2 CFR 200.400 sets 3 requirements for organizations that receive federal grants and cooperative agreements. Applies when you build your application and budget, and to every cost you charge after award.
Maintain accounting practices consistent with the Subpart E cost principles that support the accumulation of costs as those principles require, including adequate documentation to support every cost charged to the Federal award (para (d)).
Any cost charged (or proposed to be charged) to a Federal award or subaward
Do not earn or keep any profit resulting from Federal financial assistance unless the terms and conditions of the Federal award explicitly authorize it; unexpended funds retained after completing a fixed amount award's required activities are not profit (para (g)).
Every Federal award or subaward budget
Administer the Federal award efficiently and effectively through sound management practices, in a manner consistent with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the award, employing organization and management techniques adequate to the applicant's staff, facilities, and experience (paras (a)-(c)).
Acceptance of any Federal award or subaward
Upload the funding notice and your draft budget or narrative, and ask. Grantable answers from its compliance database of federal, agency and state rules, with citations.
The application of these cost principles is based on the fundamental premises that:
(a) The recipient and subrecipient are responsible for the efficient and effective administration of the Federal award through sound management practices.
(b) The recipient and subrecipient are responsible for administering Federal funds in a manner consistent with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award.
(c) The recipient and subrecipient, in recognition of their unique combination of staff, facilities, and experience, are responsible for employing organization and management techniques necessary to ensure the proper and efficient administration of the Federal award.
(d) The accounting practices of the recipient and subrecipient must be consistent with these cost principles and support the accumulation of costs as required by these cost principles, including maintaining adequate documentation to support costs charged to the Federal award.
(e) When reviewing, negotiating, and approving cost allocation plans or indirect cost proposals, the cognizant agency for indirect costs should ensure that the recipient consistently applies these cost principles. Where wide variations exist in the treatment of a given cost item by the recipient, the reasonableness and equity of such treatments should be fully considered. See the definition of indirect costs in § 200.1.
(f) For recipients and subrecipients that educate and engage students in research, the dual role of students as both trainees and employees (including pre- and post-doctoral staff) contributing to the completion of Federal awards for research must be recognized in the application of these principles.
(g) The recipient or subrecipient must not earn or keep any profit resulting from Federal financial assistance unless explicitly authorized by the terms and conditions of the Federal award. See also § 200.307. When the required activities of a fixed amount award were completed in accordance with the terms and conditions of the award, the unexpended funds retained by the recipient or subrecipient are not considered profit.
Source: eCFR · checked Sep 17, 2026
Maintain accounting practices consistent with the Subpart E cost principles that support the accumulation of costs as those principles require, including adequate documentation to support every cost charged to the Federal award (para (d)). Do not earn or keep any profit resulting from Federal financial assistance unless the terms and conditions of the Federal award explicitly authorize it; unexpended funds retained after completing a fixed amount award's required activities are not profit (para (g)). Administer the Federal award efficiently and effectively through sound management practices, in a manner consistent with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the award, employing organization and management techniques adequate to the applicant's staff, facilities, and experience (paras (a)-(c)).
Any cost charged (or proposed to be charged) to a Federal award or subaward. Every Federal award or subaward budget. Acceptance of any Federal award or subaward.
Plain-English summaries for information only, not legal advice. Always check the regulation text, your award terms and your agency’s guidance.