Financial reporting

Oskar Otsus January 2013

Moldova

Topics:• Eligible and ineligible costs

• Funding rates

• Overheads

• Form C

• Personnel costs

• Changes in budget

• Audits

• Most frequent errors in FP7

AND 2 EXERCISES!

Eligible vs non-eligible costs

Funding rates

The forms of EC contribution of costs:

Reimbursement of eligible costs – the statement of actual eligible costs, made during the project

Flat rate (including scale of unit costs) –Flat rate can be:

1) scale of unit costs (for example one researcher in Marie Curie actions)2) indirect costs / direct costs x 100%

Lump-sum – fixed amount

There is a possibility to combine the funding schemes within the project. For example: travel costs as lump sum, research activities as reimbursement of costs

For International Cooperation Partner Countries (ICPC) the Commission proposes simplified method –flat rate lump-sum amounts. They have been defined on the basis of World Bank data on cross national income levels in different countries. The partners from ICPC can still request the standard reimbursement of eligible costs.

Reimbursement of eligible costs

Cost

Eligible Non-eligible

Direct Indirect

Eligible costs of the project

In order to be considered eligible the costs must be:

(FP7 Grant Agreement – Annex II.14.):

Actual Incurred by the beneficiary Incurred during the duration of the project Determined in accordance with the usual accounting and

management principles and practices of the beneficiary Used for the sole purpose of achieving the objectives of the

project Recorded in the accounts of the beneficiary

Non-eligible costs

The following costs are considered as non-eligible:

Identifiable indirect taxes including value added tax,Duties,Interest owed,Provisions for possible future losses or charges,Exchange losses, cost related to return on capital,Costs declared or incurred, or reimbursed in respect of another Community projectDebt and debt service charges, excessive or reckless expenditure

Funding rates

Depending on the type of the organisation

Reasearch and development activities – 50% - 75%*Demonstration activities – up to 50%Project management activities – up to 100%Other activities – up to 100%Coordination and support actions - up to 100%

* Higher education establishments, SME-s, non-profit public bodies, research organisations

Indirect costsIndirect costs are those eligible costs which cannot be identified as being directly attributed to the project but which is in direct relationship with the eligible direct costs and can be identified by its accounting system (phone and mobile phone costs, postal charges, bank fees, other office costs)

1.Real indirect cost method2.Flat-rate (% of total direct eligible costs)

Flat-rate’s:a) 20 %

b) 60 % (Higher education establishments, SME-s, non-profit public bodies, research organisations)

c) 7 % for coordination and support actions

Indirect costs = (direct costs - subcontracting) x flat-rate

How to calculate indirect costs?A university participates in an FP7 project:

•They use 60% flat-rate for calulating indirect costs•They have only RTD tasks in the project (funded 75% by the EC)

Costs of the university:

Direct costs 100,000.- EUR Indirect costs (60%) 60,000.- EUR ------------------------------------------------- Total costs 160,000.- EUR

EC contribution: (160,000x75%) 120,000.- EUR

What did we talk about?

Non-eligible costs

Eligible costs

Indirect costs flat-rate 60%

Direct costs

RTD 75%

Other100%

PersonnelDurablesEquipmentTravel

Office costsElectricity…

Form C – the financial report in FP7

75% 50% 100%

Submitting the financial report

Report on the costs of 1 period

1. Partner fills in the Form C electronically and submits to the coordinator

2. Coordinator collects and checks all the form C-s and send them to the Commission

3. Partnerprints the form C, stamps, authorized representative signs 2 copys,

send to the coordinator4. Coordinator

Collects the paper form C-s, checks them and send to the project officer

New projects (starting 2013) will sign form C-s electronically

Ongoing projects can choose to use electronic signature as well

Amendments have to be sent separately

Personnel costs

Personnel costsYou must know the value of your person month

Person month = salary + social charges + regular bonuses

Example:

Your person month rate is 2500 €

Researcher works 6 month for the project (50% of his time)

Personnel costs = 2 500 * 6/2 = 7 500

In FP7 you have to keep timesheets, unless you have a better system of proving

your dedicated working time. Timesheets must be filled in with one day accuracy.

Standard productive hours = 1680 hours/per year = 140 hours/per month

This means: 1 person month = 140 hours

Productive hours

Question: How many hours is 1 person month?

You need to know the number of your productive hours

European Commission calculation for standard productive hours:

Days/year: 365Weekends: 104Vacation: 21National holidays: 15Average days on sick leave: 15Working days in year: 365-104-21-15-15 = 210Hours per one working day: 8 hoursProductive hours per year: 210 x 8 = 1680

Productive hours per month: 1680/12 = 140

Time contributed to the projectTimesheets are mandatory in FP7 projects, unless you have a better time recording system. Even people working full time for the project are recommended to use timesheets.

Minimum recuirements for timesheets:• Beneficiary name• Name and signature of the employee• Project name• Number of hours worked (daily)• Name and signature of the superior• Timesheets must comply with sick leaves, holidays and travelsAdditional recommendations for timesheets • Hours devided by work packages• Explanation of work done

Holiday fees•Holiday allowances are eligible in FP7 projects•Holiday allowances payd from the project budget must be in proportion with your time dedicated to the project.•Your vacation must take place during the lifetime of the project•You don’t need to fill in your days spent on holidays in the timesheets

Changes in budget• During the lifetime of the project you can change the budget, but the entire work

described in the Description of Work must be done

• All changes must be approved by the coordinator

• If there is a need to change activities foreseen in the Description of Work it must be approved by the project officer

• It is possible to change the allocation of budget between project partners, but the EC contribution always remains the same.

• Person months are not very strict. If you declare that your person month rate is 3000 €, it does not mean you have to pay all your employees 3000 €. The total budget for personnel costs is constant and average salaries should not differ much from the person month rate.

• The European Commission is always happy if you show you have contributed more to the project than foreseen :)

SubcontractingA subcontractor is a type of third party : a legal entity which is not a beneficiary of the ECGA, and is not a signatory to it.

•subcontracting between beneficiaries in the same ECGA is not to be accepted

•Subcontracting can not be a core part of the work

•Subcontracting costs have to be identified in the Annex I of the grant agreement

•Minor subcontracting does not have to be identified in the annex 1 (The criteria to decide whether a subcontract concerns minor tasks are qualitative and not quantitative)

AuditsAudit of the Methology is neccessary for beneficiaries using the real indirect costs to be performed once in the lifetime of FP7. It can be used for all FP7 Grant Agreements.

Audit of the Financial Statement is obligatory only in the case of reimbursement of real costs, when EC contribution is over 375 000.-EUR.

The EC may, at any time during the project and up to 5 years after the end of the project, arrange for financial, systemic and technical audits to be carried out by external auditors or by the EC staff including European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF).

Most Frequent errors in FP71. Costs claimed that are not substantiated or are not linked to the project2. Third parties and sub-contracting3. Depreciation4. Indirect cost models5. Indirect costs - Ineligible costs included in the pool of indirect costs6. Personnel costs - Calculation of productive hours7. Personnel costs - charging of hours worked on the project8. Personnel costs - Use of average personnel costs9. Payment of salaries to owner/managers of SMEs10. VAT

What did we talk about?1.Eligible vs ineligible costs2.Funding rates3.Submitting the form C4.Personnel costs and timesheets5.Subcontracting6.Audits7.Errors in FP7

Oskar OtsusEstonian Research Council

tel: +372 7 317 350e-mail: oskar.otsus@etag.ee