The finance helpdesk just published an answer to the question: "Is it a problem if the eligible costs of a Beneficiary turn out to be significantly higher than the EC contribution for FP7 projects?".

Their answer is "absolutely not":

"If you are in the position where your eligible costs are higher then you can actually claim for, please still show your full correct eligible costs even if you think that you will not receive extra funding for it. Do not artificially cap your eligible costs so that the requested funding is a direct fit.

Showing that you actually spent more that you are allowed to claim for is good on so many levels:

1) The Commission feel that they get more value for money – and that you were committed to the project.
2) If another partner underspends, and the consortium agrees, then you could claim extra money.
3) If you have to do similar work in the future you can justify asking for more funding.
4) If you have an external audit and it is found that some of your eligible costs are actually ineligible, then you have more eligible costs to draw from."