Cost Transfer Information and InstructionsCost Transfer Information and Instructions

Cost Transfer Submittal During University Mandatory Work-at-Home

During the time while University employees are working from home as part of the University’s effort to help minimize the spread of COVID-19, Grants and Contracts Accounting continues to work and go about the day-to-day accounting routines. For submitting cost transfers, the following temporary guidance is provided to help mitigate the difficulty of obtaining “wet signatures” on the cost transfer form.

GCA will continue to accept cost transfers under the process identified below until the University lifts the mandatory work-at-home requirement.

Non-Personal Expense Cost Transfers:

Non-personal cost transfers can be submitted as an eJournal Entry with the following conditions:

  • The cost transfer paperwork MUST be completed as normal, per the Non-Personal Cost Transfer Checklist, except for the requirement for signatures and sending in the original CT documentation.
  • The department will create an eJournal Entry and add persons (PI, Dept. Chair, and Cognizant Dean, etc.) normally required to sign the CT as eJ approvers.
  • In the eJ Explanation, list the CT # and then the explanation; also add the CT # for each line description when preparing the eJ.
  • The department will scan and upload all the CT paperwork/documentation to the eJ.
  • GCA will print off the scanned CT documentation for review and then approve/disapprove of the CT as per normal procedures.

Personal (Payroll) Expense Cost Transfers:

Personal (Payroll) Cost Transfers will be processed as normal with the exception of signatures and the original documentation being submitted to GCA. Approvals must still be obtained, but GCA will temporarily accept either (1) an email stating approval of the CT (email response must include the CT# and the dollar amount of the CT), (2) a scanned CT form including an original signature, or (3) a digital signature (Digital ID in Adobe Acrobat) applied to the CT form.

      • Once ALL required approvals are obtained by the department, the department can scan and send a completed copy of the CT (per the CT checklist) to kevin.yu@admin.utah.edu for processing.

GCA will review and approve/disapprove of the CT as per normal procedures.

1. Reference to University Policy.
2. Use of the Electronic Cost Transfer Form.
3. Determining if a Cost Transfer is Required.
4. Required Documentation To Be Included With The Cost Transfer Form.
4A. Required Documentation: Non-Personal Services Cost Transfers.
4B. Required Documentation: Non-Exempt (Hourly) Personal Services Cost Transfers.
4C. Required Documentation: Exempt (Salary) Personal Services Cost Transfers – PAR with changes certified + 120 days after end of quarter.
4D. Required Documentation: Exempt (Salary) Personal Services Cost Transfers – Certified PAR.

Flowcharts

Forms & Documents

Checklists

1. Reference to University Policy

University Policy 3-021 requires that all changes to federal projects be documented by adequately explaining all transfers made TO or FROM federal projects. The policy also requires that transfers be made promptly after the error is discovered, but, in any event, the transfer must be made within 120 days after the date the cost was incurred and prior to submission by Grants and Contracts Accounting of the final Report of Expenditures. Normally, corrections or transfers will not be allowed unless requested within 120 days after the date of the original transaction. In unusual cases, if the facts and circumstances dictate, transfers requested after 120 days of the original expenditure may be made with the approval of the Director of Research Management and Compliance and the approval of the Cognizant Vice President.

2. Use of the Electronic Cost Transfer Form

If you are using the electronic version of the Cost Transfer (CT) form, you must ensure that each form has a new CTXXXXXXXX number. When you bring up the form there will be a CTXXXXXXXX number in the upper right-hand corner. If this number doesn’t appear try using a different browser or update your Acrobat Reader to the latest version for your browser. Each new form needs a new number. To get a new number please press reset, or close the form and reopen it. If necessary, write in the CT number on the CT Form from the URL address shown in the browser address bar (example: https://fbs.admin.utah.edu/scripts/script_ctrf/ data/76984.pdf). Do not modify an existing form and send it in with the same number.

3. Determining if a Cost Transfer is Required

A Cost Transfer is an adjustment made sometime after an event has occurred which transfers costs from University projects or activities where the charges had been originally recorded to other projects or activities. See the Correcting Financial Transactions Flowchart for guidance on how to proceed with moving costs from projects/activities to other projects/activities.

Over-expenditures on a project should remain on the project if they cannot be moved to an associated project cost share ChartField. If a project is over-spent, a Funds Transfer entry should be used to cover the cost overrun. Any legitimate project costs that the Sponsor does not pay for should also be covered with a Funds Transfer entry.

The following circumstances typically do not require a cost transfer (see Correcting Financial Transactions Flowchart):
(If a project has ended or is closed, you must talk with your GCA point of contact before moving any costs onto or off of a project)

    1. Transfers of Personal and Non-Personal Services costs from one activity to another activity
    2. Transfers of Personal and Non-Personal Services costs between accounts within the same project
    3. Transfers of Personal and Non-Personal Services costs between projects within the same award
    4. Transfers of Personal and Non-Personal Services costs between the project and a matching cost share ChartField
    5. Transfers of non- Personal Services costs from a project to an activity where the original cost is within 120 days of the date incurred
    6. In-quarter payroll reallocations for Exempt Personal Services costs
    7. Payroll reallocations for Exempt Personal Services costs within 120 days after the end of the quarter, where a PAR has NOT been certified

The following circumstances typically do require a cost transfer (see Correcting Financial Transactions Flowchart):
(If a project has ended or is closed, you must talk with your GCA point of contact before moving any costs onto or off of a project)

    1. Transfers of Non-Personal Services costs from a project to an activity where the original expenditure is more than 120 days old
    2. Transfers of Non-Personal Services costs from an activity to a project
    3. Transfers of Non-Personal Services costs from one project to another project that are not on the same award
    4. Transfers of Non-Exempt Personal Services costs from an activity to a project
    5. Transfers of Non-Exempt Personal Services costs from a project to an activity
    6. Transfers of Non-Exempt Personal Services cost from a project to another project (see list above for possible exceptions)
    7. Payroll reallocations for Exempt Personal Services costs 120 days after the end of a quarter, where a PAR has not been certified
    8. Payroll reallocations for Exempt Personal Services costs after a PAR has been certified (see list above for possible exceptions)

4. Required Documentation To Be Included With The Cost Transfer Form

    1. Cost transfers must be prepared with the expectation that it will be looked at by an auditor.
    2. Each cost transfer should stand on its own and provide enough documentation necessary to verify the entry as legitimate. As such, each CT submitted should contain the documentation listed below and be compiled in the order listed to provide uniformity for the review, approval, and audit of the CT’s.
    3. The documentation should clearly show how the amounts to be moved are derived and tie to the amount on the CT form.
    4. Reallocation of payroll costs must be submitted as adjustments on a quarterly basis for exempt employees and on a payroll period basis for non-exempt employees. In other words, multiple quarters or payroll periods can be submitted on one CT, but the costs must be split out by the certification periods.

***Failure to submit all required documentation, documentation that does not clearly identify amounts to be move, or documentation submitted in an unorganized manner will result in the return of the CT to the preparer.***

A. Required Documentation: Non-Personal Services Cost Transfers

    1. Checklist – Non-Personal Services.
    2. CT Form.
    3. Cost Transfer Non-Personal Services Reallocation Form.  (Not required if all ChartFields can be entered on the CT form)
    4. Source Documents. A copy of all applicable documents for charges you are transferring (e.g. Invoice, Travel Reimbursement form, Campus Order) that identify:
      1. What was purchased
      2. The detail of the total cost
      3. From whom
      4. The date of the transaction
      5. Any other receipts or documentation as needed to help verify the nature of the charge.
    5. Detail Transactions report printout identifying the expenditure and the ChartField it was originally allocated to. Circle or put a star next to the amount. The Detail Transaction report can be obtained by drilling down on the account in the online Management Report.
    6. If applicable, any other correspondence or documentation that justifies transferring the expense expense (e.g. a note or email from the PI).
    7. If multiple expenditure items are to be moved on the CT request, the above documentation for each expense item (#’s 3, 4, & 5 above) should be grouped together and each grouping stacked sequentially to match the order of the items listed on the CT Non-Personal Services Reallocation Form.

B. Required Documentation: Non-Exempt (Hourly) Personal Services Cost Transfers

** Cost transfers typically should not transfer salary from one project to another project that has been previously certified by an hourly employee; requests to transfer such costs will be heavily scrutinized and approved on a case by case basis.

When preparing a CT for an hourly employee, multiple pay periods can be aggregated or rolled together when running the FIL report and preparing the Timesheet form. However, if the time period of costs to be moved crosses the Jan 1st or July 1st dates, then separate FIL reports and Timesheets will need to be created due to changes in tax/withholding amounts and pay raises that occur at these times.

Example 1: Effort needs to be moved from Feb 16th through May 31st for an employee. A single FIL report and a single Timesheet can be completed with a begin date of Feb 16th and an end date of May 31st.

Example 2: Effort needs to be moved from May 16th through Aug 31st for an employee. Two FIL reports and Two Timesheets would need to be created: The first would be May 16th through June 30th and the second one would be July 1st through Aug 31st.

C. Required Documentation: Exempt (Salary) Personal Services Cost Transfers – PAR with changes certified + 120 days after end of quarter

    1. Checklist – Exempt (Salary) Personal Services Cost Transfers – PAR with changes certified + 120 days after end of quarter
    2. CT Form.
      1. a. In Section I, a note may be added to refer to the attached PAR for the reallocation ChartFields and $ amounts.
      2. In Section III, the first line of the explanation must state “This PAR was not certified and submitted within 120 days after the end of the quarter.” This statement will cover the answers for Questions 1 & 2, the additional questions should then be answered as required by the CT Form, including steps to be taken to ensure effort is certified in a timely manner.
    3. Printout of the employee’s quarterly PAR from ePAR:
      1. Corrections to the quarterly effort should be entered into ePAR.
      2. The ePAR record should be sent to the employee to review and certify before printing the PAR. Alternatively, the ePAR record can be printed out using the “Printer Friendly PDF” button and the PAR manually signed by the employee.
      3. Once certified by the employee, the PAR record should be printed out (using the “Printer Friendly PDF” button) and attached to the CT Form. This is the only documentation required. Reallocations will be handled and processed using ePAR.

D. Required Documentation: Exempt (Salary) Personal Services Cost Transfers – Certified PAR

** Cost transfers typically should not transfer salary from one project to another project that has been previously certified on a PAR; requests to transfer such costs will be heavily scrutinized and approved on a case by case basis.

    1. Checklist – Exempt (Salary) Personal Services Cost Transfers – Certified PAR
    2. CT Form.
    3. CT Payroll Reallocation Form.
      1. Prepare this Form using the numbers from the EBT by Home Dept – Exempt Summary (or other FIL: COST TRANSFER Reports), the PAR printout from ePAR, and/or the CT PAR Form.
      2. The CT PAR Form is a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet that can be downloaded from the University’s website.
    4. CT PAR Form
      1. Must be completed and signed reflecting the corrected effort to be reallocated by the Cost Transfer.
      2. The CT PAR Form is a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet that can be downloaded from the University’s website.
    5. Employees’ Quarterly PAR
      1. Print out the PAR (use the “Printer Friendly PDF” button) for each quarter affected by the Cost Transfer.
    6. EBT by Home Dept – Exempt Summary.
      1. This report summarizes the payroll costs for each ChartField for Earnings, Benefits, and Taxes as originally allocated before any PAR corrections. See **Note below for additional detail on FIL: COST TRANSFER reports.
      2. Run the report {Financial Information Library (FIL): COST TRANSFER folder}. Export the report to Excel.
      3. This report should be printed out in Landscape orientation with all the Columns fitting on one page; Rows can span multiple pages.
    7. If applicable, any other correspondence or documentation that justifies transferring the expense.

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** Note: The benefits/taxes amount listed on the ePAR print out are estimates only; the actual benefits/taxes amount may differ from what is identified on the ePAR print out. The final benefits/taxes amount will be processed based upon actuals. To get the actual benefits/taxes amount, run the report listed below in the Financial Information Library (FIL) located in CIS.

FIL:
COST TRANSFER folder:
EBT by Home Dept – Exempt Summary

EBT by Home Dept – Exempt Summary can be run to see the original effort allocation and the actual benefits /taxes for a person for a given quarter (the query does not include any PAR reallocations made on the PAR for the qtr). If needed, a second report can be run to find the reallocated PAR amounts which would have been processed in another qtr.

FIL:
COST TRANSFER folder:
EBT by Home Dept – PAR Out Qtr

EBT by Home Dept – PAR Out Qtr can be run for a range of dates for the quarter when the PAR reallocation was processed. Pay period dates when PAR reallocations were processed can be found on the ePAR record and used for running the EBT by Home Dept – PAR Out Qtr. This report can then be copied into either EBT by Home Dept – Exempt Summary or EBT by Home Dept – Exempt Detail as needed for calculating effort allocations.

FIL:
COST TRANSFER folder:
EBT by Home Dept – Exempt Detail

If payroll detail by pay period is needed when trying to determine amounts to be reallocated, The FIL: COST TRANSFER report EBT by Home Dept – Exempt Detail report can be run. This report provides the Earnings, Benefits, and Taxes by each pay period during the quarter.