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UT System Administration Policy Library – Policy INT159 Institutional Base Salary Policy

 

Responsible Officer: Associate Vice Chancellor-Controller and Chief Budget Officer
Sponsoring Office: Office of the Controller
Effective Date: June 15, 2007
Last Reviewed: August 9, 2007
Next Scheduled Review: August 31, 2008
Errors or changes to: policyoffice@utsystem.edu

CONTENTS

 

Policy Statement
Rationale
Scope
Website Address For This Policy
Related Statutes, Policies, Requirements Or Standards
Contacts
Definitions
Responsibilities
Procedures
Forms Tools/Online Processes
Appendix

POLICY STATEMENT

 

This policy provides requirements and guidelines for Institutional Base Salary (IBS) for all sponsored programs, federal, state, and private, at UT System Administration (UTS).

 

IBS is the annual compensation UTS pays for an individual’s services, whether that individual’s time is spent on research, teaching, patient care, or other activities.  IBS excludes any income that an individual may be permitted to earn outside of the duties for UTS.  To be in compliance with the Federal guidelines salaries need to be managed consistently across the institution, and IBS shall be used for purposes of salary requests on all sponsored projects. 

 

RATIONALE

 

 

The Federal government requires recipients of federal funding to establish an institutional policy that documents the budgeting and expensing of salaries on sponsored projects, and that sponsored project costs such as salaries be treated consistently.  These federal requirements shall be consistently applied to all sponsored programs at UTS.

 

Sponsors (federal or non-federal) may have a salary rate cap which would limit the amount of IBS that could be used as a basis for charging salary to their projects.  When such limitations apply, the requested salary support is determined by multiplying the proposed level of effort by the maximum IBS allowed.  Terms and conditions of the award should be reviewed with caution. To comply with OMB A-21, this policy defines the components of IBS and establishes procedures for budgeting and expensing of salaries. 

 

If a sponsored project has a salary cap, then an individual’s salary in excess of the salary rate cap is considered an unallowable cost.  The unallowable portion of salary over the cap may not be charged to a regular cost sharing account of the project/program.  It must be charged to a non-sponsored, non-federal fund account.

 

SCOPE

 

All offices of UT System Administration

WEBSITE ADDRESS FOR THIS POLICY

 

http://www.utsystem.edu/policy/policies/int159.html

RELATED STATUTES, POLICIES, REQUIREMENTS OR STANDARDS

 

 

CONTACTS

 

If you have any questions about UT System Administration Policy INT 159, Institutional Base Salary Policy, contact the following offices:

 

Subject	Office Name	Telephone Number	Email/URL
Grants	Office of the Controller	512-499-4527	controllersoffice@utsystem.edu http://www.utsystem.edu/cont

DEFINITIONS

 

 

Compensation
Amounts of salary that an employee earned for services rendered and paid by UTS during the project period.

Effort
Time spent on any activity by an individual, expressed as a percentage of the individual’s total effort.

 

Effort Reporting
The method of certifying to the granting agencies that the effort required as a condition of the award has actually been completed.

 

Institutional Base Salary (IBS)
Annual compensation that the applicant organization pays for an individual’s appointment, whether that individual’s time is spent on research, teaching, patient care, or other activities.  Base salary excludes any income that an individual earns outside of the duties to the application organization.

 

Salary Rate Cap
Limitation on the amount of salary that may be charged to sponsored program awards.

 

Sponsored Program
An externally-funded activity that is separately budgeted, accounted for, and governed by specific terms and conditions of the sponsoring organization.  A Sponsored Program may be in the forms of grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements for research, instruction, and public service activities.

 

Total Monthly Compensation
The amount for which an individual is compensated monthly by the institution through payroll.

 

RESPONSIBILITIES

 

 

Principal Investigator
It is the responsibility of the principal investigator or director to ensure that:

• the proposal budget being submitted is in compliance with the UTS IBS policy and federal guidelines,
• proposed work to be conducted by the key personnel has been approved by his/her supervisor.

Department Administrator/Accounting Manager
It is the responsibility of the department administrator or accounting manager to ensure that:

• any amount exceeding an imposed salary cap is charged to a non-sponsored account,
• any necessary payroll adjustments are made in accordance with INT152, Cost Transfer Policy
• records related to salaries and wages are tracked and maintained.

Office of the Controller-Grants and Contracts Manager
Review proposals for compliance with salary caps.

 

PROCEDURES

 

 

IBS Overview
IBS shall be used for purposes of salary requests on all sponsored projects.  The terms and conditions of the awards should be reviewed for salary caps prior to submitting any proposal.  Awards with salary caps must be monitored regularly.

 

IBS in excess of a salary cap must be funded from non-sponsored accounts.  IBS will not be increased or decreased during a fiscal year as a result of receipt or loss of salary support from grants, contracts, and other revenues.

 

Salaries and wages should be budgeted commensurate with the proposed level of effort and can be paid only for time they are working on the project(s). 

 

Accounting for IBS
Limitations imposed by salary caps are not absolute.  The amount must be prorated as describes below.

• Calculate the percentage of the employee’s salary that can be charged to the award:

• When an employee’s rate of pay in a given period exceeds the salary rate cap, the amount of salary that can be charged to the award is calculated as follows:

 

 

• Salary in excess of a sponsor imposed rate cap will be considered as an unallowable cost to the sponsored program.  It must be charged to an unrestricted, non-sponsored program account.  This differential is considered a voluntary committed cost sharing.  Refer to INT158, Cost Sharing Policy.
• Identify the source(s) that will be used to fund any remaining percentages of salary.
• Administrative stipends, honoraria, or supplemental compensation are not included in the rate-of-pay determination of salary cap and should not be charged to sponsored programs.

 

FORMS AND TOOLS/ONLINE PROCESSES

 

None

APPENDIX

 

None

 

 

 

 

 

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