Agency's Budget and Mission

Agency's Budget and Mission

Preparing Budget Justifications

Introduction

The budget is the financial expression of the project and should accurately reflect the costs of the proposed research/education/service program. The budget justification provides the sponsor agency and reviewers of the application with information such as why costs are programmatically necessary and how they are calculated. Reviewers will analyze the financial data to determine if the proposed costs are allocable to the program, allowable under federal cost principles or non-federal sponsor guidelines (whichever is applicable), reasonable and treated consistently by the institution and similar organizations (Lipson 2005).

When the University receives an award, the approved budget items become part of the agreement between the University and the sponsor. Only those costs that are included in the budget or re-budgeted costs allowed by the sponsor should be directly charged to the award. If the cost requires prior institutional and/or sponsor approval after the award is made, the approval must be secured before the cost is incurred. Therefore, it is important to develop a budget that will enable the PI to fulfill all of the programmatic requirements of the project.

A budget and budget justification must be provided for:

Proposed direct costs

Proposed cost share

Estimated program income, including projected revenue and expenditures

Facilities and Administration (F&A or Indirect Costs)

Funding Sources

One of the first steps in developing a budget is a determination of the original source of funding - federal/federal flow through, state and local government, private, etc. The Office of Research, College of Public Health (COPH), will assist grant writers in identifying the source of funding (Kelso 2006).

Federal/Federal Flow-Through

If the funding source is federal in origin, budgets must comply with the sponsor agency budget guidance and OMB Circular A-21, Cost Principles for Educational Institutions. Additional information is provided throughout this document to assist grant writers in determining if items of cost are normally treated as direct costs or F&A. In addition, definitions are provided at the end of this document for the following terms: direct costs, F&A costs, allocable, reasonable, consistent treatment.

Non-Federal Sources

Budgets developed for non-federal funding sources must comply with the sponsor agency budget guidance and University guidelines.

Budget Justification

The budget and budget justification must adhere to the guidance provided by the sponsor agency. The following information is intended to assist principal investigators and project personnel develop budget justifications that will enable reviewers to analyze the budget request in relation to the program selection criteria (Wyoming 2009). It is presented for the following general budget areas:

Salaries and Wages

Fringe Benefits

Consultant Costs

Equipment

Supplies

Travel

Other

Contractual Costs

Facilities & Administration (F&A) or Indirect Costs

A. Salaries and Wages

Provide the following information for each position identified on the budget:

Name

Degree(s)

Title

Time commitment

Duties and responsibilities in relation to the program goals and objectives

Federal/Federal Flow-Through: Administrative and clerical positions are normally treated as Facilities and Administration (F&A), but may be charged to a sponsored project when ALL of the following conditions are met:

The cost can be readily identified specifically with the project with a high degree of accuracy.

The cost is incurred for a different purpose or circumstance as compared ...