A:

From the way the question is asked, it is clear that the expenses are the expenses of the individual partners and not the coordinator. We believe that in the strict interpretation, therefore the expenses must be recorded in the books of account of the Latin American partners as well as on their reports to the EU. Any “special” arrangement should be made with the Project Officers full knowledge and agreement.

He may be prepared (but it cannot be guaranteed) to accept that the coordinator can open separate accounts in his bank for each partner (as a sort of power of attorney) transferring the funds to suppliers of services and/or goods, but in the end the transactions will need to be recorded in the books of account of the partner (and audited that this is the case). Thus even though not passing through the partners own bank account the expense will still be recorded in the partners accounting records.

The Project Officer may even be prepared to be more lenient than this, with the coordinator reporting the expenses and including them in his books of account and on his reports to the EU. This will be especially true if this was originally anticipated in the original proposal or during the negotiation stage. It would be no problem if it was already anticipated in the EU contract. If it is in the original signed consortium agreement/contract between the partners this would also help.

In short, this is a variance from normal practice and is going to need special agreements from PO.

Incidentally, don’t forget that all the time the funds are not distributed to partners; any interest is income for the consortium, reducing the EU funding by that amount.