Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A postdoc dedicated 100 percent to one funded project, direct-charged to that award's personnel line, with project-specific reagents direct-charged to its supplies line.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
Directly charging a departmental administrator's ordinary clerical support to a single grant without an 'unlike circumstances' justification — normally indirect cost, and a frequent audit finding when misclassified.
Editorial commentary
Direct charging applies to costs unambiguously attributable to one project (e.g., a postdoc dedicated 100 percent to the project, reagents consumed entirely on its work). The decision between direct charging and indirect treatment must be consistent within an institution to satisfy Uniform Guidance consistency requirements (2 CFR 200.403). Misclassification (e.g., directly charging clerical salaries that should be indirect) is a frequent audit finding. Costs not normally direct may be direct-charged in unlike circumstances (e.g., grant-funded administrative support for a major centre grant where administrative effort is unusually high).
How this differs from cost sharing
Direct charging is about which budget category a cost is charged to (direct vs. indirect) once it is being charged to the award at all. It is a separate question from cost sharing — whether a cost is charged to the award/sponsor at all, or instead absorbed by the institution as its own contribution. A cost can be direct-charged to the award, direct but cost-shared (the institution covers a directly-attributable cost itself rather than billing the sponsor), or indirect — these are two independent axes, not one spectrum, and conflating them is a common source of budgeting and audit confusion. See mandatory cost sharing and voluntary cost sharing for the cost-sharing axis.
Worked example
A postdoctoral researcher whose effort is dedicated 100 percent to one funded project is directly charged to that award’s personnel line; reagents purchased and consumed entirely for that project’s experiments are directly charged to its supplies line. Neither requires the “unlike circumstances” justification, because full, unambiguous attribution to a single project is the ordinary case for direct charging.
Counter-example
Directly charging a departmental administrator’s general clerical support to a grant, when that support is not unusually intensive for the specific award, is the textbook audit finding under Uniform Guidance — normal administrative and clerical support is treated as indirect cost precisely because it cannot be unambiguously attributed to one project without the “unlike circumstances” showing.
Related pages
See also mandatory cost sharing and voluntary cost sharing.
References
- US Office of Management and Budget, Uniform Guidance, 2 CFR §200.403-200.413 (eCFR).
- COGR, Excellence in Research.
Also known as
Direct charging (federal) · Direct cost allocation
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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