1. Supporting Documentation Northern & Western Regional Assembly
Claim Preparation
&
Supporting Documentation
Catherine Burke
Northern & Western Regional Assembly
January 2019
Give brief intro,
Worked with the Assembly since 2001, for approx 12 years worked as Finance Manager on various interregional projects
Since 2017 I have worked in FLC as Assistant Controller

2. Static Information
First Level Control Unit will open a Permanent Audit File (PAF) for each project; partners will be required to forward the following information to be contained therein;
Approved Application
Grant Offer Letter
Contracts of employment for all staff engaged in project activities
Salary scales or Title of Scale
Permanent Audit File Request – re Motor Vehicle details
Document Retention Policy
At the outset hard copy files were opened and retained,
Following revised GDPR rules in May last year we now retain PAF in soft copy
Approved application is final version as approved by MA
Grant Offer Letter will show start and end dates for project
Contracts of employment or letter setting out employment status
Salary Scales or title of relevant scale
Details of motor vehicles, this is to ensure correct mileage rate is applied to travel

3. First Level Control Fee Structure
Where an organisation requires a PO on invoices, it would be good practice to generate the PO when the claim is being submitted for certification. Our fee structure is as follows:
Desk Check
<30 line items or < €20,000           =             €500
>30 line items or > €20,000           =             €750
On-the-Spot Checks
< 100 line items (over total project) or
< €100,000 (total project)                =             €750 plus FLC Travel & Subsistence costs
> 100 line items (over total project) or
> €100,000 (total project)                =             €1,200 plus FLC Travel & Subsistence costs
It should be noted that for 2nd and all subsequent claims, Certificates will not be issued where fees for previous claim are outstanding.
FLC fees may only be declared once the invoices have been paid
Please note: the greater number of line entries reported will have an impact on the FLC Fee to be charged, i.e. claims lower than €20,000 but with more than 30 lines items will incur a higher charge,
Give outline to how fees are calculated,
Mention Claim 2 and subsequent claims will not be certified where there are fees outstanding for previous certification
Mention number of lines to be declared
Generate PO when submitting claim

4. Claim Preparation
When preparing a claim for submission to First Level Controllers for certification you should ask yourself the following questions:
How much will I be declaring?
Print a financial report/General Ledger listing showing all cost elements related to project from Accounting/Finance section which is required to be submitted in support of expenditure declared for each claim
How is the total expenditure broken down, which budget lines will I be declaring?
Analyse the report by budget line, you may have expenditure declared under all 5 budget lines
We advise collating all information prior to uploading any expenditure to eMS
You should ensure
Expenditure is eligible under programme rules
It was paid within the current reporting period, including payment of credit card expenses,
General Ledger report should show payment dates,
All supporting documents are available
Check expenditure for each budget line ensuring that external experts are not declared under either staff costs or travel

5. Declaring expenditure on eMS
Staff costs may be declared by staff member (one entry for entire reporting period)
Declared expenditure should ideally be reported as separate entries on eMS, i.e. travel expense claim for J Bloggs for January 2019 should be entered as 1 line item, full travel claim detailing journeys undertaken and all receipts for vouched costs should be provided in support
External Expertise should be reported by supplier invoices, these should be listed separately by invoice.
Equipment should be declared by item purchased
Claim 1 requires detailed declaration of expenditure
Claim 2 and subsequent claims may be summarised, i.e. 4 staff working or the project could be declared as4 entries instead of 24
External Experts – i.e. conference, venue, meals, interpreters, transport, photography should be declared as 6 entries not 1

6. eMS Screenshot - Refer to EMS partner report guidelines
Upload attachments to List of Expenditure tab
Sensitive information may be uploaded to Personal Attachments
As FLC we can download both the LoE and attachments from this section
The more complete the information received the quicker the claim may be certified

7. Staff Costs What support do I need to provide?
Contract of Employment showing 100% assignment to project, or Manager’s Order/Letter assigning staff member to work wholly and exclusively on project.
Salary Scale applicable to remuneration, and employer’s pension contribution if applicable, rate of Employer’s PRSI applicable
Payslips for the period, Payroll History report showing payments made
Seconded staff and their related travel must be reported under External Expertise.
Personnel recruited specifically for project –
If recruited externally, advert, contract – specifically mentioning the project name, % assignment to project, outline of responsibilities.
Relevant salary scale, details of employer’s pension if applicable, PRSI rate
Payslips, with personal information redacted, or payroll history report for period showing Total Gross, ERS PRSI and ERS Pension if applicable, this report should also include the payment dates. For large organisations it’s not necessary to provide the full payroll report individual reports can be provided specifically for staff involved in project.

8. Staff Costs – Fixed Percentage
Fixed Percentage – what support is required?
Contract of employment.
Manager’s Order/Letter of Assignment- addressed to employee, clearly setting out % of time to be apportioned to project, and duration of the arrangement. You could also include a line requesting consent from the staff member in relation to the release of their salary details for claim purposes. NB letter should clearly state the role/responsibilities of the staff member in relation to the project
Salary scale applicable
Payslips / Payroll History report showing payments made
Staff not working wholly and exclusively on project may declare time based on fixed %, support for this is
1. Letter to staff member specifically naming project(s) if assigned to work on more than 1 project, duration of project(s) i.e. start and end dates
2. Letter should include % assigned, role, responsibilities
3. In light of revised GDPR rules, it might also include a request for consent to release payroll information to us for certification purposes.

9. Staff Costs – Variable Hours
Variable Hours – what support is required?
Contract of Employment
Timesheets showing 100% of total time worked; NOTE timesheets should show all time worked i.e. project hours and other work.
Hourly rate of pay declared, note: this should include ERS PRSI + ERS pension contribution if applicable
Payslips for period or Payroll History report showing payments made
From Call 5 onwards only 1720 hours is accepted in calculating the hourly rate, actual hours i.e is no longer accepted.
Please Note: Where staff are working on more than 1 project then either fixed % or timesheets only should be claimed, you may not use a combination of timesheets and fixed % in this case.
Contract or letter of employment status
Timesheets – showing 100% time, more than 1 project all projects should be listed
You should not have project specific timesheets
Also a combination of timesheets/fixed % cannot under any circumstances be accepted.
Timesheets should be reflective of the time expended on the project, i.e. in line with projected time at application stage.
Some partners may be involved in other programmes, i.e. Interreg Europe – from Call 4 in IE only fixed % will be accepted so time being declared for project should be reviewed to ensure compliance.

10. Example of Hourly Rate Calculation
Total Gross Salary (per annum)
Grade IV point 5 €35,243.00
ERS PRSI (Class A) 10.85% (2018 rate) €3,823.87
Pension contribution* – 10% €3,524.30
Total Reckonable Salary €42,591.17
Reckonable Hours
Simplified hourly calculation 1720
Hourly Rate to be charged to Project €42, ÷ 1720 hrs = €24.76 per hour
*Note 1 – pension contribution is only eligible if incurred and paid and can be traced through the bank account of the partner organisation.
Inclusion of pension is only eligible where the pension is actually paid out
It may be retained in a pension account and used to fund existing pensions but if it is used as a contingency fund to pay future pensions this would not be considered eligible

11. Example of Fixed % of time worked
Total Gross Salary (per annum)
Grade IV point 5 €35,243.00
ERS PRSI (Class A) 10.85% €3,823.87
Pension contribution* – 10% €3,524.30
Total Reckonable Salary €42,591.17
Fixed % assigned to Project 30%
Fixed % chargeable to Project each 6 monthly reporting period
= 30% = €12, p.a. = €6, per reporting period
*Note 1 – pension contribution is only eligible if incurred and paid and can be traced through the bank account of the partner organisation.
Pension as noted on timesheets page
You should ensure that no more than 100% of any staff member’s time is declared across all projects,
It might be advisable to maintain a control sheet listing staff involvement in all projects and % time apportioned to each – this is something we could look for if the same name keep cropping up in multiple claims

12. Staff Costs – Common Errors
Timesheet not showing 100% of time worked
Staff working on multiple projects showing a combination of fixed % and timesheets
Payslips/Payroll History not provided
Letter of assignment to work fixed % not provided
Roles and Responsibilities in relation to project not noted on letter
Employer’s PRSI not included in cost declared
Person not directly employed by partner organisation
Salaries payment dates should be within the current reporting period, and where a pay period crosses 2 reporting periods it should not be split, in this case you should only declare it in the latter claim to coincide with the actual payment date.
The only exception to payment within the reporting period is the Statutory deductions, PAYE, PRSI & USC, which is deemed eligible from the date of deduction not the date paid to REVENUE

13. Office & Administration
Partners may declare a flat rate of 15% of staff costs, what support is required?
It is not necessary to provide any supporting documentation for 15% flat rate.
Expenditure covered by Office & Admin include office rent, utilities, office supplies, IT support, phone, maintenance & bank charges.

14. Office & Administration – Common Errors
Flat rate includes external experts time
Phone charges/stationary declared separately as direct costs
Cost of purchase of phones for project management included as additional items.
Costs calculated on total expenditure declared including all budget lines
Costs declared only on Project Manager costs and not all direct staff costs
Some partners will complete a manual record of the Office & Admin costs and only include Project Manager time, all staff time declared at 15% is eligible

15. Travel & Accommodation
What support is required?
Copies of actual travel claims as submitted by employee for payment
Copy receipts for any vouched costs, i.e. taxis, bus, tolls, parking.
National Subsistence rates must be respected.
Most economical transport means should be used.
Travel outside the programme area must have prior approval by Managing Authority unless explicitly stated in application.
Proof of payment of travel claims.
Copy attendance sheets, minutes of meetings, agenda, etc……..
Actual travel claims should show
Details of journeys undertaken
Start and end points and distances travelled
Time of absence – linked to subsistence rates
Deductions should be made where meals are provided – refer to Agenda
Receipts for all vouched costs
Where more than 1 staff member attends an event – carpool, i.e. 2 staff attend an event in Cork even if both travel independently only 1 return journey should be charged to project unless justification can be provided for use of both vehicles, Where both travel independently for personal reasons only 1 way journey for both should be claimed.

16. Travel & Accommodation – Common Errors
Travel declared for persons external to organisation
Receipts not provided for taxis, tolls, bus fares, parking
Actual travel claim not submitted
Travel paid outside reporting period
No evidence of attendance at events
Credit card bills used as audit evidence as opposed to invoices
Credit card bill paid outside reporting period

17. External Expertise What external services are declared?
Are Experts external to organisation?
How were services procured?
Do the correct logos appear on tender documents?
This has been covered by Sharon earlier
Any questions?

18. External Expertise / Procurement Support
Request for Quote (RFQ)
Advertisement
Tender
Opening policy
Scoring / Award Criteria
Terms of Reference (TOR)
Letters to awardee and unsuccessful tenders
Contract / Agreement with successful supplier
Report on work undertaken / completed
Not only quote submitted by successful tenderer,
NB this is an area that the 2nd Level Auditors make the most corrections

19. External Expertise – Common Errors
Partner meals declared under Travel & Accommodation
No link to project for external expertise costs declared
Sample Artwork for printed material not submitted
Evidence of payment omitted
Incomplete tender documents provided
Invoices not paid in reporting period
Procurement Process not carried out
Change in weightings during procurement process
Splitting contracts
Evaluation/assessment of tenders not provided
Contracts above threshold not advertised on e-tenders

20. Equipment What type of equipment is declared?
Who was the equipment for?
What, if any, depreciation applies?
If laptop is purchased for a Project Manager working equally on 2 or more projects, cost of the equipment should be reported accordingly

21. Equipment Support What support is required
What procurement process applied?
Is the equipment used wholly and exclusively for the project?
Copy of organisational Depreciation Policy
GL printout showing how Depreciation is charged
Does the equipment need to be charged pro rata to project?
Does the economic life of the equipment extend beyond the project end date?
Note: for laptops assigned to the project and purchased in period 1 may be declared in full in first claim subject to depreciation rules if applicable

22. Equipment– Common Errors
Full cost of equipment declared where staff only work a fixed percentage of time.
Equipment purchased in year 2 of project but claimed in full
Physical equipment not present during on-the-spot inspection
Depreciation policy not applied
Invoices not paid in reporting period
During an onsite we will need to see the equipment and match the serial number on the equipment and the invoice

23. Potential Errors FX rate other than date of submission used
Mobile/Telephone costs declared separately
Gifts to host partner.
Annual fees on credit card
Weekend hours worked
GL Printout not provided
In previous programmes it was custom and practice for meeting in other member states that the visiting partner would bring a gift to the host, this is no longer considered eligible
Where absences abroad occur the only time to be declared under staff costs are the contracted daily hours, hours over and above this amount is covered by daily subsistence rates relevant to the location of the meeting and cannot be claimed separately, i.e. weekend hours

24. Claim Upload
When claims have been uploaded to eMS it is crucial that all supporting documentation, if not uploaded to portal, is forwarded to FLC within 3 working days,
In the event of support not being submitted within this timeframe, claims will be reverted to partner for resubmission when support is available.
This is to ensure that partners who have submitted completed documentation on time are not treated unfairly in the queue

25. Tips for Preparation and Submission
Collate all information onto Excel workbook prior to upload
Ensure all supporting documentation is available
Check totals by budget line
Upload all supporting documents to the portal
Note: if there are issues with uploading information to the portal please forward soft copy of complete documentation by to
Raise Purchase Order number when claim is being submitted
When report has been submitted please notify FLC by to
We have created a template to assist partners in preparing claims – it’s not mandatory to use this but if partners so wish we can circulate the list which can be used as an aid in preparing claims.
Our aim is not to disallow expenditure but to assist partners in maximising their ERDF drawdown within the eligibility rules.
We will afford partners every opportunity to justify the costs declared and if it is not possible to provide the justification in any given claim period the expenditure may be re-submitted in a subsequent claim.

26. Questions ?

27. Contact Details First Level Control Unit
Sharon Conway – First Level Controller
Catherine Burke – Assistant First Level Controller
Northern & Western Regional Assembly
The Square
Ballaghaderreen
Co Roscommon
Tel:
Web: