48 CFR 9905.506-40 – Fundamental requirement
(a) Educational institutions shall use their fiscal year as their cost accounting period, except that:
Terms Used In 48 CFR 9905.506-40
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
(1) Costs of an indirect function which exists for only a part of a cost accounting period may be allocated to cost objectives of that same part of the period as provided in 9905.506-50(a).
(2) An annual period other than the fiscal year may, as provided in 9905.506-50(d), be used as the cost accounting period if its use is an established practice of the institution.
(3) A transitional cost accounting period other than a year shall be used whenever a change of fiscal year occurs.
(b) An institution shall follow consistent practices in the selection of the cost accounting period or periods in which any types of expense and any types of adjustment to expense (including prior-period adjustments) are accumulated and allocated.
(c) The same cost accounting period shall be used for accumulating costs in an indirect cost pool as for establishing its allocation base, except that the contracting parties may agree to use a different period for establishing an allocation base as provided in 9905.506-50(e).