Documenting Cost Share or Match

When cost share or match has been offered as part of a proposal and that proposal is subsequently funded, the university is required to track any project expenses that have been paid for by the university or a third party and report those expenses to the sponsoring agency. All such cost-shared expenses must fall within the award period. These expenses must also be only paid for from nonfederal sources unless the use of these expenses as cost share has been specifically allowed by the federal agency providing the matching funds. This nonfederal source restriction also applies to any subcontractors or other third parties providing match.

Documentation of cost-shared expenses can be provided in three ways:

• Via the Personnel Activity Report (PAR) when the cost-shared expense is employee(s) salary (see APM 45.09)
• By submitting specific expense information by Banner transaction number to the Cost Accounting Unit of the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) for entry into the cost-share system
• By submitting third-party documentation of cost share to the Cost Accounting Unit, along with the third party’s certification that such match has not been provided from federal funds

Because cost share must be reported to the sponsor along with the final financial report, all documentation must be provided to OSP prior to award closeout (typically 30-90 days after the award ends). If the award closes before a PAR is due, please work with the OSP Cost Accounting Unit to document those salaries not yet in the effort reporting system.