Administrative and Clerical Salary Costs

Administrative and Clerical Salaries

Federal regulations state that clerical and administrative salaries should normally be treated as an indirect cost; however it may be appropriate to charge them as direct costs if certain general criteria are met. To qualify the costs must be

• Integral to the project or activity,
• Individuals must be specifically identified with the project or activity,
• Explicitly included in the proposed budget or have the prior approval of the sponsoring agency,
• Not also recovered as indirect costs.

These requirements do not apply to salaries for technical personnel, graduate students, postdoctoral associates or senior programmatic personnel.