CENTRAL SERVICE COSTS RECOVERY–RECOVERIES THROUGH PRO RATA - 9215.1

(Revised and renumbered from 8754)

General Administrative Costs are commonly referred to as Pro Rata. As mentioned in SAM section 9215, Pro Rata is the sharing of central service costs by funds other than the General Fund and the Central Service Cost Recovery Fund (CSCRF).

The cost of each central service is apportioned to agencies/departments. Then, each agency’s/department's total central service costs are allocated to the agency’s/department's funding source(s).

The Department of Finance (Finance), Fiscal Systems and Consulting Unit (FSCU) classifies funds as nonbillable or billable. In general, nonbillable funds are those whose funding source is the General Fund or a federal fund. Billable funds are funded by special revenue sources such as fees, licenses, penalties, assessments, etc., unless otherwise exempt by law.

FSCU calculates Pro Rata costs for both nonbillable and billable funds. Pro Rata cost information is provided to departments so that full agency/department costs can be determined. These detailed reports are available in the Finance Accounting Pro Rata Library.

Full cost information is particularly important when nonbillable funding sources provide and recover full costs for reimbursable services; this helps to ensure that billable funding sources are not unfairly recovering for nonbillable funding sources. See SAM section 9212 for more information on the state's full cost recovery process.

Finance certifies to the State Controller’s Office (SCO) the Pro Rata costs to be assessed against billable funds. The Pro Rata assessments against billable funds are processed by the SCO transfers. The transfers are first made to the CSCRF up to the amount determined by FSCU. All subsequent transfers for that fiscal year are made to the General Fund.

For questions concerning Pro Rata, contact the FSCU Pro Rata analyst at fiproswp@dof.ca.gov.