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Adult Education Administrator's Manual

Accountability

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Budgeted expenditures will be shown by class/object code in the eGrants system. However, the applicant is required to maintain records on all expenditures by budget function, class/object code, and year of appropriation.

Funds must be expended for reasonable and necessary costs. To be allowable under a grant award, costs must meet the following general criteria:

• Be reasonable for the performance of the grant and be allowable under the applicable cost principles;
• Conform to any limitations or exclusions set forth in the applicable cost principles or in the grant agreement as to types or amount of cost items;
• Be consistent with policies and procedures that apply uniformly to both federally funded activities and activities funded from other sources;
• Be accorded consistent treatment among all grant programs, regardless of funding source;
• Be determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP);
• If federal, not be included as a cost or used to meet cost-sharing or matching requirements of any other federally funded program in either the current or a prior period.
• Not to be used for lease/purchases (i. e. debt service).

Determine the reasonableness of a cost by considering whether:

• The cost is of a type generally recognized as ordinary and necessary for the operation of the organization or the performance of the grant;
• The restraints or requirements imposed by such factors as generally accepted sound business practices, arms length bargaining, federal and state laws and regulations, and terms and conditions of the grant award;
• The individuals concerned acted with prudence in the circumstances, considering their responsibilities to the organization, its members, employees, and clients, the public at large, and the federal government;
• There are significant deviations from the established practices of the organization that may unjustifiably increase the grant costs.

Additionally, costs must be allocable to a particular grant in accordance with the relative benefits received. A cost is allocable to a grant award if it is treated consistently with other costs incurred for the same purposes in like circumstances and if it:

• is incurred specifically for the grant;
• benefits both the grant and other work and can be distributed in reasonable proportion to the benefits received;
• is not shifted to other federal awards to overcome funding deficiencies, or to avoid restrictions imposed by law or by the terms of the grant award.

Program Reports

The grantee must provide written program reports on a properly completed form. Quarterly reports are due to Texas LEARNS within 15 days after the end of each reporting period and coincide with the submission dates of expenditure reports. The final program report is due within 30 days after the ending date of the grant. Reports will be due to the Texas LEARNS as follows:

Report	Reporting Period	Due Date
1st Quarter	July 1 – September 30	October 15
2nd Quarter	October 1 – December 31	January 15
3rd Quarter	January 1 – March 31	April 15
4th Quarter	April 1 – June 30	July 31

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