EC Financial Audits in FP7. Real-life case studies of EC Audits in FP7 – what could go wrong?

Part 3: Paper-based approach

A blog series by Gabor Kitley and Gabriella Lovasz

Recently I gained new knowledge about auditors, which was slightly surprising, so I wanted to share and ask you about your experience. Here are a few questions to think about:

What if the auditors come with a pure paper-based approach? They are not interested in the results, the impact, the evidence of the work done, but they are interested in the invoices, contracts, the certificates, delivery notes, insurance papers, the signatures, the stamps, etc...

I fully understand the economic check, the need to see that all administrative issues were tackled, but what about the result-based monitoring approach that the Commission is focusing on?

The Czech Republic – my second home

I have spent a few years as a child and then as an adult in the Czech Republic, so I feel that going back to Prague or any other city is like being in my second home. This is why my intro to the Czech culture will be more subjective than the others, which are based on work relations.

I started to like beer when I realised that beer might be a lot cheaper in a pub than water.

Young project managers in the consortium – does the age difference matter?

In many cases the young project manager can hit the wall, because the senior, more experienced managers and researchers do not treat her/him as an equal partner. How can we overcome this gap? How can a young manager/researcher get accepted?

Cultural differences in EU projects– A blog series by Gabriella Lovasz

Part 5- Italy

Italians do not seem to have a complicated culture, and still, when you work with them in EU projects you discover new and new layers. Italy is a young country, its parts are very different from each other and governing all parts together is quite impossible. But Italians themselves are flexible and very proud of their country and culture. There is quite a conflict between living in such an amazing country and in a little chaos at the same time.

Cultural differences in EU projects– A blog series by Gabriella Lovasz

Part 4- The Netherlands

Dutch people are brave, confident and strong-minded. They face their own problems and they face together the problems of the country. “The geography of the European part of Netherlands is in that much of its land has been reclaimed from the sea and is below sea level, protected by dikes.” (Wikipedia) Dutch people have been continuously fighting with the elements, which explains their need and appreciation for the clean environment.

Cultural differences in EU projects– A blog series by Gabriella Lovasz

Part 3- France

It is extremely hard not to write one stereotype after another when talking about French people. I think we all had experience with French and we love them one minute and hate them another minute. Our feelings are never neutral, because they have such a fascinating culture.

Cultural differences in EU projects– A blog series by Gabriella Lovasz

Part 2- Denmark

When more Danish people participate in a meeting, it is not clear who is the boss, who is the subordinate. They are and seem equal, which does not mean that the subordinate will make decisions of course, but it might be hard to find out who you should address when asking for a decision.

Cultural differences in EU projects– A blog series by Gabriella Lovasz

Part 1- Hungary

In every training course, we mention that cultural differences have to be taken into consideration and communication channels and work processes should be tailored to the habits and needs of your partners coming from different countries. What works for Germans and Hungarians might not work for Italians. We share examples from meetings, reviews, etc. all based on real-life experiences. Participants do the same and we laugh together, or in extreme cases, we receive complaints, saying we should not use stereotypes.

Experiences of a Project Coordinator – A blog series by Istvan Pari. 

The complexity of meetings

Most people when hear the word „coordinator” they tend to start picturing someone stuck behind a desk sending gazillion emails and making a hefty number of phone calls of various lengths every day in order to keep his/her project on its track. For someone with a bit more vivid imagination the project coordinator may appear as a spider dwelling in the middle of its web, pulling strings to motivate the consortium members and occasionally moves around to attend interim meetings, other project related gatherings or simply just to pay a visit to Brussels to see what’s going on.

Proposal Development- A blog series by Gabriella Lovász and Ömer Ceylan

Part 6.: Finalising and submitting the proposal

Similar to writing an essay, swiftly putting together a first draft of the project proposal and later revising and improving it gradually is usually a good approach (provided that you have enough time!). However, as we mentioned in our previous blog post, it is important to establish a clear outline of the proposal as a first step.