Salary charges to accounts are initiated by payroll authorizations. The payroll authorization lists the pay periods, the planned effort and the corresponding salary amount for each account to be charged. The authorizations provide the basis for the recording of payroll charges in FRS. Once a payroll authorization is submitted and entered into the system, payroll charges will continue in accordance with the stated distribution until a revised authorization is issued, changing the distribution. Payroll authorizations should be prepared as soon as a change is anticipated in order to allow time for all required signatures and processing. Project personnel should be transferred to another source of funding by the project end date.

Federal regulations require certification of all employees whose salary is paid on sponsored projects or who contribute committed effort to sponsored programs. This certification is accomplished through the Effort Reports. These reports are sent out by the Sponsored Programs Service quarterly for classified staff and each semester for professional staff and faculty charged to the grant or contract. The forms provide certification that the effort distribution adequately reflects the individual’s work activities.

Faculty are required to certify their own effort reports and are required to certify the effort reports of their research staff working on their sponsored project(s) unless they have the employee sign their own. However, in cases where the employee or principal investigator is not available, a responsible official may certify the effort provided that s/he can document the basis for verifying that the actual work was performed. Salaries and effort are also verified for each grant at the end of the project.