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UC Irvine (UCI) is committed to meeting all financial reporting requirements for sponsored awards, including maintaining accurate documentation to support salaries and wages charged to those awards. These requirements are outlined in UCI policy and sponsor regulations and are subject to internal and external audits. The time and attendance reporting component of this documentation is essential to ensuring compliance.
For Federal Awards, salaries and wages must be supported through the UCI Payroll Certification Process, which requires Principal Investigators to conduct an after-the-fact review of all salary charges. PIs must certify that these charges are accurate, allowable, and properly allocated. Payroll certification is required at least every 12 months and must be completed within 90 days after the award budget period end date to allow time for any necessary adjustments. Additional information on Payroll Certification requirements is available on the Contracts and Grants accounting website.
Principal Investigator Best Practices
To support timely and accurate payroll certification, we strongly encourage all PIs to implement the following best practices for managing time and attendance within their research teams:
- Maintain Consistent Written Work Schedules
Clearly document work schedules for all research team members to ensure transparency and support accurate reporting. These records should be retained in accordance with applicable UCI record retention policies and award-specific requirements and made available upon request for audit or compliance review.
- Establish Formal Time Off Request Processes
Implement standardized, written procedures for requesting and approving time off. Ensure that requests and approvals are documented and processed promptly.
- Conduct Timely Review and Approval of Time Reporting System (TRS) Entries
Regularly review and approve TRS submissions to verify that time reported aligns with established work schedules. This step is critical for maintaining project accountability and compliance.
TRS resources are available on the UCI Accounting website.
We sincerely urge all PIs to make these practices a top priority. Your leadership in these areas is vital to ensuring compliance, mitigating audit risk, and supporting the continued excellence of UCI’s research enterprise.
If you have questions regarding financial reporting requirements for sponsored awards, please contact:
- Alice Han, Director, Extramural Funds Accounting – bahan@uci.edu
- Jeff Warner, Senior Director, Sponsored Projects Administration – warnerj@uci.edu
Thank you for your attention to this important matter and for your ongoing commitment to research compliance.
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