Time & Effort (T&E) Reporting

1. Time & Effort (T&E) Reporting Presented by OARS and Grants & Contracts Miami University

2. Why are T&E reports important? • T&E reports are required by Federal regulation OMB Circular A-21, section J.10 for any Faculty, Unclassified Staff or Graduate Student who performs work on a project funded by the Federal government. The T&E process is a means to report how you spent the total number of hours worked during the semester. This effort certification will be compared to the amount of effort charged to your Federal grant or associated cost share.

3. When do I report my time? • At the end of each Fall, Spring and Summer semester you will receive a Time & Effort report from the Grants & Contracts Office IF you had any of the following occur: • Salary charged to a Federal grant(s) • A portion of your time is used as match (cost sharing) on any Federal grant or • There is contributed effort noted on your approved budget-i.e. you stated you will work more time on the grant than you will actually charge the grant

4. Tracking Effort vs. Salary/Commitments • Review of actual effort vs. % of salary charged. Salary should not exceed effort during a given period. • If the actual effort on a grant < % salary charged, corrections should occur during the same time period. • If the actual effort > % salary charged, recognize as contributed effort for time period. • Review of actual effort vs. originally agreed commitments. • Is the contributed effort occurring as indicated on original agreement/budgets? • Review that cost-shared efforts originally stated are being met.

5. Is my effort based on a 40 hour work week? • Your effort charged to a grant should NOT be based on a 40 hour work week • Your effort should be based on the % of time devoted to that activity regardless of the total amount of hours per week you work • The reported percent effort devoted to an activity should be the average effort you spent during the semester that it took to complete 100% of your overall semester activities

6. How do I complete a T&E report? • You must complete a T&E report using suitable means of verification. Some examples of “suitable means” are, but not limited to: • Outlook Calendar • Spreadsheet • Log or journal • However you choose to track your time, in the event of an audit, it may be subject to review!

7. How do I complete a T&E report (cont’d)? Your effort should be reported as % of time spent on a particular activity (not hours worked). Typical categories for reporting effort include: • Externally funded activities (e.g. Federal and non-Federal awards, contractual work, etc.) • Administrative duties • Teaching • Clinical Work • Non-externally funded activities • Any additional student jobs within the University • Institutional Committees

8. Example of a T&E Report Your time should always equal 100%!

9. Who Must Certify the Report? • Each individual is responsible for the certification of his/her own effort • If for some reason the individual is not available to certify the report, then it can be certified by another individual (e.g., Principal Investigator or Project Director) who has first hand knowledge of the individual’s actual effort on the project as a percentage of all the individual’s work related activities • The Investigator will verify the employee’s certification and is in line with the original commitment.

10. Questions when filling out your T&E Report? Please call your Grant Accountant if known. If not sure, call the Grants & Contracts Office at 9-5405 and you will be directed to the appropriate person that can help you.