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    Basics of Cost Sharing/Companion Accounts

    Cost sharing involves costs of sponsored projects that are not funded by the project.

    Cost Sharing Terms

    • Mandatory Cost Sharing – required by the sponsor, quantified in proposal, must be captured, documented and included in the F&A rate calculation.
    • Voluntary Committed Sharing/State Cost Share – quantified in proposal’s budget, is not mandated by the sponsor, must be captured, documented and included in the F&A rate calculation.
    • Voluntary Uncommitted Cost Sharing – not required by the sponsor as a condition for the award, not quantified in the proposal and/or budget, but performed as a part of the project, does not need to be documented or counted in the F&A rate calculation.

    Cost Sharing Federal Requirements

    OMB Circulars A-21 and A-110 require that cost share be:

    • verifiable to records
    • not from other federal sources (unless authorized)
    • necessary and reasonable
    • allowable under the cost principles
    • in the approved budget (when required by agency
    • not included as cost sharing for any other sponsored program

    Methods of Accumulating Cost Sharing

    • use of companion accounts which are 2-8xxxx. The last four digits correspond with the last four digits of the FRS number assigned to the project.

    Salary Cap – salary cap applies to awards from the National Institute of Health (NIH) and may apply to other agencies, Federal and private. Salary cap also applies to pass through awards that originate from NIH and are passed through another institution to the UConn Health Center.

    Salary cap defines the maximum annual salary rate that can be charged to an agency’s award. The cap is set effective January 1st of each year.

    Salary is reviewed at the end of the budget period. If there is a net overcharge due to the salary cap, an adjustment will be made.

    Effective July 1, 2005, salary cap percentages are identified on AA forms and the corresponding payroll is charged to companion accounts, 2-8xxxx.