Effective 2/1/07

CGA Documentation for Salary Distribution Changes (Change of Status (COS), Personnel Action Notice (PAN) Graduate Appointment forms and Summer Load & Salary forms) for restricted CGA accounts   

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This document has been created to assist departments with the documentation Contract & Grant Administration (CGA) needs to approve salary distribution changes for restricted accounts (federal and state of Michigan grant accounts in the range 61-0000 thru 61-9999 & federal MAES & MSUE accounts).

A "current" salary form is one that is received by the Human Resources office (HR) within 60 days of the effective date of the proposed change.  Salary forms that are "current" will be processed without CGA review or additional documentation.

A "late" salary form is one that is received by the Contract and Grant office (CGA)  in excess of 60 days from the effective date of the proposed change. 

CGA will approve "late" salary forms without additional documentation when:

·        The salary form is going back more than 90 days and the account was assigned after the effective date of the award, the salary form can be processed if received by CGA within 45 days of when the account was assigned.

·        The effective date of the salary form is less than or equal to 90 days from when the form is received in CGA.

·        and, if the salary form extends back to a previous semester and the Semester Effort Report (SER) is on file in CGA and supports the change.

CGA Note: When you become aware of an employee who is beginning to work on a project that has not been awarded, it is best to request a hardship or advanced account so expenses can be charged to the correct account.  This will eliminate the need to process "late" salary forms on restricted accounts.

CGA will approve "late" salary forms with minimum additional documentation when:

·        While reviewing the SER, the salary form is necessary to "true-up" the initial estimate of the time planned to work on the project with what was actually performed.  This change will bring pay in line with how the actual effort was performed and is usually a minor adjustment (+ or - 10%) to true-up the payroll and/or cost sharing commitments to the actual SER effort percentages.  In addition, this change must also be:

·        Done on a timely basis, i.e. within the due dates for normal completion of the SER.

·        Be supported by a properly completed and signed SER (attached).  

·        In these cases, in the comments section of the salary form, a note needs to be added similar to the following:  "This change is necessary to reflect actual effort performed, and is the result of reviewing the SER."   

In all other cases, i.e. the salary form is received by CGA in excess of 90 days from the effective date of the change, the "late" salary form will be considered for processing if accompanied by:

(1)   A letter, signed by the PI, which includes: 

·        A detailed description of what the person did and how these activities benefit the project.    While a statement similar to "this person was listed in the approved budget" is helpful, it is not in itself, a thorough enough justification for approval.  The benefit to the project must be documented.   

·        How the error occurred.

·        If the requested change would result in a shortage of effort (as shown on the completed SER on file in CGA) when compared to the payroll percentage, this indicates a lack of understanding of how to correctly complete the SER.  Approval will be considered after significant documentation is provided, the person completes a SER training session, and the department chairperson is made aware of the high risk of financial loss if the salary form is processed.

·        Because audit disallowances must be covered by other non-restricted funds in the department, the department chairperson needs to be copied on this letter.  Late appointment forms processed on accounts that are, or have, ended with overruns or unexpended balances, will raise serious questions about the propriety of the transaction.

(2)   A completed SER(s) that reflects the salary form must be attached.  If the semester hasn't ended, or if the SER hasn't been generated, CGA will modify the SER accordingly.

Special note for academic year (AY) appointments:

Since pay dates for AY appointments do not mirror work dates (fall work dates are 8/16-12/31 but the pay dates are 8/16-2/15, i.e. 6 months pay period for 4.5 months work, and spring work dates are 1/1-5/15 but the pay dates are 2/16-8/15, i.e. 6 months pay period for 4.5 months work), COS forms for AY appointments cannot be processed for part of a semester.  Instead work dates must be converted to semester work percentages and then the COS must be completed for the full semester pay dates.   CGA will be developing a web tool to help make these calculations.  Because COS forms are processed with pay dates and not work dates, a special note needs to be added to the COS to help auditors understand why the COS may not match the project dates.   For example, "X% pay represents X% effort on account X beginning (date) and ending (date)".  This comment will allow an auditor to verify that the effort was expended during the project period. 

Special note for AY faculty with multiple international trips:

Because it is difficult to accurately estimate what the semester work percentages will be, due to changing flight schedules, etc., it is acceptable to process one COS at the beginning of the semester based on anticipated travel dates, and then wait until the end of the semester to make a final correction.  It is critical that the corrected COS be processed as soon as the final work schedule is known, but no later than 15 days from the close of the semester working date.   In these circumstances a note should be put on the corrected COS indicating:  "This correction is necessary to reflect actual international travel dates, details on file in the department."  In this case a letter of justification will not be required.

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Revised 12/20/2007