Aid Funds

Several European Union aid programs are available for Polish businesses, local governments and public institutions. These programs support the operations of businesses and their investments. Following Poland's accession to the EU the number of possibilities available increased. Part of the aid comes from the European Union and part from the Polish budget. Irrespective of their origination, the procedures for raising these funds are complicated and require a significant involvement on the part of the potential beneficiaries.

How can businesses, local governments and public institutions prepare to use EU and national programs to support their activities and investment projects? The process of raising funds is long and complicated and a positive decision to award the said resources does not end the problem. The beneficiary has to undergo detailed control and account for the aid received.

Our solutions

Our department together with experienced specialists from other PwC departments can help in the whole process of obtaining and using EU funding. This aid includes:

		checking whether a given project or investment qualifies for aid and from what sources;
		preparing the necessary documents;
		obtaining partners to help execute the project or capital investment via our contacts in Poland and abroad;
		project management help;
		planning and carrying out an investment audit - minimizing the risk of irregularities arising and of non-compliance with the formal requirements by implementing appropriate control tools;
		help in final accounting for the finance obtained from public funds.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has a team of experts in supervising widely understood project management. The team's basic areas of interest are:

1. Assessing project risk. Depending on the type of project, the assessment of threats may include:
   1. Analysis of the risk resulting from changes in the business processes and developing a method to counter them;
   2. Anticipating the risks and results of realising a concrete project;
   3. Client confidence protection programs and managing risk in respect of cooperating partners;
   4. Managing risk at a strategic level;
   5. Controlling and ensuring the effectiveness of a project, supervising timeliness, controlling the costs and analysing the budget against actual results;
   6. Protection of image and reputation;
   The PricewaterhouseCoopers methodology ensures that all risk aspects of a given project are analyzed at all stages of its completion, starting with financial issues through IT to quality and timeliness.
2. Creating a complex project plan for:
   1. Managing the project;
   2. Documenting the project and determining the work components;
   3. Documenting the assumptions and limitations in the planning;
   4. Determining competitive goals and the relations between them;
   5. Agreeing the contact and cooperation policies between the parties;
   6. Assessing the progress of work;
3. Creating and/or maintaining a Project Office whose task it will be to:
   1. Initiate the project;
   2. Manage risk, relations and solve problems;
   3. Maintain documentation, a project library and reporting;
   4. Control changes;
   5. Manage contracts and quality;
   6. Administer and close the project;
4. Reviews of operating readiness. This diagnosis is made shortly before starting implementation or before closing a project and is aimed at confirming that all the stakeholders are ready to start implementing or to close the project and to check whether there are any unidentified threats which could negatively impact the success of the project;
5. On-going quality control consisting of:
   1. Preparing the type, time schedule and scope of control activities for completing the quality program;
   2. Carrying out the agreed operations by focusing on enhancing the key processes and products within the shortest possible timeframe and with the minimum of work;
6. Diagnosis of the project constituting an assessment of the project at a random stage to identify any threats and their direct causes so that any problems can be solved once and for all;
7. Project management by seconding our employee to your firm.

A specific service, currently available only in PricewaterhouseCoopers, is providing support in investment project management. This service, offered by our interdisciplinary team of specialists, is designed for companies which plan to undertake large investment projects and its aim is to control the timeliness of the project and minimise costs. The service includes:

1. Support at the planning stage of the investment project (assessing the project plan, selecting a method of financing, negotiation support, assessing the location of the project);
2. Support at the designing stage of the project (controlling the arrangements, supervising the timeliness of document flow);
3. Support at tender level and selecting the contractor (preparing or reviewing the tender documentation available at the company, help in carrying out the tender and assessing the proposals, legal and technical support in preparing the contract after selecting a contractor and negotiation support);
4. Support at the investment planning stage (reviewing and verifying the process for selecting a substitute investor, an inspector for supervision, assessing the investor's influence on the selection of suppliers and subcontractors);
5. Support at the execution stage of the project

   		technical part (preparing the work time schedule, technical control of the completed work, control of the reasonableness and scope of completion of additional work);
   		financial part (review the process for accepting the budget, controlling the stage of completion, technical acceptance and payments, the merits, formal and accounting control of the contractor's invoices, investor supervision over all material changes to the scope and cost of the project, control of the correctness of accounting for materials, work, delays, changes, etc.);
   		accounting part (tailoring the chart of accounts to the specific nature of the project, controlling the correctness of cost allocation and capitalization, controlling the correctness of the books and accounting for the investment);
   		tax part (preparing a plan for tax optimization based on financial forecasts, help with claiming VAT refunds, control of compliance with VAT regulations, classification for the purpose of real estate tax);

6. Support at the acceptance stage of the investment project (control of the acceptance process, carrying out the necessary tests and trials, demanding certificates, declarations and certifications from contractors).