SIMBA: Research & Finance Offices - IO/SP Cost Share

This article addresses common internal order (IO)/sponsored program (SP) cost sharing scenarios, but it does not address all possible scenarios. Work with your Financial Officer (FO) to determine the cost share set-up for your grant.

The following resources provide additional information about cost sharing at Penn State:

• Policy RAG50 Documentation of Cost Sharing
• Policy RA50 Cost Sharing
• Cost Sharing FAQs
• Office of Sponsored Programs > Cost Sharing/Matching

To learn more about the award set-up process and the role of Research Accounting and the Research Office, refer to SIMBA Support > Grants Management. You can then choose to view specific resources for award set-up or monitoring.

Contents

IOs/SPs and Cost Sharing

• Internal Order Types
• Committed Cost Sharing
• IO/SP Type 52 Master Data Information

Cost Share Roles and Responsibilities

• Award Set-Up Process Overview
• Research Office
• Research Accounting Office
• Business Area Finance Office
• Research Administration Office 

Special Circumstances

• Endowment IO/SP Process

IOs/SPs and Cost Sharing

When a department needs to provide more accounting details, a transaction’s assigned cost center can be assigned an internal order (IO) to plan, collect, and settle the costs of temporary projects such as grants. In SIMBA’s Grants Management module, an internal order is called a sponsored program (SP) and a cost center is called a funds center.

An IO/SP indicates the allocation of funds awarded to various faculty and business areas for the administration of a particular grant. The source of such funding can be external (a sponsor) or internal (cost sharing), and a single award may be assigned multiple sponsored programs.

The following chart shows an example of a grant with cost share.

Internal Order Types

SIMBA includes two IO types for grant cost share: IO Type 51 and IO Type 52.

• IO Type 51: Cost Share Pending. Use 51 IO when cost share is being committed for an award that is pending. For the current fiscal year, business areas may not use the Cost Share Pending process. 
• IO Type 52: Cost Share Awarded. Use 52 IO when cost share has been committed and the award is now fully executed.

A 51 IO does not need to be in place to use the 52 IO type. 

Committed Cost Sharing

Grants and contracts that have any component of committed cost sharing, either mandatory or voluntary, must document the requirement on the Internal Approval Form (IAF). Refer to the SIMS: Internal Approval Forms KB article for details on this form and process.

To ensure compliance with documentation requirements for committed cost sharing, all committed cost sharing from unrestricted funds for a specific agreement should be accounted for through a cost share sponsored program (52 IO).

For cost analysis purposes, the naming convention is required to uniformly indicate whether the cost share is Mandatory (M) or Voluntary Committed (VC). The Description field text must start with M or VC.

Note: Uncommitted cost sharing (Voluntary Uncommitted - VU) may not be identified as part of an award. Refer to Policy RAG50 Documentation of Cost Sharing for more information.

IO/SP Type 52 Master Data Information

The following master data elements must be assigned for an IO cost share.  

• Business Area: The business area on the cost share IO must match the value assigned in the Responsible CCtr field.
  
  
• Functional Area: The function of the cost share IO/SP is the purpose of the grant, such as Research, Outreach, or Instruction.
  
  Exception: Grant-in-Aid must stay in Student Aid function (900000) with grant’s purpose serving as the subfunction. For Grant-in-Aid, use cost center XXXXXXXX40 or 41.
  Note: SIMBA derives the functional area based on the assigned cost center on the IO. Changing the derived functional area causes posting errors.)
  
  
• Responsible Cost Center: Only one cost center can be associated with an IO/SP. The value assigned in the Responsible CCtr field must match the assigned business area.
  Note: If you have faculty contributed time outside of your business area, the cost share must be set up as an IO/SP in the faculty member’s business area (central business area or department). 
  
  

• Fund: No funds should be moved between different fund types. If the source of funds is the same, use one IO/SP. If the source of funds is different, use multiple IOs/SPs (e.g., Gift, Endowments, Unrestricted Funds, Tuition, ARL Funds).  
  
  
• Responsibilities: Refer to the KB article Managing Responsibilities for Grants and Sponsored Programs for detailed instructions. The following responsibility options are relevant for an IO/SP with cost share.

• • PI: Required at the grant level. The cost share IO/SP must list the PI as the person responsible.
  • Co-PI: Required at the IO/SP level.
  • Cost Share Budget Approver: Required at the IO/SP level to ensure the GM budget document flows to the business area supplying the cost share funds.
  • Cost Share FO Approver: Required at the IO/SP level to ensure the GM budget document flows to the correct FO in the business area supplying the cost share funds.
  • LDAP: Required at the IO/SP level if not assigned at the grant level.

Cost Share Roles and Responsibilities

Award Set-Up Process Overview

The SIMS and SIMBA systems are integrated for award set-up: pre-award management occurs in SIMS and post-award financial management occurs in SIMBA. Refer to SIMBA Support > Financial Services Resources > Grants Management > Award Set-Up for an overview of the process and links to detailed procedural resources.

Research Office

When a proposal is awarded, the Research Office requests an IO Type 52 (as many as needed) on the IAF’s Account Set-up tab when the initial SIMBA information is being entered. If you do not have all the information you need to request the 52 IO(s) at the time the account set-up form is submitted, use the GM Master Data Request template. Refer to SIMBA Support > Templates & Tools to access the template and learn more about the request process. Email completed templates to Research Accounting (cco-ora-setup@psu.edu), who will then create the appropriate number of 52 IO types when creating the grant. 

The Research Office is responsible for the GM side of cost share, which requires creating and uploading an expense budget for each cost share IO/SP. Select the GM Budget Upload tile to access the GM Budget Upload tool, and use document type U2 (Unreleased Cost Share Budget) or B2 (Cost Share Released).

After confirming the IO Type 52 master data items (see IO/SP Type 52 Master Data Information) used for the cost share, the Research Office should notify the appropriate individual(s) that the cost share IO/SP has been set up and is ready for spending.

Note: The Research Office should not budget revenue on the GM side for 52 IOs. Only the expense budget is required.

Research Accounting Office

Research Accounting (Central Grant Maintainer role) receives completed IAFs and GM Master Data Request templates sent by the Research Office. Research Accounting verifies grant details (see IO/SP Type 52 Master Data Information) and adds the appropriate number of 52 IOs.

Business Area Finance Office 

The business area Finance Office is responsible for the FM side of cost share, which requires reducing an expense budget for the source of cost sharing. Select the Budget Workbench tile to access the FM Budget Upload template. Complete the upload as a transfer on the expense side, which will reduce the expense on the FM side and increase it on the GM side. Refer to SIMBA Support > Templates & Tools to access the template and learn more about the upload process.

Note: GLs in locked sets are allowed only on certain document types. When using a GL from a set, all GLs on the document need to be in that same set. Refer to the GL Validation Sets - Internal Accounting Activity KB article for more information.

The business area Finance Office has discretion in transferring actual revenue and budget revenue, using one of the following GLs. In GM, the GLs are in the Other Income sponsored class. 

Note: Endowment revenue is not permitted to be moved to a cost share IO. See Endowment IO/SP Process.

Research Administration Office 

For assistantships, equipment, and other central cost sharing, the Research Administration Office of the administering unit must request an IO/SP in their business unit for funds to be collected. 

The Research Administration Office coordinates with the receiving unit FO to email an IO/SP request to centralmatch@psu.edu in the Senior VP for Research Office. Attach a copy of the signature page from the central match approval form, or include the following details in the email:

• Lead PI Name
• OSP Number
• Fiscal year the request is for
• The year of funding
• Amount of transfer
• Business area of the unit receiving funding
• IO
• GL: 59000601/47000600

Special Circumstances

• IO Type 53 - Salary Cap Exceeded for Grants. This IO type is not permitted to be associated with a grant.
• Voluntary Uncommitted (VU) cost share. Uncommitted cost sharing is not permitted to be associated with a grant. Refer to Policy RA50 Cost Sharing for more committed and uncommitted cost sharing.
• Cost share met by another grant. Track this cost share using a spreadsheet outside of SIMBA, or use the grant’s notes sections in SIMBA.
• Unrecovered F&A. Track this cost share using a spreadsheet outside of SIMBA. Resolving this issue is a planned SIMBA enhancement. Refer to Policy RA50 Cost Sharing for more on F&A cost sharing.
• Subrecipient cost share. Track this cost share using a spreadsheet outside of SIMBA.
• Third-party contributions. An IO/SP is not necessary to track this commitment. Enter contributions on the grant’s Additional Master Data tab in SIMBA and upload the following documents as attachments to the grant: Third Party Cost Share Commitment Letter and Third Party Cost Share Commitment Confirmation. Sample letters are available at Penn State Office of Sponsored Programs > Cost Sharing/Matching.
• Third-party contribution as cash. Request an IO Type 52 via Research Accounting. (See Research Accounting Office above.)
• Endowments. Endowment revenue is not permitted to be moved to a cost share IO. Discuss endowments with your FO. (See Endowment IO/SP Process below.)

Endowment IO/SP Process 

1. The Research Office completes the Endowment 52 IO Request Template and sends to their FO. Refer to SIMBA Support > Templates & Tools to access the template and learn more about the upload process.
2. The FO sends the completed template to Endowment Accounting at EndowmentTeam@psu.edu.
3. Endowment Accounting creates the 52 IO and forwards that information to Research Accounting.
4. Research Accounting creates the SP and ensures it is attached to the correct grant.
5. Research Accounting notifies the requester and other involved parties.

SIMBA Support website

SIMBA Support > Templates & Tools

SIMS: Internal Approval Forms KB article

GL Validation Sets - Internal Accounting Activity KB article

Grant and Internal Order/Sponsored Program Editing Permissions KB article

Managing Responsibilities for Grants and Sponsored Programs KB article

Policy RA50 Cost Sharing

Policy RAG50 Documentation of Cost Sharing

Penn State Office of Sponsored Programs > Cost Sharing/Matching