Project monitoring and reporting

Once a positive funding decision has been made, Business Finland's funding specialist will notify you as soon as possible, often by phone. In some cases, the funding specialist arranges a kick-off meeting where the funding decision and its terms and conditions are reviewed in detail.

You can find the funding decision for your project and the terms and conditions related to it in the online service soon after the decision has been made.

The funding decision will enter into force when any special conditions set for the decision to enter into force have been met and you have confirmed the funding decision and the funding terms. 

• The project plan and cost estimate approved by the Funding Agency are part of the funding decision and serve as a basis for approving the costs.
• Always check the funding decision to see if there is any special conditions concerning costs.
• The terms and conditions applied to the project and any project-specific special terms and conditions are part of the funding decision, and compliance with them is a prerequisite for the payment of funding. 
• All detailed instructions related to project accounting and cost monitoring are recorded in the funding terms and conditions. 

=> Read the funding decision and the related terms and conditions carefully and also go through the decision and its appendices with the person responsible for your company's accounts (accounting firm, own accountant) and the auditor.

The funding decision will enter into force at the time of the decision. However, the implementation of the decision and the legal effects based on it will not begin until the conditions set for the entry into force of the decision have been met and the beneficiary has confirmed the decision and its terms and conditions.

=> Confirm the funding decision by the deadline stated in the decision.

• You can see information about the decision pending confirmation on the front page of the online service under "Matters pending action". If special conditions have been set for the entry into force of the decision, the confirmation of the decision will only be visible as an open measure when the special conditions have been met.
• If you have the right of exclusive representation of the company entered in the Trade Register, confirm the decision in the online service. The right to sign is checked in the Trade Register when logging in, when you log in using Suomi.fi e-Identification. You can correct your company's Trade Register information by contacting the Finnish Patent and Registration Office.
• Research institutes, universities and universities of applied sciences always confirm the funding decision in Business Finland's online service. In order for confirmation to be possible, the confirmers of the research organisation's funding decisions must have sufficient rights to the projects in the online service. In order to maintain the rights, research organisations submit to Business Finland's registry (kirjaamo(at)businessfinland.fi) a list of persons who have the right to confirm the decision on behalf of the funding recipient in accordance with the rules of procedure or other authorisation. An updated list will be delivered whenever there are changes to it.

CONFIRM the decision in the online service

• If you do not have the right of exclusive representation entered in the Trade Register, confirm the funding decision with a form. If there are more than two signers on the form, you can add signature rows by removing table protection from the Excel ribbon Review > Remove Table Protection.  Be sure to include the account number as well.

Send the form by secure mail to the registry

=> If you do not accept funding, notify Business Finland's registry.

Applying for a rectification

If you are dissatisfied with the decision, you can appeal against it. The decision contains instructions for submitting a request for rectification.

If you are dissatisfied with the decision made by Business Finland, you can apply for a rectification. 

=> Read the instructions for the request for rectification in the notification of the decision.

It has already been possible to appoint key persons for the project when sending the application; check that the key persons have access to the project's information. 

A person who has the right of exclusive representation of the company must authorise a person who is in an employment relationship with the beneficiary or who has a position of responsibility in the beneficiary's organisation (member of the board of directors or managing director of the company) as the responsible project manager  A person who is prohibited from doing business cannot act as the responsible manager of the project. 

The contact person appointed for the project must also be in an employment relationship with the beneficiary or have a position of responsibility in the organisation.  

=> Always keep the contact information of the project's key persons up to date in the online service, so that the transaction is smooth both during the project and even after the project has already ended. 

To monitor the use of funding, it is important to start project accounting as soon as the project starts. In most of our funding services, the funding terms and conditions also require hourly working time monitoring.

When applying for Business Finland funding, you should be prepared for the following:

• The beneficiary must organise its accounting in such a way that the costs incurred by the project can be identified and their connection to the accounts and reported costs can be verified without difficulty. Organise project accounting as soon as the project starts.
• Time tracking is a part of project accounting and in most funding services where salary costs can be accepted as direct costs of the project, people who work for the project should keep an hourly track of the work they do for the project. If the beneficiary's working time monitoring system does not enable the monitoring of project working hours, the monitoring is carried out using Business Finland's form.
  • Every person who works for the project must keep an hourly track of the work they do for the project. Working time monitoring also applies to persons who are paid non-wage compensation for work. 
  • Working time monitoring is confirmed at least monthly as described in the standard terms and conditions. Neither the CEO nor the project manager can confirm their own working hours. The confirmation must be verifiable afterwards.
  • When reporting salaries, a salary breakdown (Y4) must be submitted as an appendix to the report, which is a summary of the salaries paid during the project period.
• The project can also have imputed costs that do not need to be reflected in the project accounting. These include, for example, indirect personnel costs.

=> Start accounting for the project as soon as the project starts, and also make sure that the tracking of working hours is arranged according to the terms and conditions of funding. 

The funding terms and conditions that apply to your project set out the costs that can be accepted for the project. These basic principles of acceptable costs apply to most projects:

• Eligible costs are expenses according to the project plan, which are:
  • paid and in the recipient's accounts
  • net and excluding VAT
  • incurred by the project during its duration (accrual basis)
  • in accordance with the project plan
  • necessary and reasonable for the implementation of the project
  • in line with the organisation's administrative guidelines
• To ensure the effectiveness of public funding, Business Finland's terms and conditions include a so-called cancellation clause: 
  • A procurement ordered for the implementation of the project before the submission of the funding application can only be approved if the order agreement or contract of sale contains a condition that the procurement will be cancelled if the funding decision is negative. Even then, the costs are not acceptable until the date of submission of the funding application at the earliest.
• Purchases from within the group and associated companies
  • If the project requires purchases from within the group or from an associated company, first check the funding terms and conditions applicable to the project to see if the costs are acceptable. 
  • If the matter is in order and purchases can be made, the group and associated company must also comply with the funding terms and conditions applicable to the project. The beneficiary must ensure that the group and associated company arranges project accounting and working time monitoring as described in the terms and conditions.
  • The group and associated company must provide the beneficiary with an invoice for the project's outsourced services. Business Finland can accept the costs paid by the beneficiary that have been incurred by the seller in providing the service. Costs are accepted without coverage. In order to establish the lack of funds, the group and associated company must also report the costs incurred by the project in a separate cost statement. 
• Coordination costs of joint national projects
  • This guideline applies to national projects; in international projects, agreements drawn up for the entity in question are followed. 
  • Everyone who receives the coordination service must contribute to the payment of the coordination costs, regardless of whether the organisation receives public funding for their project or not. This ensures that funding is not transferred to a third party, which is prohibited.
  • Upon request, the Funding Agency must be provided with the content of the coordination agreement, which states that the service does not include a service created before the start of the project or a service that is not part of the implementation of the project.
  • The coordination costs of cooperation can be invoiced either as a percentage or according to some other precise and pre-agreed formula. The basis for apportioning costs cannot be the amount of funding granted by Business Finland or another public actor.
    • Example of an approved activity: The coordinator draws up a cooperation agreement, the costs of which can be divided between five participants in proportion to 30%-30%-20%-10%-10% or 1/5 of the invoice each.
    • Example of a non-approved activity: The coordinator draws up a cooperation agreement, the costs of which are divided on a percentage basis from each participant's approved cost estimate. 
    • Example of an unapproved activity: The coordinator draws up a cooperation agreement, the costs of which are divided on a percentage basis of the amount of external funding for each participant.

=> Read the terms and conditions carefully and return to them whenever necessary. 

The project manager reports on the progress of the project according to the agreed schedule. Reporting is done in the online service. Always adhere to the agreed-upon reporting deadlines. If the final report is received after the deadline, the costs listed in the report cannot be approved, and no further funding will be disbursed.

=> Report all costs incurred in the project. Business Finland can accept costs in accordance with the project plan and funding terms and conditions as project costs. Based on the interim report, the preliminarily approved costs will be reviewed again in connection with the final report. Business Finland will not make a final assessment of the acceptability of the costs until it has received confirmation of the costs (an auditor's audit report or a declaration from the contact person for the cost account).

=> Check the funding terms and conditions applicable to the project to see what conditions have been recorded for reporting. The terms and conditions also mention the attachments to be submitted, which may include, for example:  

• a salary breakdown, which includes the project-allocated and total salary accrual for the distribution period of all persons who receive a salary from the project
• a description of the project's accounting and working time tracking (appendix to the first interim report). The description must show that the project accounting has been arranged in accordance with the terms and conditions of the funding
• in connection with the final report of the project, the confirmation of costs: either the auditor's audit report or the declaration of the cost accounting contact person. 

=> The forms required for reporting can be found on the second tab of this page, broken down by funding services.

=> Start preparing the final report well in advance and also reserve time for the auditor when required. The auditor audits the costs and accounting of the project, and the audit report is attached to the final accounts. Separate instructions for auditing can be found on the Auditors' page. 

If there is a need for changes as the project progresses, check the funding terms and conditions to see which changes need to be approved by Business Finland in advance. The amendment application is submitted in the online service. 

=> Read the funding terms and conditions carefully and always act in accordance with them. 

=> See also the instructions on the "Changes" page.

The funding is paid against the approved costs accounted for in reporting. 

At least 10 per cent of the awarded grant will be paid only after the final report has been approved. In period-funded projects, the periodic report is considered a final report. 

If a loan has been granted for the project, the State Treasury will take care of the practical arrangements related to the loan. The first instalment of the loan can be paid in advance once the recipient has signed the promissory note received from the State Treasury. The right to the granted financing lapses if the recipient of the financing has not submitted the documents requested by the State Treasury and has not signed the promissory note within six months of the date of the decision on the payment of the loan advance. The loan must be withdrawn from the State Treasury within six months of the date of the payment letter following the final report. The last instalment of the loan is at least 20 per cent of the principal of the loan granted.

=> Always follow the agreed reporting times. If the final report arrives after the deadline, the costs presented in the report cannot be accepted and the funding will no longer be paid. 

Keep the project records and all documents related to the implementation and costs of the project, and all other materials necessary for project control for at least ten years from the last payment of the project. 

=> Please note that the project material also includes expense and payment receipts, procurement documents, salary breakdowns submitted as an attachment to the report, and personally kept working time tracking with confirmation entries where required.