Impact evaluations
Under Article 26 of the Model Grant Agreement, the granting authority may conduct formal Impact Evaluations to measure the long-term societal, economic, and scientific effects of your project. These evaluations assess how well your outcomes met the KPIs of the overarching EU funding programme, and they can be launched during the project or up to 5 years after your final payment.
In day-to-day practice, separate standalone evaluations are rarely launched. For the current funding cycle, the European Commission primarily tracks impact directly through the metrics you submit during mandatory continuous reporting. The granting authority will contact your project coordinator directly if a specialized impact evaluation is required for your project.
Further information
Legal Guidelines: Read the administrative rules in the EU Annotated Grant Agreement (AGA) under the Article 26 section.
Continuous Reporting Guide: See how impact data is routinely gathered via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal online manual.
Granting authority checks, reviews and audits
Understand the checks, reviews and audits that may take place at the end of your project or after it has finished, and the records you may need to retain.
Audits in Horizon Europe are carried out to verify compliance with the Grant Agreement (GA) and to ensure the proper implementation of the project. They may have different focuses and can be conducted by various bodies.
There are different types of audits, which serve different purposes and are carried out by different entities:
- Certificate on the Financial Statements (CFS) – “First” level audit
- Audit by the European Commission – “Second” level audit
For further information please see the dedicated page on CFS on the EU funding and tenders portal.
This type of audit is carried out either by the European Commission itself or by external audit firms contracted by it. The focus is typically on the verification of the financial implementation but may also include technical or administrative aspects.
Note
- Third parties (i.e. non-project partners) may also be audited. Beneficiaries must therefore ensure that the European Commission can exercise its audit rights vis-à-vis such third parties.
- If ineligible costs are identified, they may be recovered or offset against future payments.
- In the case of systematic errors, audit findings may be extended to other reporting periods or even to other EU-funded projects of the beneficiary (“extension of findings”).
- Audits may also lead to additional financial or administrative consequences.
- Costs incurred in connection with an audit during the project implementation are, in principle, eligible.
Procedure
An audit generally follows this process:
- Notification by the European Commission (Letter of Announcement, LoA) via the Funding & Tenders Opportunities Portal
- Document review (“desk review”) by the European Commission or the external audit firm
- Where applicable, an on-the-spot visit
- Transmission of a draft audit report including the findings to the beneficiary
- Opportunity for the beneficiary to provide comments within 30 days (“contradictory audit procedure”)
- Transmission of the final audit report and the “audit letter of conclusion (LoC)”
- Where applicable, follow-up measures (e.g. cost corrections, grant reduction) – Cost adjustments resulting from an audit are implemented by the European Commission. The beneficiary does not need to submit any separate correction.
Audit by the European Court of Auditors – “Third” level audit
The European Court of Auditors examines the use of EU funds and, in doing so, also reviews the activities of the European Commission. Beneficiaries and third parties may also be subject to such audits.
Supporting documents and record-keeping
To ensure eligibility of costs and proper project implementation, beneficiaries must retain all relevant documents and supporting evidence and provide them upon request. The retention period refers to at least 5 years after the final payment (or longer in case of ongoing audits or based on national requirements). In principle, original documents must be kept. Electronic or digitised documents are acceptable if they comply with national legal requirements.
For personnel costs, additional time records (declarations and/or time sheets) are required.
Note:
- Costs that are not sufficiently supported may be rejected and recovered by the European Commission.
- Beneficiaries are responsible for ensuring that their affiliated entities also comply with these requirements.
Last updated: 29 October 2026