Financial resources

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Key budget and account figures

At the end of the financial year, the amount of commitments fulfilled came to €221.570 million. As a result, the budget implementation balance shows a surplus of €15.716 million.

At the end of the 2017 financial year, gross working capital stood at €37.019 million versus €24.496 million in 2016: an increase of €12.523 million. The goal to gradually consolidate the net working capital (after reassignment of carryover to BR1) to a prudential level of 30 operating days has been secured. This increase comes from the sale of the Arue site (€4.5 million). The exceptional income from this will cover investment operations for the next multi-annual real estate strategy scheme (SPSI). This increase is also due to a shift in the investment operations calendar, which will be definitively implemented in 2018. The financial margins thus re-established will make it possible to fund multi-year investment plans in the scientific, real estate and IT fields for the 2018-2021 period.

Cash expenses reported for 2017 stood at €220.706 million (authorised expenses) versus €223.615 million receivable income (securities issued). Taking into account the expenses and income calculated, the 2017 income statement reports a surplus of €12.139 million.

The financial volume of the research contracts signed in 2017 has increased by 13% compared to 2016. This significant increase is a product of the establishment’s efforts to consolidate its own resources.

Consolidated resources to the benefit of research

The public service grant (SCSP) is €205.810 million, compared to €201.890 million: an increase of €3.920 million. This increase covers the new salary measures: increase of the index point, application of the PPCR (Professional Progression, Careers and Pay protocol) and RIFSEEP (Payment regime taking into account roles, constraints, expertise and professional engagement) grids, for an estimated sum of €3.409 million. It also includes the resources devoted to supporting deep sea vessels on the SCSP subsidy within the TGIR, which are also increasing. Against a background of efforts to turn around public accounts, this increase reflects the national priority for public research and can be seen as a sign of trust in IRD and its teams.

The room for manoeuvre thus provided, together with a policy to rationalise so-called support expenses (rents, service contracts, etc.) has been transferred to research.

Having begun in 2015, the trajectory aiming to strengthen the resources allocated to research units continues. These have increased by €632 K, or 4.65 % compared to 2016. In the 2017 programme, this increase is the result of the units’ increased basic allocations, to neutralise the increase in accommodation expenses, credits related to support for observatory-type platforms and those devoted to long-term initiatives.

Scientific infrastructures benefited from sustained efforts. The Institute makes financial contributions to 9 projects for a total forecasted commitment of €2.139 million. In 2016, two operations to which IRD is committed were launched as part of the CPER 2015-2020 phase.

The deployment of the SIFAC-EPST tool

To implement the major modernisation reform, which is significantly revising the general structural framework for the budget and accounts management of the State and its operators (public budgetary and accounts management / GBCP decree), IRD has chosen to use the SIFAC solution proposed by the Agency for the Mutualisation of Universities and Higher Teaching and Research Establishments (AMUE).

Two kinds of benefits are expected from this pioneering choice among public scientific and technical establishments: firstly economic, with a reduction in both investment and operational costs, and secondly, functional, by facilitating the management of the units via a common tool shared with the partner universities.

With the active contribution of the AMUE, a dedicated project team has been put together, with skills from the Finance Department, the Department for the Development of Innovative Digital Usage, the Principal Accounting Agency, the HR Department, and the regional delegations. This makes a total of almost 40 agents directly involved in the critical phases of the project, surrounding a streamlined pilot team.

The implementation of SIFAC also required a training programme on a scale not seen at IRD for 10 years, with over 300 agents trained. This stage is an important pillar in the simplification process aiming to make the Institute’s activities more flexible and effective, particularly when it comes to research activities. This is part of the Institute’s modernisation process, undertaken in response to its new strategic directions.

As part of the project, a new, more ergonomic and more comprehensive decision-making solution has been set up. This was deployed in the budgetary sector in 2018, to help all budget managers and their support resources get used to the SIFAC tool and the new budgetary accounting coming out of the GBCP decree.