The SRA Symposium - College of Medicine

from the need for multiple audit statements. Now these organisations need only submit one audit
certification at the end of the project.
The cost of the independent audit is an eligible cost of an EC project (see Financial Management
section) but is a limited amount. The cost of independent audit on a US funded project may be
direct or an allocated indirect in accordance with the applicable statements of cost principles.
Audit statements must be submitted to US funding agencies no later than 9 months after the end
of the audit period, but for the EC the audit certificate must be submitted within 45 days of the
period end (which can be extended by a further 45 days at the request of the project Consortium).
An EC project funded under FP6 is likely to be audited by the funding body at least once during
the active life of the project and up to 5 years after cessation of the project. This is clearly different
from US funding streams where the funding body will audit a random sample of funded projects,
unless accounting irregularities are suspected, in which case the University or Non-profit would
automatically be audited.
Currency
If you are in a University or Non-profit funded primarily in US Dollars (USD) you may not have
encountered the issue of currency gains and losses. All European programmes are funded in
Euros. The Euro is a traded currency, which free floats against the dollar. This means that there is a
risk element for participation in an EC funded programme that despite the principal investigator
remaining on budget in terms of dollars, once this is converted to the funding currency, there is a
resultant difference. This difference can be a loss or a gain and the European Commission will not
be interested in either, even if you make a significant loss through such an exchange rate fluctuation.
Under the European funding rules, you are also not allowed to build contingency funding into
your budget proposal for this potential liability. However, if you make any gains from this exchange
rate fluctuation, you are free to keep these costs.
One further complication is that the floating rate of the USD against EURO is not the rate that can
be submitted for cost statement purposes. The official exchange rate to be used in the determination
of the amount of reimbursement due in Euros is published by the EC and it is only this rate
they will accept.
Summary
Whilst European funding doesn’t cover all of your costs, may result in currency fluctuation, and has
more problematic funding terms to contend with, don’t automatically discount this type of funding
stream. It may provide an opportunity to collaborate in research areas, which compliment and/or
improve your own, give you access to unique research/study populations, or facilitates the ability to
be able to use research infrastructure unavailable to you within the United States.
Recommendation
Papers
When entering into a European collaborative project, have a look at the Scientific and Technological
Cooperation Agreement between the European Commission and the Federal Government.
This agreement enables Federal agencies to fund US Universities and Non-profits engaged in
European collaborative research, as though it were a Federal grant, where the aims and objectives
of the research match those of the Federal Government.
2005 Symposium Proceedings Book 183