When shared staff costs drift after a budget revision
Payroll percentages locked at award date often outlive the budget that justified them — and funders notice at mid-term.
Many funding agreements allow a share of salaries for staff who split time between the funded programme and other work. The percentage is usually set in the approved budget. Problems begin when the programme’s staffing mix changes and nobody updates the allocation worksheet.
In reviews we often find timesheets that still use the original split — for example 40% to the grant — while the current budget revision shows 25%. The difference compounds across months and can push personnel costs above the category cap even when headcount looks stable.
What to check before mid-term
- Pull the latest approved budget revision and the allocation policy named in the agreement.
- Compare each shared role’s current percentage to the revision, not to the award-day spreadsheet.
- Recalculate year-to-date personnel charges; if the ledger still uses the old rate, post a correcting journal before the report is locked.
- Keep the revision letter and the updated worksheet in the same folder the funder’s auditors will request.
A grant spending compliance review will sample these lines early because the error is common and the amounts are large. Correcting them yourself before fieldwork is cheaper than explaining them under a findings register.