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Part V - TRAC fEC

Section F: Post-award

Reporting costs

  1. Project fEC-based costs will be reported:
    • to sponsors, in accordance with their requirements – the Research Councils, for example, require an Expenditure Statement at the end of a research grant;
    • as part of the external QA arrangements – the records required for this are described under verification, below;
    • possibly, at an aggregated level, to HESA FSR – see document link Annex 1.
  2. The categories of costs currently reported as the direct costs of research to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) in the Finance Statistics Return (FSR) are not being changed, for the time being. In this context note:
    • direct costs as currently defined would be reported (covering RAs, consumables, etc.), but neither estates charges nor PI salaries would be reported as direct costs of Research for the purposes of this return;
    • the FSR is based on the financial statements, which do not include the TRAC cost adjustments. Direct costs will, anyway, only be partially funded by the Research Councils. There may be issues of confidentiality. HESA definitions are likely to need reviewing as a result of TRAC;
    • research income on cost-based projects such as for the Research Councils may currently be defined for HESA with reference to costs. In this case a simple x% of recorded fEC could be used to establish Research Council income.
  3. Project cost records (maintained during the life of each project) might also be required to meet the needs arising from:
    • resource allocation (perhaps to identify the income from projects that academics are entitled to spend);
    • the identification of income receivable/income received in advance;
    • the requirement to compare charges made to Research Council projects in any one year for academics’ costs (through the standard charges recorded on project cost records), with the costs of the time they have actually spent (through the annual TRAC time allocation process);
    • other information (e.g. confirming whether the total level of directly allocated charges made during a year for an area of cost, such as a research facility, have been set at a level that appropriately ensures the recovery of those costs).
  4. However, project cost records are not required for the preparation of financial statements.
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