F&A cost.

No, the UW-IT Technology Recharge Fee cannot be charged to a Federal Award or a Federal Flow through Award.  

No, the HRP Payroll Modernization Fee cannot be charged to a Federal Award or a Federal Flow through Award.  

The HRPM fee is allocated to units based on FTE, so units should also use effort to reallocate this cost to budgets where the HRPM fee is an allowable expense. This reallocation should be done via a Cost or Expense transfer using the HRPM fee designated Object Code 03-05.

The HRPM fee should be allocated on a regular basis over the course of the year. This will ensure that budgets are being allocated on the basis of actual effort and not just the effort allocation at the time the HRPM Fee is being charged to the unit. 

This will result in Cost Transfers being completed more than 120 days from the costs’ original posting, so there should be an explanation added in the MyFD Cost Transfer stating that the transfer is delayed in order to ensure that costs are being allocated based on actual effort expended on the budget. 

Historically, costs for an IRB review at a single institution by UW’s IRB have been considered an indirect cost covered by UW’s F&A rates. However, this is changing with the introduction of NIH’s Single IRB policy. Review the UW’s Human Subjects Division website and the NIH IRB website (Section I. Costs) for more information. 

No, these types of events are not considered necessary to meet Award objectives. See our web page on Food Purchases on Sponsored Awards for more information on purchases of food/meals.

The purchase of alcohol and any costs associated with the purchase or provision of alcohol are not allowable, except where written sponsor approval has been received. For more information, see our web page on Food Purchases on Sponsored Awards. Alcohol and related purchases must be made on a discretionary budget. Examples of costs that are incurred for the purpose of the provision of alcohol are alcohol permits, bar "set up" fees, or costs associated with bartending services.

Departments have an obligation to confirm that the beverages are truly complimentary and will not be reflected as a charge in another area. It is not acceptable for a vendor to embed the cost of beverages in other costs, such as meeting space. For more information, refer to PAFC's web page on Food Purchases on Sponsored Awards.

First, in planning the event and selecting the meal to be served, every effort should be made to have a margin between the planned meal cost and the allowable per diem. This will allow some cushion for no-shows before the per diem is exceeded. However, if the per diem is exceeded and the amount is reasonable, under the circumstances we would consider the additional cost allowable. There is still a possibility that an auditor would disagree and deem the excess unallowable.

Yes. For more information, see "Meals over Per Diem" on the Food Purchases on Sponsored Awards section of the PAFC website.

Yes, sign-in sheets will provide good supporting documentation for the number of people included in the cost of each meal. This will help to prove that the cost per person was within the allowed per diem for each meal.