Financial Accounting in EU External Cooperation Funding, Practical Seminar, 18th -19th February 2013, Berlin

Online, December 13, 2012 (Newswire.com) - The European Union is globally the biggest donor for development aid. In order to cooperate with the EU successfully and to benefit from the funds that are available, beneficiaries have to comply with a multitude of complicated accounting regulations for the projects financed by the EU. Failure to comply with these regulations can result in the withdrawal of funding.

Experts who deal with EU-funded projects have to know among others:
• Which costs are eligible
• How to handle the accounting of staff costs
• How to solve VAT issues
• Which public procurement rules apply to their project
• How European Commission audits are conducted and how to best prepare
for them

Who is this seminar for?
• National and regional authorities, as well as professionals in the public and NGO sector who are involved in the financial management of projects funded by EU external cooperation programmes such as:
»» Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA),
»» European Neighbourhood Policy Instrument (ENPI),
»» Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI)
»» European Development Fund (EDF)
• Development agencies using IPA, ENPI, DCI and EDF funds
• Private companies executing service contracts for IPA, ENPI, DCI and EDF-funded projects

At this practical seminar the participants will learn how to conduct the financial accounting and the project management of EU-funded project correctly. Experienced financial managers from the European Union and the pre-accession countries lead practical workshops on sound accounting for beneficiaries of EU external cooperation funds.

With experts from:
• EU Funds Department, Ministry of Culture, Montenegro
• Undersecretariat of Treasury, Audit Authority, Turkey
• IBGE - Environmental Agency of Brussels Capital Region, Belgium
• United Nations Development Programme, Montenegro
• EU-funded Projects Department, Municipality of Rome, Italy