Rouages: “Ensuring the financial sustainability of the I-Site program of excellence”
Elisa Pincin is head of the "I-Site Excellence Program and Annual Resources" department. Within the Financial Affairs Division, she contributes to the effective management of annual resources and ensures the financial sustainability of the I-Site Excellence Program, which will continue in 2022. She explains this mission to us this month as part of the Rouages video series produced by the University of Montpellier.
The University of Montpellier's financial department, which employs around 40 staff, is located between the president's office and the Institute of Botany, on the edge of the Jardin des Plantes. On the second floor, Elsa Pincin, glasses perched on her nose, is working to set up the brand-new department she heads: the I-Site program of excellence and annual resources department, created following the continuation of the I-Site in March 2022 after four years of experimentation. "At the moment, there are three of us in this team and we are in the process of recruiting a fourth employee. It's a department that is still in the process of being set up, having only been created last November, so we are developing little by little," explains the head of department.
I-Site Excellence Program
This is a huge challenge for the University of Montpellier, which, with this long-term commitment, has secured funding of €550 million, or €17 million per year. Managing this budget required the creation of a separate department. " The I-Site Excellence Program (PEI) is a somewhat unusual source of funding because we have this €17 million revenue coming in every year, which is fairly standard, but unlike other sources of funding, we can spread the expenditure over several financial years. We therefore have to make sure that the curves don't cross," explains Elisa Pincin.
The PEI's actions, defined by the strategic committee, take the form of calls for projects in various fields: research, training, mobility, and student initiatives. Elisa Pincin's team liaises with the winners of these calls for projects to manage the allocated funding and ensure the sustainability of the program. It has several IT tools at its disposal, such as the Sifac financial and budget management software and the Amphi platform. "The management of Amphi is coordinated by the steering committee, with whom we work closely. This platform allows us to generate reports using dashboards, manage the allocation of funds, and liaise with project leaders. For this reason, it is essential in our field to be comfortable with numbers, of course, but also with IT tools," explains the head of department.
Manage annual resources
It was in the steering committee that the young woman worked until the creation of her new department. With a master's degree in management control and organizational auditing from Montpellier Management, she spent her first year of training at an accounting firm before joining the steering committee for her second year, which offered her a contract after graduation. Elisa Pincin then took the competitive exam and became a permanent employee. "At Dpil, my main task was the financial management of the annual resources of the UFRs, Schools, and Institutes under the direction of Virginie Pastoret. When she was appointed to Daf, I chose to follow her to continue this mission."
Each year, the University receives a subsidy from the State for public service costs, known as the SCSP. This subsidy, amounting to €320 million, covers the salaries of all permanent staff and a large part of the operating costs of all UM structures, to which funds are reallocated according to various criteria. "There are also grants linked to specific laws such as ParcoursSup or the reform of health studies, which has mobilized specific funds. In each situation, the approach is the same: how to allocate the funds, how to implement them, what monitoring is required, what dashboards are needed so that the structures can have a return on their budget,"explains the manager.
The departments, schools, and institutes also have their own resources: subsidies, tuition fees, apprenticeships, continuing education, rental of premises, etc. These resources must of course be monitored and may be subject to certain decisions by the management team in accordance with their accounting autonomy. "All of this is done through annual budget and management discussions. We meet with the departments to see if everything is going well and if any changes to the budget are needed based on investments, operations, etc. We work closely with the budget department at the DAF."
Accounting and budget analysis
To report on her assignments, Elisa Pincin participates each year in the production of the financial analysis. This is a closing document that accompanies the budget and allows the authorizing officer, i.e., the management team led by the president and chief operating officer, to access the explanatory factors for the financial statements for the past year. "This is the most analytical part of my duties. I participate in the 'annual resources and PEI' section, but anything that is multi-year and represents a very large part is not within my scope, but that of the multi-year revenue and operations department, another department within the DAF."
This is something that the department head, who is organized and thorough, particularly enjoys: "I know it may seem strange to some, but I like managing complex issues and trying to simplify them, present them clearly, and make them easy to understand. It's something I enjoy doing; it simply suits my personality."