On the 15 June 2009, the Commission made the decision not to reduce the Transitional Indirect rate for calls closing after 31 December 2009. Instead the 60% rate will continue to be used. This is due to the fact that currently about 84% of Universities still use flat rates.

The Finance Helpdesk underlines that this statistic is worrying as it is clear that the vast majority of universities have not yet implemented an accounting system that would allow them to receive much higher funding via using actual indirect costs.

The Finance Helpdesk has been assisting Universities and Research Institutes across Europe in setting up their books correctly and advising on the best suited Indirect Costs Methodology.

They hope that organisations looking into upgrading their accounting systems will not now decide to halt and continue to use the 60% Transitional Indirect rate, when they could from our experience be due a much higher overhead rate.