O General Reporting Obligations

Transcription

1 3CE335P4 O General Reporting Obligations Workpackage 1 Action 1.2 Author Version LP V1

2 Index 1. Introduction Reporting and payment flows Progress Report Reporting procedure Partner Reports Activity report Financial report First Level Control Delays in certification Eligibility Rules Reporting Period Reporting templates Activity report Activity report partner Activity report work package leader Financial Report Overspending Documents to be transmitted Deadlines...12

3 1. Introduction This document contains all necessary guidelines and indications that project partners need in order to report progress of activities to the LP. The flow of information and exchange with the LP will be shown, along with the indications in filling the templates for activity and financial reporting are given. 1.2 Reporting and payment flows According to the Subsidy Contract concluded between the Managing Authority and the Lead Partner, each partner is obliged to regularly report on the progress made during the project. This reporting is done in coordination with the LP who will collect all partner contributions and transmit them via the joint progress reports submitted to the JTS twice a year. The joint progress report consists of an activity report and a financial report submitted by each partner using the specific templates provided by the Lead Partner. As presented in the CENTRAL EUROPE Programme, the main steps of community funding from the Certifying Authority to the Lead Partners can be summarised like in the in the chart on the right. The focus on activities in this document regards the exchange of information between the project partners, the LP and the First Level Control Bodies as highlighted in the red box. For full, exhaustive information on the whole process of the reporting within the CENTRAL EUROPE programme please consult the CENTRAL EUROPE Implementation Manual and the CENTRAL EUROPE Control and Audit Guidelines. F i g

4 Fig. 1: Main Steps of Community Funding from the Certifying Authority to the Lead Partners 2. Progress Report The Progress Report is the instrument used by the LP to report partners activities and their financial progress to the JTS. This report is the basic document necessary to request partner reimbursement. The report is divided in the following sections: General Section - Overview on activities carried out, involvement of partners, main difficulties & problems Indicator Section - Measure degree of achievement of quantitative targets Work plan Section - Detailed description of activities and quantification of outputs and Core outputs Budget Section - Detailed reporting on certified expenditure per budget line, work package and partner (external expertise per output) - Payment request Reporting of activities and expenditures are not separated. The Progress Report is, in fact, developed using information that partners will supply to the LP covering joint activity and financial progress. Partner will supply this information using separate templates: - Activity Report: reporting on all activity progress done by the partner, - Financial Report: reporting on the joint financial expenditures certified by the First Level Control. Given the different roles that partners have within the project, and the need to report on different activities, the activity progress will be collected by the LP using specific templates targeted to the partners role (WP Leader, or partner). The templates to be used are as follows: - Activity Progress Report - Partner: (one word file) to be compiled by each partner, - Activity Progress Report - WPL: (one word file) to be compiled WP-Leaders, - Financial Progress Report - Partner: (one excel file) specific for each partner,

5 3. Reporting procedure The reporting process that will be focused on in these guidelines regard the exchange of information between the LP and the partners and the partner with their First Level Controller. 6 month activities May Oct month reporting + FLC Nov / Dec JTS checks + clarifications payment request to MA/CA Fig.2: Example of the first reporting procedure 3.1 Partner Reports The first step of the process is the submission of both the activity as well as the financial reports to the LP. Partners must compile the templates received from the LP to report on financial and activity progress (see paragraph 5). The LP will check these reports and deliver the partner with a confirmation on the input received if all indications have been correctly met. Reports are analysed by Project Manager Finance Manager Fig 3. Analysis of Reports In case corrections are needed, the LP will inform the partner supplying an explanation on what needs to be corrected. If no amendments are necessary, the financial and activity reports will be confirmed by the LP and the information will be used to develop the Progress Report. Once a confirmation is received by the partner from the LP, the partner can proceed with the certification of the expenses via the First Level Controller. The LP will await the confirmatiton of expenditures from the partners FLC (to be transmitted by the partner to the LP as soon as received). Once the Confirmation of Control (together with all relative annexes) has been received, the LP can finalise the Progress Report Activity report The partner activity report should be coherent to the financial report. In case any amendments are necessary, the partner must supply the updated version within the deadline set in the LP s response.

6 3.1.2 Financial report If the amount to be validated by the partner presented in the financial report is not coherent in any manner (for ex. related to the correct output, not clearly described etc please check paragraph 5.2) the partner must amend the FR with the comments made by the LP and supply the updated version within the deadline set in the LP s response. It is important to understand that the partner must await the LP confirmation prior to certifying the expenses with the FLC. This is done to avoid any misunderstandings or erroneous association of the activities done with respect to the project outputs and to ensure the certification is properly done. Once a partner has received response from the First Level Control, it is compulsory to communicate to the LP the result of the certification request. In case the certification is short to an amount, then the partner must update the Financial Report and sent it immediately to the LP. If, on the other hand, the amount to be certified is completely certified, a communication from the partner stating that the full amount has been certified is sufficient. 3.2 First Level Control First Level Control checks are performed in order to ensure that expenditure is in line with all relevant EU and National Regulations and CENTRAL EUROPE specific requirements. Before submission to the JTS, expenditures declared by each partner in every progress report have to be verified and controlled by an Independent Controller. It is very important to understand that no ERDF will be reimbursed without having the expenditure declared as eligible. The three main documents that have to be delivered from the FLC and immediately sent to the LP are: 1. the Confirmation of Control, with which the Controller confirms the eligibility of the paid out expenditure; 2. the Internal Control Report complements the Confirmation as signed by the Controller and forms part of the project s audit trail; 3. the Control Checklist which provides a written evidence of the checks performed by the Controller. 3.3 Delays in certification Should the certification delay to such an extent that the deadline for submission by the partner to the LP has been passed; the LP will request the JTS for an integration of the Progress Report with the new certification. In this case, new deadlines will be supplied according to the requests of the JTS. Only exceptional cases will be reported in the following Progress Report.

7 3.4 Eligibility Rules It is important to follow these rules for expenditures to be eligible: - only expenditures actually paid out can be considered eligible, - incurred after the 1st May 2011, - in accordance with the budget allocation per WP, BL and reporting period as approved in the budget. In case of doubts, please contact your First Level Control body or your National Contact Point. 4. Reporting Period The reporting period covers a time span of six months on a regular basis from the starting date of the project as specified in the Application Form till the end of the project life. The table below shows all reporting periods and the relative time frame associated: Period No. Reporting period 1 May 2011 October November 2011 April May 2012 October November 2012 April May 2013 October November April Reporting templates 5.1 Activity report The activity report provides the LP with an overview of the activities carried out by partner during the reporting period and allows to understand the degree of achievement of the objective and the results reached as described in the Application Form. With regards to information from WP Leaders, the activity report will also provide the LP with the level of involvement of partners and explain any problems faced during the period.

8 5.1.1 Activity report partner All partners should compile the following template: - Activity Report Partner (word file) and fill in the template with the information that is requested in the following three sections of the document: - General information and details, - Partner Activities (which includes output activities), - Dissemination. The template is simple to compile; it is sufficient to reply to the questions contained Activity report work package leader Together with the partners report, all WP Leaders must compile the specific WPL template. Work Package 2, 3, 4 and 5 Leaders must use the following: Activity Report WPL (word file) The template is composed of different questions that the WPL is required to fill. The information requested in the template is divided in the following sections: Activities Description in the Work Package (including involvement of partners and contribution of External Experts) Detailed description of Output and Core Outputs, Main difficulties, problems and deviations, Dissemination Indicators (only for WP2 Leader Dissemination Manager) 5.2 Financial Report The financial report, joint to the activity report, refers to the expenditures paid out by all Project Partners during the reference reporting period. All expenditures paid out during the reporting period, in order to be eligible, must be certified by the referenced First Level Controllers. Even if in principle the expenditure reported will correspond to those payments made during the period, also expenditure paid during previous periods can be included if: - It refers to full expenditure of the previous period(s), if the validation from the controllers was received after the monitoring of the previous progress report(s) was concluded; - If it refers to specific items of expenditure from previous period(s) for which the validation as eligible was pending the resolution of contradictory processes between the Project Partner and its controller. NOTE: Please always refer to the actual version of the CENTRAL EUROPE Control and Audit Guidelines. Each partner will receive a specific Financial Report to complete by inserting the amount to be reimbursed and to be reported in the Progress Report. The following table summarizes the contents of the report.

9 Sheet Titel Content Description 1 General overview A1- Approved Budget Reports the exact amounts in budget for each partner B1- Amounts already validated and reported in previous reports Reports the expenditures reported and validated in all previous progress report by Budget Line and Work Package C1- Remaining Budget Calculates the remaining budget 2 Previous Reports 3 Amounts to report B2 -Total amount validated in previous Reporting Periods E1 -Consumption rate for each Reporting Period E2 - Consumption rate by Budget Line/Work Package (for all previous Reporting Periods) B3 - Amounts validated and reported in current period C2 - Budget Check (difference between taba1 and B1) Total amount validated and reported in all previous reporting perio % of usage of funds for each reporting period calculated using the total amount reported % of usage calculated using sum of all previous reporting periods by Budget Lines and Work Packages Sum of all budget lines per work package reported in the current period Indicates if overspending occurs Each of the remaining 10 sheets corresponds to a budget line in which the partner should fill in the corresponding expenditure according to the work package and the relative budget line. Each sheet contains input tables for each of the five work packages. Input data must be inserted in the unprotected cells. Sheet Titel Input Data 4 BL1: Staff Name and Surname (FULL TIME / PART TIME) Category of worker (management/technical/administrative) 5 BL2: Admin. Costs Summary of Direct costs claimed 6 BL2: Admin. Summary of Indirect costs claimed Costs Explanation of method for calculating indirect costs 7 BL3: External Expertise Name of Expert / Company Description of Service Related output number 8 BL4: Travel and Accommodation 9 BL5. Meetings and Events Total amount as per contract Reason for mission Related output number Start and End date of Mission Number of attendees Name of Event / Meeting Date and Place Related output number

10 10 BL6: Promotion Description Costs Number of copies 11 BL7: Equipment Description Quantity Date of Purchase Reason why 100% of reimbursement is demanded 12 BL8: Investment Original cost of equipment Investment number Provider Description of cost item Date of supply (for Equipments and Goods) % of progress (for Works) Total amount per contract 13 BL9: Other Brief description of cost item Quantity All sheets contain a common column that the partner must fill: - Amount to be validated by the FLC: this is the amount to be certified. Once the Confirmation of Control has been issued by the FLC, the PP is requested to check the coherence with the amounts per BL and WP reported in the FR. It is possible in fact that the FLC does not certify the exact amount requested by the partner and reported in the Partner Financial Report. Should this be the case, the partner must amend the FR with the correct amount certified by the FLC and send it to the LP as soon as possible. If the certifying body certifies all costs requested, the partner is requested to send a confirmation to the LP stating that the FR sent is coherent with the amount certified. IMPORTANT: In order to be sure that the Financial Report is accepted, it is important to: please take special attention in ensuring that costs are related to the correct Work Package or Budget Line. Financial Reports with costs that are not inserted in the correct WP or Budget line will be returned by the LP for revision by the partner, If, when filling the cells, a warning signal is given through a red cell contact the Lead Partner - Financial Manager, Costs claimed in the Financial Report must correspond to the activities reported in the activity report, Copies of all validations of expenditure must be delivered to the LP. These validations must be accompanied by the compulsory elements presented in the CENTRAL EUROPE Control and Audit Guidelines (i.e., the internal control report and the control checklist), In case of changes to any to the above document, an updated version must be promptly sent to the LP, In case of variations in the Financial Report, for example in case the FLC does not certify the exact amount communicated by the partner to the LP, then the partner must update the FR and promptly send the updated version to the LP, Partners not within the EURO zone must attain to the conversion rate specified in the Partnership Agreement,

11 5.2.1 Overspending If an internal cell within table C.2 Budget Check in Sheet 2 Amounts to Report turns RED an Overspending has occurred within a Budget Line or a WP. Without prior approval, reimbursement for the exceeding expenditures can not be ensured. In relevant cases the Confirmation of Control containing the over-budget will be suspended for the entire amount until the SC will have approved the concerned shifts. For this reason, please refer to the Financial Manager at once. 6. Documents to be transmitted All documents must be transmitted to the LP within the deadline stated in paragraph 5. Only the electronic version of the following documents: - Activity Report - Partner, - Activity Report - WPL, - Financial Report - Partner. are to be submitted to the LP technical assistant [email protected] and in copy to: [email protected] The corresponding original hard copies of the following: - Confirmation of Control, - Internal Check Report, - Control Checklist. are to be transmitted by mail to the Landesentwicklung und Verkehr: Klaus Bongartz Abteilung 2 Werner-Seelenbinder Straße , Erfurt Germany Please anticipate a scanned copy of the above hard copy documents via to the LP ([email protected] and [email protected]) as soon as possible. Please note that mailing of hard copies of the Financial Reports is not required.

12 7. Deadlines As a general rule, and in order to ensure the perfect flow of information and a timely preparation of the Progress Report by the LP, it is very important that each partner abides to the deadlines stated in the following table: - Financial Report - FR - Activity Report AR Reporting period Deadline for Submission of FR and AR to LP for confirmation FR and AR Confirmation from LP Deadline for submission of Confirmation of Control to LP LP submission of Progress Report to the JTS 1 05/ / / / / / / / / / / /