The Federal government requires periodic review and certification that the distribution of faculty salaries represents a"reasonable" reflection of effort. For the UW this is accomplished throught the FEC. The FEC reports provide the supporting documentation for salaries charged to sponsored projects. Without FEC reports, the salaries are considered unsupported and therefore unallowable.

Roles and Responsiblities

The Individual faculty members, with assistance from departmental FEC coordinators, are primarily responsible for accurate completion of Faculty Effort Certification reports and for making any necessary adjustments to salary charges and cost sharing resulting from faculty reported effort.

Management Accounting and Analysis is responsible for the timely distribution, collection, and review of FEC reports to ensure compliance with federal regulations.

Printing the FECs

FECs are printed quarterly and semi-annually as determined by individual College or School administrators and reflect salary and effort for the prior cycle.

• Quarter Dates:
  • Winter: 12-16 to 3-15
  • Spring: 3-16 to 6-15
  • Summer: 6-16 to 9-15
  • Autumn: 9-16 to 12-15
• Semi-Annual Dates:
  • 1-1 to 6-30
  • 7-1 to 12-31

The Office of Information Management (OIM) prints the FECs for faculty members who satisfy at least one of the following criteria for the FEC reporting cycle:

• have been paid on a grant or contract (budget type 05),
• have a mandatory cost share agreement,
• have committed cost sharing where funding is shown on the sponsored project proposal budget or budget justification with no corresponding funding requested or awarded,
• have a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant with an aggregate cost share requirement.

Note: Budget type/class 05-57 (royalty), 05-52 (clinical income), and 05-45 (staff assignments and service contracts) are not considered sponsored activity and do not in themselves qualify for printing an FEC. These budgets will appear on effort reports, however, when the faculty member is paid on sponsored agreements or has a cost share pledge or commitment.

Once faculty members are selected, the system collects information for each FEC from three of the online administrative systems:

• HEPPS payroll history file for quarterly reports and the HEPPS data warehouse for the semi-annual reports. (Earn types REG, SUM, PLP, TFA, ADS, and ENS salaries are included)
• FIN (budget name, budget type, organization code)
• eFECS Cost Share Module (cost share pledges)

Distribution of the FECs

MAA distributes the FECs to the departmental FEC Coordinators

• by organization code and
• by the individual's home department as listed in HEPPS

Review and Certification

• Department coordinators should first check the accuracy of the salary and cost share data on the FECs, correct any errors or omissions on the form by hand and in ink, and attach appropriate documentation.
• The department coordinator then sends the FEC to the faculty member whose name is on the FEC. The faculty member reviews the salary information, completes the effort section, and signs and dates the FEC form.
• The faculty member returns the completed and signed form to the person coordinating FEC completion in the department.

Signature

The faculty member whose name is on the form signs the FEC. In exceptional circumstances the Chair or Dean may sign when they have suitable means of verification that the work was performed. In these cases, the department FEC coordinator should always send an informational copy to the faculty member

If the faculty member is unavailable (i.e., not on campus) to sign the FEC, there are some alternative methods the department can use to secure confirmation by the employee.

1. Send the FEC by mail, email or FAX for review and signature and have the employee confirm the effort, sign and return the form by U.S. or campus mail.
2. Send the FEC by email, have the employee respond by return email to the chair or dean that the effort information on the form is correct. The chair or dean can use the email as a suitable means of verification that the work was performed and provide the in ink signature. The department should keep a copy of the email in the department files.

Records Retention

• The department makes a copy for their files and returns the original completed form to the Office of Management Accounting and Analysis (MAA), Box 354988.
• The department keeps copies of the FECs for their faculty for one year after the end of the fiscal year. (See the General Records Retention Schedule.)
• MAA keeps copies in their office for 6 years after the end of the fiscal year per the same General Records Retention Schedule.