COVID-19 Related Expenses and Lost Revenues

Please submit COVID-19 related expenses and lost revenues to m.shuter@louisville.edu on the attached streamlined spreadsheet.  The spreadsheet has two tabs, expenses already incurred and lost revenues incurred.      

This document serves as a revision and update to our previous COVID expense reporting requests, specifically to address new “lost revenue” reimbursement provisions.

Thank you for continuing to report the COVID related expenses that you continue to accrue in your area.  As a reminder, COVID expenses are defined as those expense that were incurred exclusively because of the pandemic. The most recent Higher Emergency Education Relief Fund (HEERF) allocations to the university now include provisions for reimbursement of lost revenues that are directly related to the pandemic since the emergency declaration date on March 13, 2020.

The traditional COVID Expense reporting sheet has been updated to include a tab for COVID related lost revenues.  See the Lost Revenue section below for details on the lost revenue calculation and the supporting items needed. For all future submissions, please use the attached spreadsheet and only report items once.  Submit information to m.shuter@louisville.edu.

LOST REVENUE:

The ability to report lost revenue is new and evolving.  The attached document is the most recent guidance regarding HEERF awards.  Here are a few key points.

• Definition: Lost revenues are revenues that were “otherwise expected but were reduced or eliminated because of the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.  As such, lost revenues can only be estimated.”
• Calculations: Lost revenue calculations need to have these qualities:

• Support the calculation – Variables used to calculate the lost revenue must be verifiable and can be replicated,
• The calculation is reasonable compared to program history – The variables used in the calculation are consistent with actual outcomes from prior years,
• What effect Covid had on the activity - The lost revenue has to be related to changes due to the pandemic.

• Calculation Methodologies: Calculating lost revenue is outlined in the attached HEERF guidance question 9.  For consistency purposes please calculate lost revenue based on one of the three identified methodologies.  If you need to calculate by a different method, contact Bev Santamouris to review and get approval for an alternative calculation method.

• 3-year average,
• year-over-year difference, or
• anticipated budget to actuals. 
• Reference the attached HEERF guidance page 6 for calculating HEERF Lost Revenue examples. 

• Potential Sources: Potential sources of lost revenue are listed in the attached HEERF guidance question 3 with examples for both academic and auxiliary services.
• Excluded Sources:  Excluded sources are listed in the attached HEERF guidance question 4.  Of note, marketing and recruitment activities are excluded.
• Eligibility Period: Lost revenue may be estimated back to March 13, 2020 and must have been incurred to report (projected expenses may not be reported).

EXPENSES - Important items to note:

• All reported expenses must be supported by invoices
• New data fields includes vendor, procurement method (AP or Procard), and date of invoice.

Thank you for all you have done and continue to do. Please know that the HEERF funds are limited and not all expenditure reimbursements or revenue replacement requests can be honored. Furthermore, use of these funds will be audited by the Federal Government and great care should be exercised when requesting and using them

Reminder that stockroom purchases and Physical Plant work orders related to COVID will be centrally reported and do not need to be included on your COVID expense report.