7/25/2021 Types of Expenditures that Can Be Cost Shared | Office of Research and Sponsored Programs | University of Arkansas at Little

kansas at Little Rock

Types of Expenditures that Can Be Cost

Shared
Cost sharing commitments can be met using
direct or indirect costs that are allowable,
allocable, reasonable, and consistently
accounted for by the university. Since all
cost-shared expenditures must be verifiable
from university records, the use of
companion accounts (see Definitions section)
is required for all cost-shared direct
expenses. If tracking via companion accounts
is not possible, the school must track the
cost sharing manually.

This policy describes two categories of cost

sharing expenditures, direct and indirect.
Section A defines direct costs (effort,
equipment, and other direct expenses), and
Section B defines indirect costs (unrecovered
overhead on sponsored expenditures,
overhead on cost-shared university
resources, and costs normally considered
indirect). Note that there is often more
flexibility with cost sharing on non-federal
awards.

A. Direct Costs

1. Faculty effort or research staff salary

PIs can commit to expend faculty or

research staff effort on a sponsored
program without charging commensurate
salary to the sponsored fund. Such a
commitment of effort binds the university
to contribute research staff or faculty time
to the project and to record salary
expenditures, including fringe benefits, in

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7/25/2021 Types of Expenditures that Can Be Cost Shared | Office of Research and Sponsored Programs | University of Arkansas at Little Rock

a manner that makes the expenditure

verifiable from university records. Like all
committed effort, cost-shared faculty effort
must be effort-reported.

Costs representing salaries over regulatory

caps, such as the National Institutes of
Health salary cap, cannot be used to meet
a cost sharing commitment.
2. Equipment

If the purchase of new equipment is

necessary for the project or the sponsor
mandates the purchase of new equipment,
then the acquisition cost of specific
equipment may be offered as cost sharing.
Purchase and acquisition must occur
during the period of performance of the
project, and procedures must be in place
to ensure that the depreciation on such
equipment is not included in the indirect
cost rate calculation.

Existing equipment cannot be offered as

cost sharing, since the depreciation of
UALR-owned equipment is included in
UALR’s indirect cost rates and the
equipment was not purchased for use on
the project. Rather than committing the
use of UALR-owned equipment as cost
sharing, proposals should characterize the
equipment as “available for the
performance of the sponsored agreement
at no direct cost to the project.”

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7/25/2021 Types of Expenditures that Can Be Cost Shared | Office of Research and Sponsored Programs | University of Arkansas at Little Rock

3. Other direct costs

Most other (allowable, allocable,

reasonable, and consistently treated) costs
that could be charged to a sponsored
project can be cost shared. The following
are examples of other direct costs that may
be cost shared:

• Travel expenses

• Laboratory supplies

• Equipment that does not meet the

capitalization threshold (currently $5000)

B. Indirect Costs (Facilities and

Administrative Costs)

Indirect costs may be offered in a proposal to

meet cost sharing requirements imposed by
the sponsor if needed to meet required cost
sharing threshold and is an allowable cost by
the sponsoring agency. There are three ways
to cost share indirect costs. Note that none of
these cost-shared indirect costs are recorded
in UALR’s General Ledger—they will be
calculated and reported manually by ORSP.

1. Unrecovered overhead on sponsored

expenditures

The amount of indirect costs not recovered

from a sponsor due to a sponsor funding
an award at a rate below UALR’s negotiated
indirect cost rate.
2. Overhead on cost-shared university
resources

The amount of unrecovered indirect costs

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that are associated with the direct cost

sharing on an award.
3. Indirect cost expenses treated as
direct cost sharing (non-federal
awards only)

Costs that UALR normally considers

indirect (such as depreciation,
administrative support, rent, etc.).

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