Speaker: Cristina Anania Legal&Financial NCP International Cooperation Department Ministry of National Education

Understanding of the financial rules is very important

A beneficiary should use the same cost basis in all contracts with the Commission within FP7 and maintain

it for all its participation in FP7 Grants

Read the financial rules

When financial monitoring will be done by the economic department check if the European Commisson requirements are correctly implemented
(http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/page/fp7_documents )

Check twice the eligbility of any costs before commiting it

Do not perform other expenses than those propose in Grant Preparation Form and approved in ECGA

All the costs reported must be real not estimated, they must be actually paid Implement within your institution a monitoring sistem for all expendinture of the FP7 projects (excel, access) = easier to report Ensure periodic monitoring, preferably and more easier to report = monthly monitoring

...... If
you have doubts, questions or you need an

advice you can always contact the project

officer or the representative L&F NCP from your country
(http://www.cordis.europa.eu/fp7/get-support_en.html )

..........to remember
Transfer of budget between activities and beneficiaries is allowed without the need for an amendment of the ECGA, to ECGA a condition for this is that the work be carried out as foreseen in Annex I

If the transfer has a significant impact on the DoW (Annex I), an amendment is however needed

............ATTENTION
The coordinator should verify this on a case-

by-case

basis,

but

in

practical

terms,

coordinators are encouraged, where a transfer

with a potential impact on the DoW arises

(most cases), to check this (i.e. by e-mail)

with the Project Officer

**For beneficiaries that are non profit public bodies, secondary and higher education establishments, research organizations and SMEs

Estimation of eligible costs of the project must be shown in detail in the provisional budget

included in the Grant Preparation Forms (GPF)

and subsequently in the Description of Work

(Annex I to ECGA).

In order to be considered for reimbursement, costs incurred by the beneficiaries in the course

of the project, must satisfy the eligibility criteria

laid down by the ECGA.

The Commission which takes the final decision on

the nature and amount of the costs to be considered eligible, either when analysing proposals for the establishment of the estimated budget to be annexed to the ECGA or when

examining financial statements for the purposes of

determining the EU contribution

Essentially the forms are used to identify the beneficiaries that will sign/accede to the grant

agreement, to determine the eligible costs and

Community contribution and to electronically capture structured information on work

packages, efforts, milestones and deliverables.

Work Packages

Efforts

Milestones

Deliverables

The project is divided into reporting periods of the following duration:

- P1: from month 1 to month X - P2: from month X+1 to month Y - P3: from month Y+1 to month Z

- ()
- [final]: from month [N+1] to the last month of the project

After 01/01/2013 = electronic transmission of Form C = the submission of paper forms is abolished

Following the modification of the Grant Agreement adopted on 14.12.2012, at the end of each reporting period, the Commission shall evaluate and approve project reports and deliverables and disburse the corresponding payments as follows:

for reporting periods ending before 31/12/2012 (including), within 105

days from the day of receipt of project reports and deliverables.

for reporting periods ending as from 1/1/2013, within 90 days from the

day of receipt of project reports and deliverables.

The new time limit of 90 days applies to all grant agreements, including
grants signed before 31/12/2012, for which the reporting period is due after 1/1/2013.

Reporting costs in EUR in the Forms C submitted to the European Commission (applicable only to beneficiaries whose accounting books are not in EUR).

Costs shall always be reported in EUR in the financial statements submitted to

the European Commission Beneficiaries with accounts in currencies other than EUR shall report in EUR on the basis of the exchange rate that would have applied either:

on the date that the actual costs were incurred or on the basis of the rate applicable on the first day of the month following

the end of the reporting period.

For both options, the daily exchange rates are fixed by the European Central
Bank (ECB) and may be obtained at the following internet address: http://www.ecb.int/stats/eurofxref/

Accounting records The accounting records include, among others: Accounting entries: - Accounting journal - General ledger

- Cash book
- Inventory register - Fixed assets register

Supporting documents:
- Sales and purchase invoices - Delivery notes, in particular for fixed assets - Credit notes - Salary slips - Bank statements

Other documents:
- Rules applied for depreciation - Method of allocation of - indirect costs - Internal rules for reimbursement of travel expenses

PROJECT ACCOUNTS
Normally project accounts for FP7 projects are management account codes allocated solely to individual FP7 projects which are integrated in the double entry accounting system of the beneficiary This integration with the double entry system reduces the likelihood of double counting and makes it easier to reconcile the costs with the accounting records

Thus the invoices (say for travel) which are

allocated to the project are posted via double entry

to the individual project accounts, so that the travel

costs incurred for a particular project in a particular period can be correctly identified Other forms of recording project expenditure (e.g. spreadsheets) are not considered as reliable as

management accounting directly linked to the

double-entry accounting system

To be considered eligible costs must be:

Determined according to the usual accounting and management principles and practices of the

beneficiary identifiable and verifiable

Costs

must

be

determined

according

to

the

applicable accounting rules of the country where

the beneficiary is established and "according to the

usual accounting and management principles and

practices of the beneficiary"

However, this principle is not absolute; it must be considered together with the other eligibility criteria, and therefore could not be invoked in order to deviate from other provisions of the ECGA (e.g.

VAT)

Supporting documents proving occurrence, the

bookkeeping and the payment of the costs by the beneficiaries must be kept for all costs and for up to five years after the end of the project.

CONCLUSIONS:
Read and understand the financial rules for FP7
projects

Comply with both national and european legislation

Collaborates with other departments within your institution departments) In case of doubt, ..............ASK (especially financial and juridic

Thank you for your attention