Salary Transfers

Salary Transfers

Online Salary Transfers (OSETs) serve to both initiate and document adjustments and corrections to salary expenditures and should be completed prior to completion of the FEC. An OSET should be prepared whenever the percent of effort performed is less than the percent of effort paid. An OSET may also be prepared when the percent of effort performed is more than the percent of effort paid.
 
When a Faculty Effort Certification Report (FEC) needs to be adjusted to reflect a salary transfer, departments print the posted electronic salary transfer and attach it to the FEC. The OSET should be the version that indicates “Transaction has been posted.” This is an interim solution and will be replaced eventually when the eFECS (electronic Faculty Effort and Cost Share) solution is implemented and salary transfers are reflected directly on the FEC.

Process

 Department Administrator:
  1. The Departmental Administrator confirms that the salary transfer for sponsored agreements (grants and contracts) conforms to the internal departmental approval process for salary transfers documented in GIM 14 “Attachment, ‘Delegation of Signature Authority for Sponsored Projects’” http://www.washington.edu/research/osp/gim/gim14att.html
 
 Salary Transfer Preparer:
  1. The preparer will complete the online salary transfer,
 
NOTE: If the begin and end dates of the salary transfer cross the FEC cycle lines, prepare a separate salary transfer for EACH FEC cycle.
 
    • Quarterly reporting, use the following dates:

                                                    12/16/xx to 3/15/xx

                                                     3/16/xx to 6/15/xx
                                                     6/16/xx to 9/15/xx
                                                     9/16/xx to 12/15/xx
    • Semi-annual reporting, use the following dates:
                                                      1/1/xx to 6/30/xx
                                                      7/1/xx to 12/31/xx
 
  1. Ensure that the justification(s) provided on the salary transfer conform to the requirements of GIM 15, “Transfer of  Expenditures between Grant or Contract Budgets,”   http://www.washington.edu/research/osp/gim/gim15.html
  2. Management Accounting and Analysis (MAA) will return the FEC and OSET to the department if the justification is inadequate or incomplete. If the justification exceeds the number of characters available in the justification text boxes, use the “Notes” section to document the reasons for the transfer and recertification.
  3.  Print out the “Notes” section and attach with the OSET to the FEC.
 
Salary Transfer Submitter:
  1. The Submitter reviews the OSET for accuracy and adherence to compliance requirements (e.g. GIMs 14 “Delegation of Signature Authority for Sponsored Projects”  and 15 “Transfer of Expenditures between Grant or Contract Budgets,”
  2. Ensures that the OSET does not cross FEC cycle dates,
  3. Submits the OSET,
  4. Makes a paper copy of the final POSTED OSET and sends to the departmental FEC Coordinator.
 
Departmental FEC Coordinator:
  1. The Coordinator verifies that the OSET has been POSTED,
  2. Adjusts the FEC to reflect the changes to salary made by the OSET,
  3. Staples the final POSTED OSET, and “Notes” if applicable, to the paper FEC,
  4. Sends a paper copy of the posted OSET to home department administrator or FEC coordinator if the faculty member is in another home department. The second department includes the OSET as documentation with the faculty member’s FEC.
 
NOTE: If a salary transfer is completed after the faculty member has signed the FEC, follow the recertification process.

Compliance Considerations and Justifications

 
Salary transfers are a key indicator of the quality and effectiveness of internal controls. Salary transfers should not be used as a management tool nor used for convenience to move funds between budgets.
 
Salary transfers can be a significant compliance risk. The department should take actions to avoid as many transfers as possible.
 
  •         Review and reconcile BARS monthly to determine required salary distributions changes, detect errors and make payroll adjustments to reflect appropriate effort levels.
  •        Avoid salary transfers where effort has previously been certified as correct.
  •   Establish advance budgets.
  •    Do not use sponsored budgets as a holding account.
  •   Avoid salary transfers occurring at the end of a grant period. In the few cases where these late transfers might be necessary, complete justifications for the change should be carefully documented on the OSET.
Salary transfers are to be completed promptly, within 90 days of discovery. Transfers made over 120 days from the original transaction require additional justifications. To provide adequate justifications answer all of the following questions in the justification sections of the online salary transfer.
For all salary transfers:
1.      Why was the expenditure transferred?
2.      Is the transfer within approved guidelines of the budget? Explain.
3.      Is the transfer in direct support of the project? How?
4.      Why was the expenditure originally charged to the incorrect budget?
For transfers completed over 120 days from the original transaction date, in addition to
            questions 1-4               
1.       Why is the transfer late?
2.      Explain why this error was not identified during the monthly budget review by the PI. 
3.      If it was identified during the monthly budget review why was it not transferred in a timely manner?
For transfers after the FEC has been certified.
1.      Provide a complete, detailed description of what circumstances have changed between now and when the faculty member last certified his/her FEC that prompt the change.
2.      Describe why, when the faculty member originally certified the FEC, the payroll distribution was a reasonable reflection of effort and now it is not.
3.      Explain why there was a significant time lapse between completion of the salary transfer and the FEC revision.

 

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