Real-life case studies of EC Audits in FP7 – what could go wrong?Part 2: Problems with the time-sheets A blog series by Gabor Kitley

We have received much feedback on last week’s blog post about the personnel costs problem of an audited university. As I promised then, we will continue our FP7 Audits blog series with another example from our real-life case-studies.

In this case, the Beneficiary audited was another university, involved in many research projects simultaneously. Since we had a common FP7 project, in which both us and the university was involved as beneficiaries, they knew our activities quite well. So, they contacted us “unofficially” when they received the informal audit letter from the EC. They said no assistance is needed from our side, so we just had a 30-minute phone meeting on what they could expect and how to get prepared.

Right after their on-the-spot audit, I got another phone call from this university; this time they were really in panic. After calming them down, I told them that we should meet as soon as possible at their premises to sort out what could have absolutely gone wrong:   The auditor classified all their personnel costs ineligible in all of their projects.

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EU research funding reaches 15% target for SMEs

Latest figures show that the European Commission is keeping its promises on research funding for Small- and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

SMEs will receive 15.3% (€2.4 billion) of the Cooperation Programme budget of €16.3 billion committed so far under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).

This surpasses the goal set by the European Parliament and European Council for FP7. €2.4 billion has already been allocated to almost 8.900 SMEs by 1 January 2012. SME funding under the Cooperation Programme is estimated to remain above 15% for the rest of the period of FP7, thereby meeting the commitment taken by the European Commission.

FP7 provides financial support for transnational research for and by SMEs wishing to innovate and improve their competitiveness in Europe’s knowledge-based economy. Concrete measures to encourage SME participation were taken across the so-called ‘Thematic Priorities’ of the Cooperation Programme under FP7.  A focus on SME-friendly measures in the calls of 2011 to encourage SMEs to participate, such as ring-fenced budgets for SMEs or topics highly relevant for SMEs, had a positive impact on achieving the 15% target. The last months of 2011 therefore saw a significant increase in the budget share allocated to SMEs. The Commission plans to strengthen such measures further in the future.

In addition to the around 17,000 SMEs expected to receive funding in FP7 research projects by the end of the programme, many more SMEs will benefit from the research results. Further findings in the 8th SME Progress Report on SME participation are:

– In 73% of research projects funded at least one SME is involved
– 17.6% of participants in FP7 projects are from SMEs.
– SMEs participate on average in 1.6 different research projects.
– A research project consortium has on average 11 partners, of which two are SMEs
– 10% of the projects are coordinated by an SME.

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Source: European Commission – Reasearch and Innovation: http://ec.europa.eu

EC Financial Audits in FP7 Real-life case studies of EC Audits in FP7 – what could go wrong?

Blog series by Gábor Kitley

Part 1: Problems with the Personnel Costs at a university

Last week, just after publishing the first blog entry of our FP7 Audit blog series, we received the Draft Audit Report of the EC Audit, which was conducted in 2011 on three of our bigger FP7 projects. From our perspective, it is as good as it can get – no adjustment in costs is done by the Auditors, so the audit will be closed without any negative consequences.

 

 Unfortunately, not everyone is as prepared for an EC financial audit as we were in this very case. Last year, I got a phone call from one of previous training participants – financial director of a major research university. He informed me that they were going to be audited soon (in some weeks), and that they would need our help to get better prepared.

Continue reading: http://www.eutrainingsite.com/blog.php

EC Financial Audits in FP7 – Get prepared for the inevitable!

A blog series by Gabor Kitley

Most of us are implementing FP7 projects with very good quality from a technical and research perspective. Financial issues are also taken care of with extra attention. But only some of us have been through an FP7 financial audit conducted by the EC, and even less had it without negative consequences.

Everyone knows that the EC Financial Audits are “part of the game”; still, only few of us are prepared for it. Our training participants are always surprised to see how (fast…) an audit is implemented in the “real life”; and they are sometimes shocked to hear the “horror stories” we have experienced at our clients.

Still, concluding an FP7 financial audit without any major consequences is not a “Mission: Impossible” at all. As we are and have been involved in many FP7 projects, we have been audited several times during the previous years.
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Free e-learning on biodiesel production

The increasing reliance on imported diesel fuels, in addition to annual increases in the quantities of organic wastes are threats to the EU and Latin America.

The DIBANET project (Development of Integrated Biomass Approaches Network) (FP7) aims to combat these threats and help to eliminate diesel imports by developing novel technologies to produce sustainable diesel miscible biofuels (DMBs) from wastes and residues.

 Two e-learning courses are available in the frame of the project. The courses provide general introduction to biofuels, current state and challenges of production processes, besides the chemical description of DIBANET processes (hydrolysis, pyrolysis, gasification and upgrading). Therefore, the courses are not only for chemical engineers but to anyone interested in 2nd generation biodiesel production.

For more details about the covered topics visit.

Action for stability, growth and jobs

In those days of economic crisis, it’s an even bigger challenge to achieve the aims outlined in the  2020 strategy; a smart, sustainable and inclusive Europe.   The Commission published 2 days ago a communication on Action for stability, growth and jobs as well as country specific recommendations, with concrete actions to create jobs and a sustainable growth.

The actions on European and national level obviously must reinforce each other, you can find the action plan and the recommendations at  http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/making-it-happen/country-specific-recommendations/index_en.htm

While each country has their own specific problems and challenges, the future can only be together and we need to help and also appreciate each other in the big European family, don’t you think?

Bodil