Cost Transfer Correction

The request for a cost transfer should only be required in rare circumstances, as the PI is responsible for ensuring that the original transactions are appropriately and accurately charged to the correct account.

Uniform Guidance states that “any costs allocable to a particular sponsored agreement under the standards provided may not be shifted to other sponsored agreements in order to meet deficiencies caused by overruns or other fund considerations, to avoid restrictions imposed by law or by terms of the sponsored agreement, or for other reasons of convenience.” CSULB considers any cost transfer made for any of these purposes inappropriate, but recognizes that there will be certain circumstances when cost transfers must be done to correct charges on sponsored accounts.

The government also requires that cost transfers be done in a timely manner. Most government agencies define “timely” as within 90 days. CSULB has adopted this guideline for timeliness. Only in cases of exceptional circumstances will cost transfers be permitted more than 90 days after the original charge. Additional explanation is required to document the reason for the lateness of the request and the steps to be taken to assure that transfer requests are made timely in the future.

This policy is not applicable to the following:

• Transfers made to and from accounts due to internal accounting processing errors.
• Transfers made between account codes on the same fund/project combination.

Adherence to this policy and procedure is necessary, as inappropriate or poorly documented cost transfers can result denied reimbursement or disallowance of these questionable charges or imposing other sanctions on the University, such as fines or loss of certain authorities.

For more information please review the CSULB ORSP Research Related Policies.