Common Mistakes When Documenting Time and Attendance

Problem #1: Incorrect percentage of staff time charged to grant The Identified IssueThe Best Way to Resolve it The Project Director or other project staff divide their time up between two projects, but do not reflect this on their time sheet. Each Time & Activity Report must account for the total activity for which employees are compensated, and which is required in fulfillment of their obligations to the organization. Time & Activity Reports must be prepared at least monthly and must coincide with one or more pay periods. Time recorded should be in accordance with the organization's personnel policies. Charges for salaries and wages must be supported by records indicating the total number of hours worked each day. Refer to the applicable OMB circular to determine the requirements for your organization.

Problem #2: Incorrect percentage of staff time charged to grant The Identified IssueThe Best Way to Resolve it The sponsor is budgeted for 5- 10% of time to be paid for by the grant, but the time spent on these activities is not divided out on their time sheet. Each Time & Activity Report must account for the total time spent on grant related activities. Sample time sheets are provided that show an acceptable way to break out time.

Problem #3: Staff time sheet reflects budgeted rather than actual time. The Identified IssueThe Best Way to Resolve it Staff time is divided on the time sheet the same number of hours each day. Time & Activity Reports must reflect after- the-fact time determination of the actual activity of each employee. Use time sheets similar to the samples provided and break down the time spent on each activity based on work actually done, not based on the budgeted number of hours.

Problem #4: Staff time sheet not signed by staff or supervisor (or both). The Identified IssueThe Best Way to Resolve it Staff time sheets are not signed by the staff member and the supervisor. Time & Activity Reports must be signed by the individual employee, or by a responsible supervisory official having firsthand knowledge of the activities performed by the employee, certifying that the distribution of activity represents a reasonable estimate of the actual work performed during the periods covered by the reports. Use a time sheet, similar to the samples provided which have a space for the staff and supervisor's signature.

Problem #5: Staff time sheet does not reflect non-grant activities of the staff. The Identified IssueThe Best Way to Resolve it Staff has not accounted for time spent on grant writing and fundraising on their timesheet. Track the hours that all federally funded personnel spend raising funds. Ensure that time sheets have a place to track hours spent fund raising. Reconcile time sheets with payroll so that only allowable hours are charged to the grant. Report only allowable activity (not fund raising!) on your Consolidated Financial Reports (CFR).

Fundraising Refresher Project staff whose salaries and benefits are 100 percent charged as direct costs to the federal grant may not engage in organized fundraising on behalf of the sponsor organization. Organized fundraising includes all efforts to obtain funds to cover capital or operating costs, or to solicit in kind contributions. The OMB circulars on allowable costs do not apply to funds that are not included in the grant as either costs to be reimbursed by grant funds or matching costs financed by the sponsor.

Fundraising Refresher A project director who needs to spend 5 percent of his or her time on fund raising activities would charge 95 percent of his or her time on the budget (either as federal/state pass-through costs or required non-federal share). Another project staff member, who might spend 15 percent of their time writing grant applications, would allocate 85 percent of his or her time, the other 15 percent would be paid from excess non-federal funds, or other funds available.

Fundraising Refresher Examples of organized fundraising include: Conducting a financial campaign or endowment drive Soliciting specific gifts or bequests Applying for grants Applying for support from local community foundations, such as the United Way (any that renew annually) Preparing a grant application

Timesheet templates Additional timesheet examples are being provided as reference material. An Excel timesheet template is being provided.

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