Rouages: “Ensuring the financial sustainability of the I-Site program of excellence”
Elisa Pincin is the head of the “I-Site Excellence Program and Annual Resources” department. Within the Office of Financial Affairs, she helps ensure the effective management of annual resources and safeguards the financial sustainability of the I-Site Excellence Program, which was extended through 2022. She explains this role to us this month as part of the “Rouages” video series produced by the University of Montpellier.
The University of Montpellier’s Office of Financial Affairs, where about forty staff members work, 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, wearing glasses, is working to set up the brand-new department she heads: the I-Site Program of Excellence and Annual Resources Department, created following the permanent establishment of the I-Site program in March 2022 after four years of piloting.“For now, there are three of us on this team, and we’re currently recruiting a fourth staff member. It’s a department still in the works—it was only established last November—so we’re growing step by step,” explains the department head.
I-Site Program of Excellence
This is a massive undertaking for the University of Montpellier, which, by securing this long-term funding, has set aside an endowment of 550 million euros—or 17 million euros per year. Managing this budget clearly called for the creation of a separate department. “The I-Site Program of Excellence (PEI) is a somewhat unique form of funding because we have this €17 million in revenue coming in every year—which is fairly standard—but unlike other forms of funding, we can spread the expenditure over several fiscal years. So we have to make sure the curves don’t intersect,” explains Elisa Pincin.
The PEI’s initiatives, defined by the strategic committee, take the form of calls for proposals in a variety of fields: research, training, mobility, and student initiatives. Elisa Pincin’s team then liaises with the successful applicants to manage the allocated funding and ensure the program’s sustainability. The team uses several IT tools, such as the Sifac financial and budget management software and the Amphi platform. “The management of Amphi is coordinated by the steering department, 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 not only with numbers, of course, but also with IT tools,” explains the department head.
Manage Annual Resources
In fact, the young woman had been working in the Management Oversight Department until her new department was created. After earning a master’s degree in management control and organizational auditing from Montpellier Management, she completed her first year of an apprenticeship at an accounting firm before joining the Management Oversight Department for her second year, where she was offered a contract upon graduation. Elisa Pincin then passed the competitive exam and became a tenured employee.“At the Dpil, my main responsibility involved the financial management of the annual budgets for the academic departments, schools, and institutes under the direction of Virginie Pastoret. When she was appointed to the Daf, I chose to follow her to continue this work.”
Each year, the University receives a public service subsidy (SCSP) from the government. Amounting to 320 million euros, this subsidy covers the salaries of all tenured faculty members as well as a large portion of the operating costs of all the structures within the “UM ,” to which funds are reallocated based on various criteria.“There are also allocations tied to specific laws, such as ParcoursSup or the reform of health studies, which have mobilized specific funding. In each situation, the process is the same: how we allocate the funds, how we implement them, what monitoring is in place, and what dashboards are used so that the units can track their budgets…”explains the manager.
The academic units (UFRs), schools, and institutes also have their own resources: grants, tuition, apprenticeship programs, continuing education, rental of facilities, etc. These resources must, of course, be monitored and may be subject to certain decisions by the management team, while respecting their accounting autonomy. “All of this is part of an annual budget and management dialogue. We meet with the units, assess whether everything is running smoothly, and determine if budget adjustments are needed based on investments, operations, and so on. We work closely with the budget department at the DAF.”
Accounting and Budget Analysis
To report on her responsibilities, Elisa Pincin participates each year in the preparation of the financial analysis. This year-end document accompanies the budget and provides the authorizing officer—that is, the management team, led by the president and the chief operating officer—with insights into the factors underlying the financial statements for the past year. “This is the most analytical part of my responsibilities. I contribute to the ‘annual resources and PEI’ section; however, everything related to multi-year planning—which represents a very large portion—falls outside my scope and is instead handled by the Revenue and Multi-Year Operations Department, another department within the Finance Division.”
This is a task that the department head—an organized and meticulous person—particularly enjoys:“I know this may seem strange to some, but I like to tackle somewhat complex issues and try to simplify them, present them clearly, and make them easy to understand. It’s something I enjoy; it simply fits my personality.”