Cost sharing or matching means that a portion of project or program costs is not borne by the external sponsor (defined by Uniform Guidance ยง 200.306 )
Cost share or matching funds are terms used to describe the portion of a project supported by the university or a third party other than the sponsor. If cost share is a required part of a project, then the university must document that cost share was provided.
Items included as cost share must be in conformance with the same rules and regulations as direct charges to the award fall under and must support the work of the project. Requirements for cost share vary widely among sponsors but generally require that the university provide personnel time, equipment, or other items of value to the project.
2CFR§200 requires that cost share be:
- verifiable to records
- not included as a contribution to any other federally assisted program
- necessary and reasonable to accomplish the program objectives
- allowable and allocable under the cost principles
- not paid under another federal award
- provided in the budget when required by a federal agency
- in conformance to other 2CFR§200 provisions
Cost share must be documented in the same manner as costs charged directly to an award. All cost share is subject to audit. Paid receipts and travel vouchers should be kept in accordance with UNOs retention policies.
Cost share falls into three categories:
Mandatory: an amount or percentage required by the sponsor in order to receive the award
Voluntary Committed: an amount or percentage committed in the proposal and/or budget not required by the sponsor in order to receive the award
Voluntary Uncommitted: typically personnel time is not required by the sponsor as a condition for the award and not committed by the faculty in the proposal and/or budget, but performed as part of the project work
Other costs can also be Voluntary and Uncommitted.
Cost share must be documented and substantiated. If mandatory or voluntary committed cost share requirements are not met, a proportionate amount of the project’s direct costs may be disallowed. Cost share generally requires additional documentation.
Therefore, unless required, cost share should not be included in a proposal.
Cost Share Tracking
Companion cost center: A companion cost center to record financial expenses associated with the cost share for an award can be established in SAP.
A companion cost share account will be established to accumulate all cost share costs for specific sponsored projects.
A cost share companion is used for very specific reporting within SAP and should not be used for any other costs than those intended as cost share for the award. The rules governing a companion cost share account are:
- The companion cost share account will be locked when the cost share obligation is met and will not be used for other purposes. OSP will notify the Controller's Office when the companion account needs to be locked. The budget may need to be transferred off of the account.
- The companion cost share flag in SAP will be left on for accounting and grant purposes when the account is locked.
When work-flow notices notifying you of project termination are sent, departments should take action to remove any salary being charged to the companion as well as the project by the end date of the project.