Other Expenses

• Hospitality expenses in accordance with the University of Waterloo policy are eligible on most research accounts.  Alcohol is an ineligible expense unless the research sponsor has specifically stated otherwise. 

• Remuneration provided to the research participants are to reflect out of pocket expenses associated with participating in a research study (for example, transportation, or parking).  Renumeration includes payments given to the research participant that acknowledges the time and effort they have provided in participating in the research.   
• Normally, a research participant receives remuneration in a single payment. Occasionally, a study comprises more than one phase and a participant receives remuneration at several intervals.  When the amount of remuneration is $300 Canadian dollar or more per participant, there is a set process that needs to be followed.  When the remuneration amount for a study is less than $300 Canadian dollar per participant, the PI pays the research participant directly by requesting an advance through Finance and settling the advance by a specified date.  Please refer to the University’s guidelines for further details: Remuneration to Research Participants   
• Please note that the Tri-Agency has indicated that the provision of gifts, honoraria and incentives must be in accordance with the administering institution’s policies and processes.  Please refer to the “Gifts, honoraria and incentives” section of the Tri-agency Guide on Financial Administration  as well as Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans for further details.

• Overhead (also called “indirect research costs” or “facilities and administrative costs”) is intended to help the University recover indirect costs (such as use of space and services, utilities, library, central computing, insurance, common equipment, health and safety, security, custodial, financial, and administrative services) associated with sponsored research activities.  Overhead is charged as a percentage of total research funding and is finalized at the time of the award agreement.  When a research account is set up, the full overhead is committed (encumbered) against the account (this enables users to see what direct costs are available to spend).  Overhead is then charged against an account at the agreed upon percentage as actual expenses are charged to the account and the commitment is reduced accordingly.  Please refer to the overhead page, as well as Policy 26 for further details. 

Research consulting payments occur when the University enters into a research contract with a research sponsor and a portion of the contract fee paid to the University is allocated by the research sponsor for payments to faculty researchers (typically the Principal Investigator (PI) or co-applicant on the project) for their work on the research.  

Prior to research consulting being completed 

Prior to research consulting being completed, the following documentation must be in place: 

• The research agreement (or an amendment) must state that research consulting is an eligible expense and 
• The Office of Research cover sheet for sponsored research must indicate that research consulting payments will be made. 

The claimant is responsible for ensuring that the following University policies are followed (if applicable): 

• Policy 49: Extra-University activity (faculty members) 
• Policy 69: Conflict of interest 

Additionally, if the research consulting payments will be paid to a faculty member’s incorporated company, the following documents must be provided to the appropriate faculty financial officer, or their delegate, in accordance with Policy 52: Private corporations: 

• An independent contractor agreement as per appendix A of policy 52 
• Legally valid contract of employment between the incorporated company and the individual being paid research consulting as per appendix B of policy 52 
• Proof of comprehensive liability insurance in accordance with the Finance requirements 

After research consulting has been completed 

Once the research consulting has been completed, the claimant prepares: 

• An invoice if their incorporated company will be paid 
• An invoice and the one time payment request form if they will be paid directly  

See Table 1 (below) for information to be included on the invoice and the one time payment request form. An invoice template is available (the use of this specific template is optional). 

Invoices from incorporated companies must be reviewed by the appropriate faculty finance officer, or their delegate, to ensure that the requirements of policy 52 have been met (e.g. a current private contractor agreement, contract of employment, and insurance details are on file).  

It's the responsibility of the claimant to charge HST where the Canada Revenue Agency requires them to do so. The determination of whether the services provided are subject to HST is not impacted by whether the payment is being made to an individual or an incorporated company. 

Once authorized and any department/faculty/institute/school/center review processes are complete, research consulting claims should be sent to: Research consulting, Research Finance, Office of Research for review to ensure that: 

1. The expense is eligible on the research project. 

2. Budgeted amounts for such payments would not be exceeded by the current claim. 

3. The funds have been collected from the research sponsor. 

4. The research project has sufficient funds available to pay the claim. 

5. The claim is accompanied by supporting documentation (the nature of the work performed and how the amount was determined, e.g., hourly / daily rate). 

6. The claim is appropriately authorized (including a one-over-one approval). 

Once the Research Finance review is complete, the claim is sent to Finance (for payments to incorporated companies) where it will be paid by cheque or bank deposit to the company or to Payroll (for payments to individuals) where it will be paid as part of the monthly payroll process. 

Table 1: Documentation, approvals and review process