The main applicant and any business partners each prepare the final financial report (Excel cost template) separately. The final financial report (Excel cost template) to be uploaded includes the project costs that were approved with the application. Only these actual project costs are eligible and are added by cost category.

The actual costs included in the final financial report are substantiated by means of supporting documents. These actual costs could be: the staff costs, operating costs, costs of external services and investment costs.

The supporting documents for these costs consist of:

• Staff costs: individual accounts and/or pay slips.
• Operating costs, if the ceiling was breached in both the approved budget and the final financial report:
  • a detailed statement (Excel) listing the costs recording the invoice date, invoice number, supplier, description, amount excl. VAT, amount incl. VAT, and (structured) notification where applicable;
  • the corresponding invoices with corresponding payment receipts bundled by supplier, provider and item;
  • and any other supporting documents.
• Costs of external services:
  • a detailed statement (Excel) listing the costs recording the invoice date, invoice number, supplier, description, amount excl. VAT, amount incl. VAT, and (structured) notification where applicable;
  • the corresponding invoices with corresponding payment receipts bundled by supplier and provider.
• investment costs: depreciation tables and the statement of balance sheet accounts (class 2).

The main applicant and any business partners each instruct an accountant or auditor. Only an (internal) (certified) (tax) accountant or an auditor can perform the Engagement (the certification). The in-house accountant can perform the Engagement (the certification) if they are an internal (certified) (tax) accountant with an ITAA membership number.

You can consult the public register of accountants and auditors at www.itaa.be and www.ibr-ire.be to check who is a member. 

Your accountant or auditor needs information to perform the Engagement (the certification). You therefore provide them with the following:

• the final financial report (Excel cost template)
• the supporting documents for the actual costs included in the final financial report
• the URL to the 'Financial report with certification' requirement where the accountant or auditor performs the Engagement (the certification) (see Download frequently asked questions - 'Where can I find the URL to the 'Financial report with certification’ requirement where the accountant or auditor performs the Engagement?') 

The accountant or auditor can request the approved budget by sending an email to verificatie@vlaio.be. The accountant or auditor must thereby specify the dossier number and his/her membership number.

The accountant or auditor then carries out the Engagement based on the following received information:

• the final financial report (Excel cost template)
• the supporting documents for the actual costs included in the final financial report
• the URL to the 'Financial report with certification’ requirement
• the approved budget

The engagement involves performing agreed-upon procedures regarding financial information and any factual findings based on the final financial report (Excel cost template) incl. supporting documents and the approved budget.

After submission, you can find the summary under the same URL that you as the main applicant and any business partners provided to the accountant or auditor.