Annual report on implementation of the EU budget for the financial year 2023 by European Court of Auditors

The European Court of Auditors (ECA) audits the revenue and expenditure of the EU budget and delivers its opinion on the extent to which the annual accounts are reliable, and income and spending comply with the rules and regulations. This year it includes findings from Horizon 2020 audits but also from some Horizon Europe audits.

In chapter 5 (Single market, innovation and digital) the report contains the findings of ECA regarding personnel cost in research expenditure, and elaborates a.o. issues on daily rate calculations of Horizon Europe projects.  ECA formulates already some recommendations towards daily rate, as  eg. demanding by mid 2025 measures to enhance beneficiaries' compliance with the daily rate rules, clarification of the rules and methods for calculating the daily rate. In annexes of chapter 5 ECA recommends that experts should be required to document their assessment of the personnel cost calculation by end of 2024.  The last chapter contains the replies of the European Commission, regarding Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe from p. 441 onwards. 

While Digital Europe as a quite new programme does not yet figure in this year’s report, the findings made for Horizon Europe can also be useful for Digital Europe applicants to consider when preparing their proposal and managing their projects.