Federal Research: Minor Changes Would Further Improve New NSF Indirect Cost Guidance

RCED-93-140 Published: Jun 03, 1993. Publicly Released: Jun 18, 1993.

Highlights

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the National Science Foundation's (NSF) indirect costs, focusing on: (1) indirect cost guidance that NSF provides to grant recipients; (2) NSF procedures for establishing indirect cost rates; and (3) the extent to which NSF audit guidelines and audits cover indirect cost charges.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected	Recommendation	Status
National Science Foundation	To improve the indirect cost guidance provided to NSF recipients, the Director, NSF, should revise the proposal packet to cite the applicable OMB circulars and the federal regulation that provide comprehensive listings of allowable and unallowable indirect costs and indicate where to obtain these circulars and the regulation.	Closed – Implemented NSF revised its indirect cost proposal packet to cite the applicable OMB circulars and federal regulation that provide listings of allowable and unallowable indirect costs and also included information on where to obtain these documents.

Full Report

Full Report (18 pages)

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Topics

Government Operations

Accounting proceduresAuditing standardsFederal agency accounting systemsFinancial recordsGrant monitoringInternal controlsManagement information systemsOverhead costsReporting requirementsAllowable costs