Programme Cooperation Agreement 2012 – 2013

Figure 3: Breakdown of the 2012-13 expenditures of KNOK 104.721

11.2.3 Expenditures versus funding

matter, and programmes with negative balance in ta- ble 4 will be funded with contracted funding belonging to 2014. There are no balances of MFA funding carried over from the biennium 2012-13 into 2014. Transfer of funds is related to unspent external funding on pro- jects (prepayment from donors), and should not be mixed with long term funding agreements on larger programmes.

Table 5 below shows how the funding balances at year- ends relate to the project activity (expenditures) per programme. The main task for project managers and finance department is to monitor that all projects has sufficient funding and can be delivered within these frames. All projects have been reviewed regarding this

Expenditures versus funding and impact on funding reserves (MNOK) Transfer from 2011 Actual funding 2012-2013 Expenditure 2012-13 Variance (transfer into 2014)

Programme

Marine: UNEP Shelf (A)

- 0,2 - 0,3

16,6 27,3

16,8 22,9

- 0,4

Management of the Marine Environment (B) Green Economy and Natural Resources (C)

4,1

0,3

3,8

4,3

- 0,3

Polar and Cryoshpere

- 0,4

28,0 25,0

26,7 26,2

1,0 0,1 0,6

Capacity Building and Assessment Communications and Outreach

1,3 1,4 2,1

7,0

7,8

TOTALS

107,7

104,7

5,2

Table 5: Expenditures versus funding 2012-13 and impact on funding reserves (MNOK)

11.3 Budget 2014 The budget for 2014 provides the basis for the MFA work plan and is normally prepared in October/Novem- ber and approved by the Board of Directors at the be- ginning of December. The budget is based on the fund- raising outlook at that time. Due to the challenges faced related to GEF implementations and securing other ex- ternal funding, a conservative budget for 2014 has been prepared.

Therefore the Project Expenditure budget is reduced from the 2013 MNOK 70.7 level down to MNOK 54.4 for 2014 mainly to minimize the consequences of any pro- ject delays and reducing operational risks. Cost reduc- tions in staffing and administration costs (see table 6) may be needed to secure an increased solidity/equity by MNOK 1.5 in 2014. Due to the high amount of prospects and major challenges to balance the project budgets with today’s staff rates, the rates remain unchanged in 2014.

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