Fee-for-Service Educational Activity (FSEA) FAQs

Yes. If the objective is to recover charged costs of providing it to users, then it is necessary to follow the FSEA requirements.

No. With the assumption that your unit meets the other FSEA criteria, it does not matter whether you have $250,000 in revenue or $2,500. You are required to follow the FSEA guidance.

Uniform Guidance is short for “Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards”. This is a set of federal guidelines by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that recharge and to which cost centers must adhere to, with some exceptions. Click here for additional information or to browse the Uniform Guidance.

Yes, the same requirements still apply.

The requirements still apply (although the audit risk may be lower).

• Internal Customers – the University Departments and their transactions with one another.
• External Customers – Faculty, students, and staff.

Yes. Finance and Accounting recommends setting up a separate Chartfield to appropriately capture FSEA activity separately from other non-related activities.

All current revenues and expenses should be moved to the newly approved ChartField string (this will be established at time of application). Contact Finance and Accounting for help with the journal entry.

Recharges are often direct costs on grants and contracts. As such, they must conform to federal requirements for direct costs (in OMB Uniform Guidance). They must also conform to specific federal requirements related to how rates/fees are established and assessed to users. Additionally, like any other sponsored project cost, in the event of an audit, documentation must exist to support them.

Labor Hour, Machine Hour, CPU Unit, Daily Rate, Test, Slide, Page, Cup, etc.

No, membership is not an appropriate cost-based unit.

The discrimination of users is not allowed. For example, you cannot set a rate specific to your department. However, if a group requires discounted rates, a subsidy from another source may be provided to account for the difference.

An internal user rate cannot be greater that the calculated/break-even rate. An external rate can have a surcharge that is above the break-even rate.

FSEAs must submit their rate proposals to Auxiliary Accounting for review and approval when any of the following apply:

• The FSEA is initially established.
• New services or products are added.
• Significant changes are made to the methodology used to calculate the rate(s).

If the estimate originally provided has significantly changed, the department may submit a revised rate recalculation worksheet. Once reviewed by the Auxiliary Accounting Office, the new rates can be changed. See the Rate Development section page for information on how to recalculate the rates.

No. The University recovers the Equipment Depreciation as part of the Federal Facilities and Administrative (F&A) proposal. Only an approved Specialized Service Center may include depreciation in their rates. A special approval from Auxiliary Accounting and Cost Accounting is required to be established as a Specialized Service Center.

Capital equipment (over $5,000) cannot be purchased from Surplus. It can be funded from Grants, Donations, Reserve Funds that receive surcharge revenue from external customers, and funding from colleges.

The service center can have a working capital allowance of up to 60 days. (Annual expenses divided by 6). For example: Annual expenses were $200,000. Therefore, the unit would be allowed to keep up to $33,000 in working capital reserve ($200,000/6). Surplus up to 60 days does not need to be included in the rate calculations.

Yes. A surplus does have to be carried forward. A plan must be produced by the department to show how this surplus will be eliminated in future years.

Surplus must be calculated in aggregate (across the entire center), and by each service line (if the center has more than one service).

Please refer to the Billing page for more information on the Internal Customers invoicing process. Included on this site are requirements regarding processing of the internal charges.

Please refer to the Billing page for more information on the External Customers invoicing process.

Yes. It is important to have the documentation of the surplus/deficit analysis and the most current rate calculation on file.

Revenues collected from sales of goods and/or services are generally deposited in Auxiliary Funds. In some circumstances, when the amounts are small or the activities are not recurring, an ‘Incidentals Fund’ can also be used. However, all such business activities should first be approved by the appropriate authority. Contact Auxiliary Accounting for more specific guidance.

No. Revenues generated by FSEA activities cannot be used to pay for expenses that are not related to the FSEA. In other words, all expenses paid from FSEA money should help generate the FSEA revenues. In addition, it is generally not possible to transfer money from an auxiliary fund to a non-auxiliary fund.

UF is part of the State Self-Insurance Program, and each year, Environmental Health and Safety sends the premiums related to Auto Liability and Property Insurance to the Auxiliary Accounting Office. In September, an assessment is passed through to individual FSEAs based on the following:

• Total Auto Liability premium is allocated based on the number of vehicles at the end of the prior fiscal year.
• Property Insurance is based on building values.

FSEAs share the funding of support unit costs incurred by the University through the allocation of the overhead assessment as part of the Responsibility Center Management (RCM) budgeting process. The overhead assessment is adjusted annually based on the RCM calculation. It will typically appear on the general ledger in account 813xxx: Administrative Overhead. For more questions regarding this charge please contact the UF Budget Office.