What is the System Government Costing Office?
Let’s start this article with a confession: When I first applied to work in the System Government Costing office, I had no idea what SGC actually did. I’m sure I’m not the only one. So, let’s end this year’s monthly Costing Corner articles with a friendly intro to SGC.
In a nutshell, SGC supports all three universities in the calculation and negotiation of rates applicable to sponsored projects. We report up through the Associate Vice President and Controller’s office and ultimately to the CFO.
The primary responsibilities of our office include:
- Facilities and Administrative rate development for all three campuses - including rate negotiation and audit support
- Tuition remission rate development, audit support, and negotiation
- Fringe benefit rate development, audit support, and negotiation
- Cost Accounting Standards Board Disclosure Statements (DS-2)
- Higher Education Research & Development Survey (HERD)
- Service Activity rate reviews, calculations, training, and monitoring
- Development of various costing policies and procedures
The work we perform is heavily regulated and scrutinized by various auditing entities. Proper costing helps our universities avoid heavy federal audit penalties and maintain positive working relationships with our federal partners.
At a practical level, the rates we calculate help our universities recover the true cost of the important work our faculty conducts for sponsors. The indirect costs we recover through the various rates mentioned above are an important part of the universities overall budgets. So, if you appreciate having indirect cost recovery funds for departments, you may already appreciate SGC without even realizing it!
From all of us in the SGC office - Have a wonderful holiday break.
Remember that we have many great service rate calculation resources for you on the BusFin Service Centers page including links to register for some excellent training opportunities in the new year.
Contact
As always, feel free to reach out to a member of the costing team for further assistance.
