Budgeting

Grant budgets are created when an award is issued to Sam Houston State University. Our Research Administration team enters each grant budget into Banner. This can be viewed at any point during the year and is not tied to SHSU’s fiscal budget year. All adjustments to a grant budget will be done by your grant accountant. To make a change, notify your grant accountant.

• Checking Your Budget

  The best way to look up budget for a grant is to use the FRIGITD form in Banner. The FRIGITD form covers all grant years (from inception to current date) by default, but a specific month and year range can be entered as well.

  Using FRIGITD in Banner

  1. Navigate to Banner
  2. Enter FRIGITD or Grant Inception to Date into the search field
  3. In the fund field, put in the 6-digit fund # (e.g. 251580), the first 6 digits in your grant FOP
  4. Check the ‘By Sponsor Account’ box
  5. Click ‘Go’

  The rest of your FOP will automatically fill in and you will see your budget according to the sponsored account pools, which include:

  • A1, Salaries
  • A2, Benefits
  • B, Travel
  • C, Capital Equipment
  • D, Consumable Supplies
  • E, Other
  • F, Subcontracts & Participant Support Costs

  
• Review Grant Transaction Details

  Using FRIGTRD in Banner

  1. Navigate to Banner
  2. Enter FRIGTRD or Grant Transaction Detail into the search field
  3. In the fund field, put in the 6-digit fund # (e.g. 251580), the first 6 digits in your grant FOP.
  4. Optional — Enter in the dates
  5. Click ‘Go’
  6. Enter any other fields that you might want to filter by (e.g. account, program, or organization)
  7. Click ‘Go’
• Factoring Indirect Cost

  The Available Balance at the bottom of the screen shows total available balance for the grant; however, Indirect budget is included in this balance and must be deducted to determine the spendable remaining budget.

  Indirect costs represent the expenses of doing business that are not readily identified with a particular grant, contract, project function or activity, but are necessary for the general operation of the organization and the conduct of activities it performs. Indirect or Facilities & Administrative (F&A) costs are calculated at a pre-determined agreed percentage of direct costs to cover SHSU overhead and cannot be spent on the project.

• Find Grants by PI

  Using FRIPSTG in Banner

  1. Navigate to Banner
  2. Enter FRIPSTG or Grant Personnel Inquiry into the search field
  3. Enter the Principal Investigator’s Sam ID with the leading zero’s
  4. Click ‘Go’

Expenses

All expenses must be allowable, reasonable, and allocable. Expenditures must incurred within the grant period of performance. Unallowable costs, mistakenly charged to an award, must be promptly transferred to a departmental, see Interdepartmental Transfers, or other funding source. If you have questions, please contact ora@shsu.edu for help.

Cost Principles

• Allowable

  Except where otherwise authorized by statute, costs must meet the following general criteria in order to be allowable under Federal awards:

  1. Be necessary and reasonable for the performance of the Federal award and be allocable thereto under these principles.
  2. Conform to any limitations or exclusions set forth in these principles or in the Federal award as to types or amount of cost items.
  3. Be consistent with policies and procedures that apply uniformly to both federally-financed and other activities of the non-Federal entity.
  4. Be accorded consistent treatment. A cost may not be assigned to a Federal award as a direct cost if any other cost incurred for the same purpose in like circumstances has been allocated to the Federal award as an indirect cost.
  5. Be determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), except, for state and local governments and Indian tribes only, as otherwise provided for in this part.
  6. Not be included as a cost or used to meet cost sharing or matching requirements of any other federally-financed program in either the current or a prior period. See also § 200.306(b).
  7. Be adequately documented. See also §§ 200.300 through 200.309 of this part.
  8. Cost must be incurred during the approved budget period. The Federal awarding agency is authorized, at its discretion, to waive prior written approvals to carry forward unobligated balances to subsequent budget periods pursuant to § 200.308(e)(3).

  § 200.403 Factors affecting allowability of costs

• Reasonable

  A cost is reasonable if, in its nature and amount, it does not exceed that which would be incurred by a prudent person under the circumstances prevailing at the time the decision was made to incur the cost. The question of reasonableness is particularly important when the non-Federal entity is predominantly federally-funded. In determining reasonableness of a given cost, consideration must be given to:

  1. Whether the cost is of a type generally recognized as ordinary and necessary for the operation of the non-Federal entity or the proper and efficient performance of the Federal award.
  2. The restraints or requirements imposed by such factors as: sound business practices; arm's-length bargaining; Federal, state, local, tribal, and other laws and regulations; and terms and conditions of the Federal award.
  3. Market prices for comparable goods or services for the geographic area.
  4. Whether the individuals concerned acted with prudence in the circumstances considering their responsibilities to the non-Federal entity, its employees, where applicable its students or membership, the public at large, and the Federal Government.
  5. Whether the non-Federal entity significantly deviates from its established practices and policies regarding the incurrence of costs, which may unjustifiably increase the Federal award's cost.

  § 200.404 Reasonable Costs

• Allocable
  1. A cost is allocable to a particular Federal award or other cost objective if the goods or services involved are chargeable or assignable to that Federal award or cost objective in accordance with relative benefits received. This standard is met if the cost:
     1. Is incurred specifically for the Federal award;
     2. Benefits both the Federal award and other work of the non-Federal entity and can be distributed in proportions that may be approximated using reasonable methods; and
     3. Is necessary to the overall operation of the non-Federal entity and is assignable in part to the Federal award in accordance with the principles in this subpart.
  2. All activities which benefit from the non-Federal entity's indirect (F&A) cost, including unallowable activities and donated services by the non-Federal entity or third parties, will receive an appropriate allocation of indirect costs.
  3. Any cost allocable to a particular Federal award under the principles provided for in this part may not be charged to other Federal awards to overcome fund deficiencies, to avoid restrictions imposed by Federal statutes, regulations, or terms and conditions of the Federal awards, or for other reasons. However, this prohibition would not preclude the non-Federal entity from shifting costs that are allowable under two or more Federal awards in accordance with existing Federal statutes, regulations, or the terms and conditions of the Federal awards.
  4. Direct cost allocation principles: If a cost benefits two or more projects or activities in proportions that can be determined without undue effort or cost, the cost must be allocated to the projects based on the proportional benefit. If a cost benefits two or more projects or activities in proportions that cannot be determined because of the interrelationship of the work involved, then, notwithstanding paragraph (c) of this section, the costs may be allocated or transferred to benefitted projects on any reasonable documented basis. Where the purchase of equipment or other capital asset is specifically authorized under a Federal award, the costs are assignable to the Federal award regardless of the use that may be made of the equipment or other capital asset involved when no longer needed for the purpose for which it was originally required. See also §§ 200.310 through 200.316 and 200.439.
  5. If the contract is subject to CAS, costs must be allocated to the contract pursuant to the Cost Accounting Standards. To the extent that CAS is applicable, the allocation of costs in accordance with CAS takes precedence over the allocation provisions in this part.

  § 200.405 Allocable Costs

Types of Expenses

Account Codes

Certify Effort

Effort certification is a process mandated by the federal government to verify that direct labor charges to, or cost shared on, sponsored projects are accurate, timely and reflect the actual level of work performed. The following instructions will guide you through this process.

Certify Your Time

1. Go to the Employee tab in MySam
2. Click on the ‘Banner Employee Profile’ link, located in the far right column, first box
3. Click on the ‘Effort Certification’ link, located in the My Activities section
4. Double click on each name to open up the record
5. Click ‘Certify’ if record is correct

Certify Your Employees' Time

1. Go to the Employee tab in MySam
2. Click on the ‘Banner Employee Profile’ link, located in the far right column, first box
3. Click on the ‘Effort Certification’ link, located in the My Activities section
4. Select Review or Certify Reports to certify your employees’ time on the grant
5. Click the Status
6. Highlight the Status. It should say Awaiting Certification, if not click the pull down and choose Awaiting Certification
7. Click Go
8. Double click on the record Review the effort
9. If correct, click Certify at the bottom of the screen. If incorrect, click on Request Changes and type the changed needed with an explanation.
10. To continue certifying additional records, hit the x in the upper right of the record and it will take you back to the list of records.