As a result of the FY25 Single Audit, the Institute had a finding related to individual travel costs and effort reflected on sponsored awards. Effort on a sponsored award at Georgia Tech is reflected through the charging of an individual’s salary to either the grant itself or to a contractually obligated cost share grant line linked to the main award.

If an individual incurs travel costs in support of a sponsored award and charges those costs to the sponsored award, then there is a requirement to show that the same individual has charged effort over the performance period of the award.

This is required to meet the cost‑benefit standard applicable to sponsored funds.

In instances when there may be legitimate reasons for not charging effort to the award, Grants & Contracts Accounting must have thorough documentation and support for those instances.

WHAT IS HAPPENING?

Grants & Contracts Accounting will be sending out a quarterly report to all grant managers and PIs who have instances where an individual’s travel costs appear on an award with no effort from that individual reflected in the performance period. Deans and Chairs will be cc’ed on the report, so that they are aware of their populations. 

WHAT DO I NEED TO DO?

What we need is for grant managers and PIs with awards on this list to take one of two actions:

1. Either move a reasonable percentage of the individual’s salary (that aligns with the effort expended on the award by that individual during the fiscal year) over to the award, or move the travel costs off of the award (onto non-sponsored, unit/school funds).
2. Prepare documentation to support why it is acceptable for there to be travel costs on an award with no salary/effort reflected.

For # 1 above, please let Grants & Contracts know via email when this has been done for your respective award(s) by emailing our Compliance Team at grantscompliance@business.gatech.edu.

For # 2 above, please email the Compliance team the documentation for support at grantscompliance@business.gatech.edu. This documentation must also be stored in the unit and available upon request from auditors or other compliance staff. 

Georgia Tech Internal Audit WILL be testing to see that both of these actions have been taken.
 

WHEN IS THE DEADLINE?

This finding on the FY25 Single Audit was carried over from FY24, so it must be resolved by the Corrective Action Date of June 30, 2026. We need your cooperation to ensure that this is done. 

If you have any questions, please contact Josh Rosenberg at josh.rosenberg@business.gatech.edu .