CONTROLLER'S OFFICE

Research & Cost Accounting

Salary support

These procedures are issued in accordance with Research Policy 311, Salary Support through Sponsored Projects. Rice is required to electronically verify work authorization for all employees (including students) and visiting faculty paid from or cost-shared on a Federal contract that includes the E-Verify clause. Please see the SPARC website for additional information. 

Actions related to faculty compensation

Summer salary
  1. Faculty Summer Salary Authorization (FSSA) completed in Adobe Sign and routed for faculty member, Principal Investigator (PI) (if different), and Dean’s signatures in the workflow. Chair signature may be required by some departments and schools.
    • Follow Faculty Summer Salary Guidelines posted on the Payroll Forms section of the Controller’s website. 
    • Provost's approval required for any policy exceptions. 
  2. RCA reviews and approves.  RCA reviews for available budget or guarantee fund, charges within project period, allowability, correct coding (i.e. Fund, Org, Account, Program, Activity and Location or FOAPAL), and other sponsor limitations (i.e., NIH variable annual salary cap, NSF limitation of no more than 2/9ths of regular annual academic salary for all NSF-funded awards). 
  3. Payroll processes the FSSA form. 
  4. Departmental administration reviews completed payroll transactions. Changes in distribution or additional amounts must be reflected on new FSSA. 
Academic Year Time Salary

The Academic Year Time Faculty form is to be used for tenure track faculty only.  The faculty who fall under this category includes Professor (60110), Associate Professor (60120) and Assistant Professor (60130).

  1. Fall or Spring Academic Year Time (AYT) form:
    1. Fall or Spring Academic Year Time (AYT) form (found on Payroll Forms Website).
    2. Separate Fall or Spring AYT excel form completed and then attached into the Faculty AYT form in Adobe Sign. Signatures for faculty member, PI (if different), Chair, and Dean are required in the workflow. Provost's approval required for direct or contributed effort above 50% of the academic year or any other policy exceptions.  
    3. RCA reviews and approves AYT form in the workflow. RCA reviews for available budget or guarantee fund, charges within project period, allowability, correct FOAPAL coding, and other sponsor limitations (i.e., NIH variable annual salary cap, NSF limitation of no more than 2/9ths of regular annual academic salary for all NSF-funded awards). 
    4. Payroll processes AYT form.  
    5. Individuals in the workflow (including the Budget Office) receive final form. 
    6. Departmental administration reviews completed payroll transactions. Changes in salary distribution or additional amounts must be reflected on new AYT form.
  2. Budget Transfer Memorandum (BTM):
    1. BTM completed and routed for faculty member, Chair, and Dean’s signatures based on school procedures for allocation of released salary and benefits paid from A1. 
    2. BTM routed to the Budget Office. 
    3. The Budget Office forwards BTM to RCA. RCA reviews for Fall or Spring AYT form or other payroll form completed and budget transfer request amount equals charges to sponsored project funds. 
    4. RCA forwards to Current Funds for processing. 
    5. Departmental administration reviews completed budget transactions. 

Notes:

  • For awards expected, but not yet received by the university, please see advance spending fund procedures. 
  • ‘To be determined’ (TBD) or an advance spending fund should be used on effort reports or salary form. ‘TBD’ will be charged to the department’s A1 fund.

Actions related to exempt staff

New hires:
  1. Personnel Action Form (PAF) completed in Adobe Sign by department and routed for required signature in the workflow. PAF must include default fund-org-acct.
  2. Approved PAF routed to Human Resources (HR) in Adobe Sign. HR reviews, codes, makes changes in Banner if needed, and uploads PAF to OnBase.
  3. Payroll Processes PAF.
  4. Individual appears on Time Allocation Report (TAR).
All exempt staff:
  1. Monthly TAR emailed to department by Payroll. 
  2. Department reviews TARs.
  3. If there are changes, department processes EPAF for future pay periods or OLRs for previous pay periods. 
  4. RCA reviews and approves EPAF / OLRs for direct and cost shared allocations for charges within project period, allowability (limited to administrative / clerical staff allowability), and correct FOAPAL coding. 
  5. Payroll reviews and processes EPAF / OLRs. 
  6. Departmental administration reviews completed payroll transactions. 

Actions related to non-exempt staff

New hires:
  1. Personnel Action Form (PAF) completed in Adobe Sign by department and routed for required signature in the workflow. PAF must include default fund-org-acct.
  2. Approved PAF routed to Human Resources (HR) in Adobe Sign. HR reviews, codes, makes changes in Banner if needed, and uploads PAF to OnBase.
  3. Payroll Processes PAF.
All non-exempt staff:
  1. Timesheets, including fund-org and hours worked, completed by individual. 
  2. Timesheets verified and signed by the supervisor(s) / manager(s). 
  3. Departmental administration reviews completed payroll transactions. 

Notes:

  • Hours reported via timesheets will be charged to default fund-orgn-acct provided from EPAF. If actual hours differs from default, turn in revised timesheets to update hours worked. OLR must be completed by department to correct posted salary.
  • Future changes to the default fund-orgn-acct should be updated via EPAF. 

Actions related to undergraduate students (hourly students on RCH, OSP2, INST, or RCHU funds)

New hires:
  1. Student Personnel Action Form (SPAF) initiated by the student in ESTHER is completed by the department and routed for required signatures. 
  2. Approved SPAF sent to Financial Aid. 
All hourly students:
  1. Timesheets, including fund-orgn and hours worked, completed by individual. 
  2. Timesheets verified and signed by the supervisor(s) / manager(s). 
  3. Departmental administration reviews completed payroll transactions. 

Notes:

  • Hours reported via timesheets will be charged to default fund-orgn-acct provided from SPAF. If effort differs from default, turn in revised timesheets to update hours worked. OLR must be completed by department to correct posted salary.
  • Future changes to the default fund-orgn-acct should be updated via SPAF. 

Actions related to graduate students

  1. Via WebApps, Graduate Student Payroll Authorization (GPAF) completed by student's home department. 
  2. Office of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies (GPS) reviews and approves GPAF.
  3. RCA reviews and approves GPAF. RCA reviews for charges within project period, allowability, and correct FOAPAL coding. 
  4. Payroll reviews and approves GPAF. 
  5. Departmental administration reviews completed payroll transactions. If there are changes, department processes GPAF for future pay periods or additional amounts, or OLRs for previous pay periods.

Note: GPAF required for payroll actions, including new students and terminations. 

For cost transfers over 90 days old or otherwise subject to the Cost Transfer Policy and Procedures:

  1. Online Labor Redistribution (OLR) completed by department and approved by Chair. 
  2. Cost Transfer Policy and Procedures followed by the department, including explanation of benefit to the award(s) by the individual, explanation of delinquency, and steps the department is taking to avoid future late occurrences. 
  3. RCA reviews and approves OLR. RCA reviews for direct and cost shared allocations: within project period, allowability (limited to administrative / clerical staff allowability), and correct FOAPAL coding. 
  4. Payroll processes the OLR. 
  5. Departmental administration reviews completed payroll transactions. 

Questions

For questions about approved forms sent to Payroll for processing, please contact payroll@rice.edu. For questions about allowability, sponsor limits and budgetary restrictions, and FOAPAL coding, please contact rchacctg@rice.edu.

For questions about Rice budget transfers, please contact budget@rice.edu.

Page revised 8-6-2020