FAQ

A: You should use an exchange rate published by the national bank of your (the grantee’s) country. You can choose one of two options:

• the exchange rate applicable on the date of receiving the grant tranches to the grantee’s bank account stated in the grant contract (If the grant is paid to an EUR account and is not converted to the local currency, the grantee can still use the exchange rate from the date of receiving the grant tranches).
• the monthly average exchange rate of the respective national bank in the last full month of the project implementation period.

If the grant is divided into three tranches, different exchange rates can be used for the Interim Financial Settlement (reporting costs incurred in the first phase of the project) and the (Final) Financial Settlement (reporting costs incurred in the second phase of the project).

A: No. The financial settlement should always be filled out in the currency of your organization's (the grantee’s) bank account(s). If you use several accounts for payments (e.g., one in EUR, one in your local currency), fill out one Financial Settlement sheet in each bank account currency, corresponding to the costs paid from the account in question. These should be created as separate sheets in one Excel file.

If you paid any foreign invoices, you should fill in the Financial Settlement with the amount deducted from your bank account in your own bank account currency. The exact amount can be found in your bank statement or bank transfer confirmation.

A: The Financial Settlement (FS) shall only list bank transfers made from your (the grantee’s) account. If your partners paid certain costs during the project implementation, you should fill out the FS with information about the reimbursement you made to your partners for these costs. Payments made to partners should be divided according to cost categories, even if you reimbursed all costs to them in one payment.

A: Yes, but you will have to consult it with the Fund's project manager in advance. If the delivery is delayed with more than a few working days, an official request letter must be submitted to the Fund for approval. The letter must be written on a letterhead paper, contain a detailed reasoning and specific date for the new delivery of the Interim Report. The request must be signed by the statutory representative and sent to your project manager in scanned form.

A: The Fund has 10 working days to review the Interim Report counting from the date of their postal delivery. If the report is incomplete or if further documents are needed, the deadline applies from the day of delivery of these additional documents. Once the Interim Report is approved the Fund has 15 working days to transfer the 2nd tranche of the grant. Therefore, the sooner you provide us with the Interim Report and Interim Financial Statement, the sooner you will know whether the Fund approves the continuation of your project and receive the next tranche from our side.

Please keep in mind that you are only eligible for the second tranche if you have already spent approximately 50% of the first installment by the given deadline. Otherwise the Interim Financial Statement cannot be approved and you will need to prepare another report complying with this criterion.

A: The Interim report is a textual summary of the preliminary progress and results of the project implemented within the marked period. When filling out the Interim Report, try to be as specific as possible. The Interim Report is not only a checklist of events and output that were implemented, but also serves as a means to evaluate your own work, different aspects of the implementation and the role of the partners in the cooperation. Describe whether the implementation is on track as you planned, highlight any changes that were made compared to the original plan and any obstacles that hindered your work.

A: No, we do not require additional documents by default, however, the assigned project manager may ask for them on an individual basis if some cost items or descriptions are unclear.

A: Instructions can be found on a separate sheet in the Interim Financial Statement XLS file. When describing the individual costs in Column 5 “Cost description”, be as specific as possible. The Fund cannot accept insufficient descriptions such as “expert fee”, “hotel” or “bus ticket” without the proper indication as to whom the cost was paid, for what reason, and for what output/activity.

A: If your expenses have been incurred in more than one currency, you must create a separate Financial Settlement sheet for each currency. Please do not forget, however, that the total sum should always be indicated in EUR (€) in each sheet.

A: When choosing the proper rate, you have two options. You may either use the exchange rate of the national bank (where the grantee resides) on the date of  converting the first installment into the local currency or the monthly average exchange rate of the respective national bank in the last full month in which the first (interim) period of the project ends.

A: Templates are found at https://www.visegradfund.org/archive/documents/visegrad-visegrad-strategic-grants/

A: The Interim Report and the Interim Financial Statement need to be uploaded to the online system, under the tab “Interim Report”, and sent to the Fund via post as well by the given deadline.