Basic Elements of a Budget

SALARIES & WAGES FRINGE BENEFITS EQUIPMENT TRAVEL PARTICIPANT SUPPORT COST S PATIENT CARE COSTS OTHER DIRECT COSTS FACILITIES & ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS (F&A)     (ALSO KNOWN AS INDIRECT COSTS OR IDC) Salaries & Wages Support for salaries & wages is requested as a percentage of your effort based on your current income and appointment. Calculate your current salary, divided by your appointment (9 or 12), times the percentage of effort, times the number of months. When formulating the budget, consider the following: Are there any salary restrictions in the guidelines? Does your department have any policy regarding academic year salary recovery? (Check with the financial assistant or chair/director.) Does your department have any policy regarding summer year salary recovery? (Check with the financial assistant or chair/director.) Does your department have a usual and customary graduate or undergraduate student salary rate? (Check with the financial assistant or chair/director.) Salaries of administrative or clerical staff usually is not supported as it is included as part of the Facilities & Administrative (indirect) Costs. If you have questions about including administrative or clerical support, please contact your Proposal Development Specialist (PDS). Cost of Living Allowances (COLA) and merit-based increases are usually estimated at 3-5% in subsequent years of the proposal. Depending upon the start date of the project, you may want to include an estimated increase in Year 1. If applying to NIH, be aware of the NIH salary cap or contact your PDS. [TOP] Fringe Benefits Fringe benefits are costs associated with salaries that are incurred by the University and must be included on sponsored programs. Included are: FICA Retirement Disability insurance Worker's compensation insurance Life insurance Unemployment insurance Health insurance Defined contributions Equipment Equipment, as defined by the University's rate agreement, means an article of nonexpendable, tangible personal property having a useful life of more than one year and an acquisition cost of >$5,000 per unit. Some things to remember: Check the guidelines. The sponsor may have their own requirements regarding equipment costs/allowability. Obtain vendor quotes, where appropriate. Have you included installation costs? Have you included shipping costs? If purchased outside the United States, have you included duty/US Custom fees? Will the equipment be fabricated? If so, parts/pieces may cost less than the required $5,000, but must be essential and integrated to the final fabricated equipment, which must be valued, as a whole, at $5,000 or more. [TOP] Travel Please note whether the travel is domestic or foreign. Always check the guidelines for definitions (depending upon the sponsor Mexico may be domestic or foreign) and to see if there are any restrictions (must us US carriers, etc.). Travel expenses may include:   Airfar   Apartment rental (less than 6 months)   Car rental   Conference fees/registration   Local transportation   Lodging   Mileage (check with your PDS for the current allowable mileage rate.)   Parking fees   Per diem   Travel agency processing fees [TOP] Participant Support Costs This budget category refers to costs of transportation, per diem, stipends and other related costs for participants or trainees (but not OU employees) in connection with sponsored conferences, meetings, symposia, training activities and workshops. Generally, indirect costs are not allowed on these expenses. Check the guidelines for specific details or contact your PDS. Patient Care Costs This budget category refers to human subject care costs in connection with sponsored research. Check the guidelines for specific details or contact your PDS. [TOP] Other Direct Costs This budget category refers to costs directly associated to the project that fall into the following subcategories: Materials & Supplies Project-related expendables Lab fuels Lab gases Lab supplies (includes lab animals) Office supplies Non-capital equipment Publication/Documentation/Dissemination Computer Services Computer-based retrieval of scientific, technical & educational information Leasing of computer equipment, if reasonable & allowable Consultant Services Must be reasonable & allowable (NSF has maximum daily rate) Include rate, number of days of expected service, travel costs, & subsistence Letter of intent (confirmation) Subcontracts [TOP] Other Direct Costs Tuition Communications Express mail charges Fax charges Cellular phone services Pager fees Postage Telecommunications/Telephone equipment/Long Distance Charges Copying Computer software Animal care costs Shop charges Maintenance/service contracts Audio/visual services Direct rental of space Utilized 6 months or more Over $1,000 Construction/renovation/remodeling costs [TOP] Facilities & Administrative Costs (F&A) (also known as indirect costs or IDC) The applicable F&A rate, negotiated with the cognizant Federal agency, should be used in computing F&A (IDC) for a proposal. Check the guideline for any restrictions. The University of Oklahoma's rate agreement is based on Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC), which consists of all total direct costs (salaries and wages, fringe benefits, travel, other direct costs and subcontracts/subgrants up to the first $25,000 of each subcontract/subgrant). MTDC shall exclude equipment, capital expenditures, charges for patient care, tuition remission, rental costs of off-site facilities, scholarships, and fellowships as well as the portion of each subcontract/subgrant in excess of $25,000. [TOP]