Level of Effort Reporting

Introduction

Federal agencies provide funding to EWU for a variety of research, scholarship and service activities. Appropriately certified effort reports provide auditable documentation to demonstrate that the funding agency received the level of effort described and expected by the proposal process, the award process and all subsequent communications with the funder during the period of funding.

Why is effort reporting required?

Since educational institutions employ a variety of staff who are not required to use hourly timesheets, the OGRD prepares a “Personnel Activity Report" or PAR to be used to document staff's time and effort worked on a federal agreement.

Who is subject to effort reporting?

All employees paid from or contributing compensated or uncompensated time to federal agreements are subject to effort reporting.

OGRD shall:

(1) Distribute monthly Personnel Activity Reports (PARs) to appropriate personnel for review and certification.

(2) Email CITI’s “Compensation Reporting” training information.

(3) Follow up with personnel who have not returned the PAR within 45 days of issuance.

(4) Ensure a system is in place for employees committing time to a federal agreement to meet their requirements for review and certification of salaries and to assure the salaries of personnel charged or contributed to federal agreements correspond to the effort expended on these projects.

For salaried employees, the OGRD calculates the anticipated level of effort on a monthly basis and prepares PARs.
For non-salaried employees, the approved hourly timesheet is used to satisfy the requirement for effort certification.

(5) Maintain copies of completed PARs for a period of six years from the issuance of the state audit report which includes the specific federal agreement.

(6) Ensure any required adjustments of effort are negotiated with and approved by the funding agency if necessary.

Salaried employees, who perform work on federal agreements shall:

(1) Certify that information contained in monthly PARs is fair and reasonable. If the information is NOT accurate, the employee needs to revise it to more accurately reflect the activities for which the employee was paid or contributed time.

(2) Submit PARs via the online system.

(3) Complete CITI’s “Compensation Reporting” training before certifying any effort base on certain requirements. Instructions for accessing the training are located here: https://inside.ewu.edu/ogrd/compliance/citi/. Once completed, the certificate needs to be emailed to ogrd@ewu.edu. The training is valid for three years.

How is effort determined for the purpose of federal effort reporting?

Level of effort is based on the total salary for the month and will always equal 100%. It may represent more than one work activity (e.g. research, instruction, service) and more than one source of funding. Level of effort is not the same as full time equivalent (FTE).

How is effort reporting accomplished?

The OGRD prepares the “Personnel Activity Report” or PAR on federally funded projects using the via online system by email. These reports are generated and issued one to two months after the date payroll was paid. The reports must be reviewed and certified by the employee working on the project, which is sent by OGRD to be retained. If the time actually spent on the project differs from the time paid from the project, the employee needs to request a revision with the online system or contact the OGRD to review and resubmit the PAR. While the PI may delegate some responsibility for the day-to-day management of finances or other tasks to departmental business staff, the PI remains accountable for compliance with EWU and sponsor requirements.