Trust-based bookkeeping could prompt timid partnering

The European Commission has signalled that it will roll out a trust-based system of accounting for research grants, but sector organisations have warned that the reform could put them off pairing up with new partners.

Since 2018 the commission has been piloting a system of lump sum accounting, under which grantees are reimbursed providing they can prove that work has been completed, rather than being required to submit line-item budgets and staff time sheets.

The trial was seen as a significant blow against research bureaucracy, and commission officials have confirmed to Times Higher Education that Horizon Europe – Brussels’ new funding programme – will make greater use of lump sum grants.

But groups representing research institutions say that the rollout is premature.

“Lump sum is good when it’s up and running and as long as everybody does what they’re supposed to do,” said Poul Petersen, senior consultant in the Office of Research Services at the University of Copenhagen, which coordinates a lump sum project as part of the pilot. “I used to be a scientist and I know how much scientists hate time sheets.

“The challenge on our side is if you get the grant – and it’s a good grant with industry and universities involved – and then something goes wrong, lump sum projects are more demanding. If you [have] three beneficiaries in one work package and two do what they are supposed to do but the third one does not, then this work package is not finished and the commission will pay zero. So we and the partner who did the work will have to take over and finalise the defaulting beneficiary’s work before we get paid.” 

Three sector organisations – the European University Association (EUA), the Cesaer network of science and technology universities and the European Association of Research and Technology Organisations – have warned that this risk means universities may be more wary of who they pair up with.

“Lump sum funding might have some very concrete benefits and might very much help specific types of beneficiaries or specific types of consortia, including potentially universities. But what we don’t have so far is complete evidence, because the projects have not even started reporting yet,” said Enora Pruvot, deputy director of governance, funding and public policy development at the EUA. 

Survey respondents from projects involving smaller companies, smaller budgets and smaller consortia have been more positive about lump sum funding, whereas bigger companies, universities and other research organisations were less so. 

Despite the mixed feedback, European Union officials said waiting until pilot projects are finished, as the concerned groups have suggested, would delay the rollout until 2027, limiting the benefits of dropping line-item scrutiny. 

“The timing of expanding the use of lump sums should be driven by when we know it will indeed be good for the programme, not by when it would be best for the administrative objective of a lower error rate,” said Christian Ehler, an MEP who co-led the European Parliament’s input on the design of Horizon. “This evaluation does not show it is good for the programme, because the projects in the pilot are not developed enough yet to draw that conclusion.” 

EU officials said lump sum accounting would be introduced slowly from the second half of 2022, with wider use in 2023, adding that how lump sum accounting works in the programme could also change over time.

ben.upton@timeshighereducation.com