Personnel Activity Reporting Overview

If you manage funds for federally sponsored projects, you need to be familiar with the Personnel Activity Reporting (PAR) system.

Background

The purpose of the University's Personnel Activity Reporting (PAR) system is to comply with federal requirements for effort certification under OMB Circular A-21, Cost Principles for Educational Institutions. The system uses forms, called PARs, to document wages charged and certify percent of time worked on federal funds, as well as private and state federal flow-through funds.

Percent of pay versus percent of effort

The PAR system calculates percent of pay by dividing the salary paid on each fund by the total salary paid for the given quarter. The result is a percent of pay for each fund. The percent of effort is the time the employee actually worked on each fund source. When you complete the percent of effort section on the PAR, you are documenting the percent of total effort that the employee spent working on that fund.

PARs are important because they are subject to multiple federal audits. Improper or incomplete PAR reporting can cost the University money in the form of audit disallowances and can jeopardize future federal research funding.

PAR requirements

PARs are required for all personnel paid directly from sponsored projects funded by federal sources, including private and state federal flow-through funds. A PAR must be completed for any employee that is paid on one of the following funds:

Quarterly reporting

The Office of Post Award Financial Services (OPAFS) mails PARs to departments on a quarterly basis as follows:

What you need to do with PARs

• How the PAR System Calculates Percent of Pay: Find out how the PAR system calculates percent of pay and when you need to overwrite the percent of pay due to exceptions.
• How to Complete a PAR: Use these procedures when you receive a PAR from OPAFS.
• How to Revise a PAR: Use these procedures if a Payroll Expense Transfer (PET) is done after a PAR is generated.
• How to Create a Manual PAR: Use these procedures if you never received or have lost the original PAR or processed a PET moving an employee's pay to or from a federal fund.

Finance

Effort Reporting

• ECERT
• Personnel Activity Reporting
  • Complete a PAR
  • Revise a PAR
  • Create a Manual PAR
  • PAR Checklist
  • Percent of Pay Calculation