Compensation Management

Compensating employees on sponsored projects

The funds that IU receives from the federal government and other sponsoring agencies to support its research programs come with various conditions. One of those conditions is the reasonable allocation of employee compensation charged to sponsored awards.

IU Institutional Base Salary

Institutional base salary (IBS) is the base salary paid by IU for an individual's appointment, whether that person’s time is spent on research, instruction, administration, or other activities. This includes, if appropriate, IU regular pay from fiscal year and academic year appointments and approved practice plan (e.g., IUHP) salary.

Summer salary

Academic summer salary for research and other activities outside the standard academic year is subject to the requirements of Uniform Guidance payroll confirmation. Summer salary on grant accounts is typically limited to a maximum of 9 weeks in order to provide the faculty member with vacation time as well as time to prepare and submit new proposals in accordance with IU policy on Summary Salary from Sponsored Program Accounts.

Other Compensation

There are certain pay types excluded from IBS and are not included in annual project statements. The following are examples of pay types excluded from institutional base salary:

  • Early Retirement
  • Terminal Pay
  • Fee Remissions
  • Fellowships
  • Overtime Pay
  • Extra Compensation
  • All Supplemental Pay
  • Employee reimbursement including travel Reimbursement/Digital Allowance

IBS salary increases as a result of replacing University salary funds with sponsor projects funds is not allowed. Departments are to review compensation charged to sponsored projects on a monthly basis to ensure costs are allowable and allocable.