{"id":743,"date":"2018-03-09T16:07:31","date_gmt":"2018-03-09T16:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.research.colostate.edu\/osp\/?p=743"},"modified":"2018-03-09T16:07:31","modified_gmt":"2018-03-09T16:07:31","slug":"the-importance-of-a-good-budget-justification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.research.colostate.edu\/osp\/2018\/03\/09\/the-importance-of-a-good-budget-justification\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance Of A Good Budget Justification"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>The Importance Of A Good Budget Justification<\/h1>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;color: #737373\">Written by <strong>Tricia Callahan <\/strong>and <strong>Tracey Trujillo<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cBudget justifications are like recipes \u2013 if it\u2019s your recipe, you know it by heart and don\u2019t need instructions to make it \u2013 but if your friend would like to prepare it, they need to know all of the details.\u00a0 Like your friend trying to make the recipe, reviewers need those details in order to understand why those costs are necessary.\u201d \u2013\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/research.utdallas.edu\/blog\/why-are-budget-justifications-important\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">University of Texas, Dallas<\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>A budget justification is a categorical description of the proposed costs.\u00a0 It explains why the proposed costs are needed to accomplish the project tasks.\u00a0 A thorough justification will explain the necessity of the costs as well as the basis for the proposed costs.\u00a0 Along with the budget, the justification is a complete snapshot of the proposed work.\u00a0 Therefore, everything that appears in the budget and justification should appear in your proposed scope of work.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to explaining costs to the reviewers, the justification is another place where the Principle Investigator (PI) can sell the qualifications and responsibilities of key personnel.\u00a0 It\u2019s also a place where planned activities can be re-emphasized\u2013 by explaining the importance of essential project costs, PIs gain additional space to restate their activities.<\/p>\n<p>Considerations when preparing the budget justification:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cost categories should appear in the same order as they do on sponsor\u2019s budget form, using the same terms like KEY PERSONNEL, TRAVEL, EQUIPMENT, etc.<\/li>\n<li>Ensure items in the budget and justification match.\u00a0 For example, if you have requested funding for two graduate assistants, make certain that it shows numerically in the budget and in narrative form in the justification.<\/li>\n<li>Ensure items in the budget and justification are reflected in the project narrative.<\/li>\n<li>Double check for allowability of costs and for unintended or unallowable costs (like cost share).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Considerations by cost category:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Salary &amp; Wages<\/strong>\u2013 list all people (or positions) that appear in the budget, along with qualifications and project roles; include contributed effort to the project (or person months depending on the sponsor).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Fringe Benefits<\/strong>\u2013 tell reviewers if fringes are based on a negotiated rate or actuals.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Equipment-<\/strong>\u00a0describe the benefit to the project and include quotes.\u00a0 For fabricated equipment costs, provide a cost analysis of the estimated labor, materials, and other costs associated with the fabrication.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Travel-<\/strong>\u00a0explain the purpose of each trip and how the trip will benefit the project (e.g. dissemination, data collection, team meeting, etc.).\u00a0 Differentiate between domestic and foreign travel.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Materials &amp; Supplies<\/strong>\u2013 detail categories of materials &amp; supplies and describe how the project will benefit from their use.\u00a0 For costs normally treated as F&amp;A (e.g., administrative costs or computers), clearly justify the purpose necessitating inclusion as a direct cost.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Consultants\/Vendors<\/strong>\u2013 describe role on the project and activities or services to be performed.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Subrecipients<\/strong>\u2013 describe why a portion of the technical or programmatic effort must be subcontracted.\u00a0 Each subrecipient should have its own budget and budget justification.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Other<\/strong>\u2013 for other costs such as publication costs and costs for recharge centers, subject incentives, animal facilities, etc., specify need and basis for cost estimates.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Indirect Costs (F&amp;A)<\/strong>\u2013 state basis for the indirect cost rate used\u2013 whether it be a negotiated rate or de minimus rate.\u00a0 If using a negotiated rate, specify if base is salary &amp; wages, total direct, or modified total direct.\u00a0 Indicate if an on- or off-campus rate is being used and if organized research, service, instruction, etc. as applicable.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>A final word on budget justifications.\u00a0 A good budget justification will assist reviewers in understand the need for select budget items while re-emphasizing project objectives and activities.\u00a0 It will also reinforce the careful planning that went into the proposal and will reassure the reviewers that you know what you are doing.\u00a0 Remember \u201c<strong><em>Anything<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0that helps reviewers answer questions in your favor\u00a0<strong><em>is<\/em>\u00a0<em>worth<\/em>\u00a0<em>doing<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d-\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/research.utdallas.edu\/blog\/why-are-budget-justifications-important\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">University of Texas, Dallas<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Blog post by Tricia Callahan, Senior Research Education &amp; Information Officer, Office of Sponsored Programs and Tracey Trujillo, Research Administrator, Warner College of Natural Resources, Colorado State University<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFacebook<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGoogle+<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTwitter<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLinkedIn<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPinterest<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Importance Of A Good Budget Justification Written by Tricia Callahan and Tracey Trujillo \u201cBudget justifications are like recipes \u2013 if it\u2019s your recipe, you know it by heart and don\u2019t need instructions to make it \u2013 but if your friend would like to prepare it, they need to know all of the details.\u00a0 Like [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.research.colostate.edu\/osp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.research.colostate.edu\/osp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.research.colostate.edu\/osp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.research.colostate.edu\/osp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.research.colostate.edu\/osp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.research.colostate.edu\/osp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.research.colostate.edu\/osp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.research.colostate.edu\/osp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.research.colostate.edu\/osp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}