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Policies and Procedures

This page contains links to both Federal policies and applicable Northwestern University policies and related procedures.

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Federal Policies
Federal Policies Applicability
Uniform Guidance (Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards) Effective December 26, 2014; replaces guidance that was previously contained in eight different Office of Management and Budget (OMB) circulars, including A-21, A-110, and A-133.
OMB Circular A-21 (Cost Principles for Educational Institutions) Archival reference; replaced by Uniform Guidance.
OMB Circular A-110 (Grants and Agreements with Institutions of Higher Education, Hospitals, and Other Non-Profit Organizations Archival reference; replaced by Uniform Guidance.
OMB Circular A-133  (Audits of States, Local Governments, and Non-Profit Organizations) Archival reference; replaced by Uniform Guidance.
Northwestern Procedures
Effort Reporting Procedures Description
Over 2.5 Mo Summer Salary Guidance and Procedure Describes how and when to use the Pre-Certification Form, and related considerations for requesting an exception to charge more than 2.5 months' summer salary to sponsored projects.
Pre-Certification Form (Fillable Template) Prior to charging more than 2.5 months summer salary to sponsored accounts, the fully approved Pre‐Certification Form must be submitted. See Over 2.5 Mo Summer Salary Guidance and Procedure above for additional instructions.
Cost Transfer Procedures Description
Salary Cost Transfer Journals: Documentation & Submission Steps Summarizes required documentation and submission steps for salary cost transfer journals, with links to related procedures and entry instructions.
Over 90 Day Memo Approval Procedure for myHR Journals Describes acceptable options for obtaining PI/Supervisor approval of cost transfer over 90 day memos, and provides the procedure and template to use when obtaining by email.
Interim Email Routing and Approval Procedure for "Paper" Journals Provides the email routing and approvals procedure and templates for cost transfers that cannot be submitted online in myHR (over 1 year, temp employee over 90 days, payroll to/from stipend account code change, emeritus; formerly these were routed as physical paper packets).
Over 90 Day Memo (Fillable Template) This completed justification memo (with PI/Supervisor approval) must be included with every over 90 day cost transfer submission (salary and non-salary).
Journal Entry Form (Fillable Template) This completed journal entry form (face page) must be included with every salary cost transfer submitted via Email Routing, and includes fields for employee name, emplID, journal from/to dates, reason, and transaction entry fields (separated by fiscal quarter) for chart strings and amounts.
Additional Resources Description
Cost Allowability for Sponsored Charges A collection of resources to assist in determining whether it is appropriate to charge a given cost to a sponsored project.
Uniform Guidance Implementation Northwestern's Uniform Guidance implementation plan, timeline, and links to related resources.