Prepare your Horizon Europe partners for financial reporting

Krisztina Toth has been coordinating many Horizon Europe projects in the past and she understands one of the hardest things in coordination is to get all on board and make them report properly, by the deadline.

Her webinar starts with some scary feedback coming from the Commission in the so-called Suspension of the payment deadline letter. In 99% of the cases, you will receive this letter in collaborative projects as the Commission will find things to be clarified justified, corrected, etc. Hopefully they will go easy on you. But to have an easy letter to reply to, you need to be prepared for all questions.

So, if you see a lot of scary feedback, what could have gone wrong? Potentially, the coordinator and/or the partners lack experience, do not discuss the deviations to be explained in the report, there could be things simply forgotten, a partner tries to hide something… Well, maybe better to avoid having these questions. But how?

Firstly, watch out for deviations, any changes in the task implementations or resource allocations – and explain. Make sure partners justify properly the use of recourses in their financial statements and they include the explanation also in the PartB of the report, section 5 - deviations. They should give adequate details to show the cost was properly connected to the tasks in the project. Internal discussions, even internal training will help. Partners need instructions on how the report should be filled in.

Secondly, your life will be much better if you have a good internal reporting and monitoring system, because all mistakes will be seen on time, not when nothing can be done. Internal guidance is task No1, then internal deadlines for inputs and requesting internal financial reports with more details than what the EC asks for is a final requirement. NB: The costs reported, and tasks implemented need to be aligned.

Thirdly, take action. If something is inconsistent, if something seems not clear, not explained adequately – you should not wait for the Commission to confirm your suspicion. Ask, discuss and agree on a better justification or change in the financial statement.

And finally, do not forget the two key mistakes beneficiaries make when doing the financial statements:

1. Incorrect identification of the eligible salary costs and connected also to this;
2. Inconsistent calculation of the hourly/daily rates.

It is particularly important to read the annotated grant agreement very carefully. Joining a training or seeking advice on the subject can also help to avoid mistakes.

This article is written by Gabriella Lovász, Managing Director of Europa Media Trainings.