1. Ease (y)our life: Technical and Financial Tips
EACI, European Commission
Astrid Geiger, Head of Sector
Market Replication Eco-Innovation Unit
Ecoinnovators' Day – Brussels – 8 October 2012

2. Technical Financial Tips Overview Cost categories Amendments
Budget Shifts
Profit
Frequent mistakes

3. Good for your business
Good for our work environment

4. ADVERTISE
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5. International expansion New staff Turnover Environmental impacts
Share your results
Media mentions
International expansion
New staff
Turnover
Environmental impacts
Your own stories
Deviations
Media mentions: inform us about press articles, interviews, broadcasts, journal contributions, presence at conferences
International expansion: we have projects that are not only active in Europe but that go abroad – Brasil, China, USA…
Besides Environmental benefits, economic impacts of our projects are key to our success, so also let us know if you have new staff or increased your turnover
Share with us your own stories: e.g. a small research & development unit became suddenly highly regarded as result of the successful new production – and were in the future consulted
Deviations: even if you see things go wrong - inform us, and inform us on time! We are interested in successful projects, and often we can find solutions together.
If there is no solution, we would like to understand why things went wrong (to prevent similar events in the future, to provide feedback to policy makers, to adapt our guidelines or reorient the programme)

6. Update the Project Information Sheet (PIS) Keep your website updated
Share your results
Update the Project Information Sheet (PIS)
Keep your website updated
Info material
Your products for our showcase
Feedback to policy making
Use layman report
Always include our logo!
Invite us
Update the Project Information Sheet (PIS): it is the flag of your project, visible through our new project partner map. Remember to update "objectives" with real data once you progress in your project.
Keep your website updated
Info material: send us brochures, leaflets, even posters related to your project. We display the information at EACI and hand it out as good examples in important meetings
Your products for our showcase: we keep the display cases in front of our offices to explain to visitors who we are and what we do. We move them from event to event (e.g. at European infoday)
Feedback to policy making: this is our commitment, being the operational arm of DG ENV for Eco-innovation. We cannot lose touch with the ground, with you. We would like to help creating favourable business conditions and therefore need to know about barriers and facilitators encountered on your way.
Use layman report: it should not only be a deliverable. Use it to promote your innovation to potential clients. We want you to continue your business and make money after our funding is over. Use your budget for preparing this.
Always include our logo! Not only in times of Euro-scepticism, or when the future of our programme is discussed: we are proud on our projects and would like the public to know that we are behind this initiative.
Invite us: let us know on-time about meetings, so that we can see if we can participate. This year we visited ~50 projects.

7. TEMPLATES
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8. Templates Timesheet Project information sheet Business plan
Reporting and financial statement
Communication Guidelines
Financial guidelines
Simplify your life – and simplify our life
Throughout the lifetime of the programme we designed templates for different purposes. Please use them and read the instructions how to use them. This can avoid back-and-forth communication between us and you and it can accelerate the processing of your files.
The timesheet is optional. Use it to register the hours your staff is working on the project. You may use your own company timesheet as well.
Business plan: There is an example for a business plan as a guidance document on our website. It is extensive and probably complete, and very helpful for inspiration.
This year we have already received around 100 reports, half of which progress reports, and a quarter each interim or final reports. So please keep to the instructions in the reporting templates.
There are communication guidelines available on the use of our logo, how to set up a good project website and write a good layman report. We also link to the very good LIFE website, where for you find valuable tips for any communication tool (leaflets, articles, press releases, posters…). Please: always use our logo on all your communication material!
The financial guidelines have grown on the basis of previous experience with similar funding programmes. They should provide an answer to any of your questions.

9. Intellectual Property Rights
IPR: anticipate
Consortium agreement?
Provide technical information to the EACI
Share information and disseminate project results
Free service from Enterprise Europe Network:
IPR needs to be anticipated: you are (hopefully) about to make business with your innovation, so clarify in advance who may use which results, and who will benefit from income etc. This can avoid later conflicts in the consortium. You may consider signing a consortium agreement in order to regulate IPR (do we have a template for that?)
Even if you have to provide information to us (e.g. in project deliverables) and disseminate results: we will treat this within the technical confidentiality needed. In case of doubt: please mark your deliverables with "confidential"!
There is a free service of the commission to assist you with any question related to IPR.

10. STAFF
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11. Staff Substantiate hourly rates Only "known" staff Freelance ‘staff’:
Work in your premises
Take directions from you
Outcome of work belongs to you
Your own staff working:
There is a template for you to calculate the correct hourly rates to be charged for the project. To facilitate our life, please add it to the final financial report.
You can only include costs for staff, whose name is mentioned in Annex I. We will question, e.g. any travel made by another person.
You may work with freelancers – under certain conditions 11

12. SUBCONTRACTING
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13. Only for limited parts: Certain tasks / special expertise
Subcontracting
Services not goods
Only for limited parts:
Certain tasks / special expertise
Transparent selection, ideally 3 offers
Clear contracts and invoices
Not "between you"
Don't lose touch
You may also work with subcontractors, but only to a limited extend.
You cannot subcontract goods, only services. If equipment is installed by a subcontractor, the equipment must be listed in the equipment cost category and depreciated accordingly. Cost categories should be clean – this is also checked in case of an audit.
You may only subcontract limited parts of the action. Subcontractors should be selected on transparent grounds, to the best offer, taking into consideration price and quality (best value for money). Ideally, in a very simplified procedure, three different offers should be obtained and evaluated against common established criteria to ensure that each of them is treated fairly and equitably – using a simplified procedure. You may use your habitual subcontractor. Main criterion when subcontracting costs are being checked: best value for money.
You cannot subcontract tasks between partners or between subdivisions of your company.
When working with subcontractors: don't lose touch with them. 13

14. EQUIPMENT
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15. Depreciation must follow your national accounting rules
Equipment
Inform us when:
Renting equipment
Selling equipment
Depreciation must follow your national accounting rules
There are special conditions when you rent equipment or when you want to sell it. Please inform us so that your costs are not rejected.
Equipment costs must be depreciated, this is always a point during our contract negotiations before your project starts. You may only charge costs while the equipment is in use for the project and only up to the % of usage for the project – costs are automatically calculated in the Contract Preparation Forms (CPFs).
As a general rule: depreciation must follow your national accounting rules. Important, e.g. for choosing the correct point of time when the depreciation starts: E.g. Delivery of the equipment? Commissioning of the equipment after installation?

16. AMENDMENTS
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17. Amendments when changes of:
Beneficiaries
Name, legal status or bank details
Annex I (if significant)
Duration (exceptionally)
Budget
100 amendments processed… Please help us to reduce them!
Please do not report any small change in your work plan or budget to your project officer. Collect changes and include them in the next report. If you think it is a significant change, contact him/her directly to check if an amendment is necessary.

18. > One month before project ends to request amendment
Budget Shifts
Two kinds
Within flexibility of grant agreement: budget shift table needed
Beyond flexibility: amendment
> One month before project ends to request amendment
Template & guidelines:
Concerning amendments to the budget, the grant agreement allows for flexibility: No amendment is needed if you are within this flexibility – see grant agreement article I.4.4: e.g. transfer between cost categories below 20% of total costs. But please inform us together with a report.
If the budget transfer is beyond the thresholds defined, be sure to send an amendment request the latest 1 month before the project ends, otherwise you risk not to be paid for the changes.
In order for us to check whether the budget shifts are within the flexibility or not, you should send us a budget transfer request in both cases (an xls-file indicating the old and new values).
If an amendment is needed, we will also need a new Annex II.

19. PROFIT

20. Careful with profit 400,000 (EU) + 300,000 (you) = 700,000 (total)
600,000 =
1,000,000
300,000 profit
-300,000
You are allowed to generate income, even DURING the project. You may use it, for instance, as matched funding to the funding you receive from us. However, be careful with profit!
This example shows a possible case on the left hand side. In the middle, the consequence of profit during the project is shown: the EU funding is reduced accordingly.

21. REMINDERS
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22. Reminder: Frequent mistakes
Complete?
Correct reporting dates?
VAT excluded?
Invoices included (3 biggest)?
Hourly rates correct?
Audit report included?
Incurred costs, not budgeted?
We pay on average in ~60 days after receiving your reports. This does not count the "sleeping times", i.e. the days that pass while we wait for an answer from you.
This is a list of frequent mistakes which can delay your payment, as we will have to get back to you with requests for clarifications/revisions.

23. Reminder: frequent mistakes
Project name on invoices?
Correct depreciation of equipment?
Report and book keeping coherent?
Costs foreseen?
Correct cost category?
Contributions in kind as co-funding?
Costs eligible?
Take care: in case of an audit, all of this might be checked.

24. In case of doubt

25. In case of doubt
The grant agreement: your reference
Financial guidelines
Contact us 

26. THANK YOU
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