BAFA programme for consultancy services during the coronavirus crisis

Creating process documentation and identifying opportunities

Law firms and consultants can now apply for government funding to carry out an assessment of current processes, prepare process documentation and derive recommendations for action on behalf of their clients affected by the coronavirus crisis. The scheme, published on 2 April 2020, covers consultancy costs of up to EUR 4,000 at a rate of 100%. Opti.Tax Documentation assists law firms and consultants with their accreditation, the application process and the preparation of the consultancy report, which is crucial for the grant.

The Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA) has brought together various funding schemes under the „Promotion of Entrepreneurial Know-how“ programme. Small and medium-sized enterprises can receive funding for general and specialist consultancy services. This also includes the preparation of process documentation by a tax adviser or a law firm. Support is also available under the Go-digital funding programme, subject to certain conditions.

The aim of these funding opportunities is to make businesses more competitive and to identify opportunities, including those for overcoming the COVID-19 crisis. To ensure that the consultancy provided when drawing up process documentation fulfils this purpose, it must be conceptual in nature: it is eligible for funding if, in addition to identifying weaknesses within the company and their causes, it also includes recommendations for action. For companies, this means not only documenting and analysing their own processes, but going one step further and setting out how they can be made more effective and efficient. Company-specific implementation guidelines cover this step.

In the past, companies generally did not make use of this funding, partly because they were unaware of such opportunities. Furthermore, there is uncertainty regarding accreditation – tax advisers or law firms must be recognised by the BAFA – and regarding the application process and procedure: who is eligible, what can be funded, and how much?

For businesses affected by the coronavirus crisis, the maximum eligible costs have been increased to EUR 4,000 and the grant amounts to 100%. Another notable feature is that the grant from the BAFA is paid directly into the consultancy firm’s bank account.

For general consultancy, the maximum eligible costs amount to EUR 3,000. Where costs total EUR 3,000, the grant may range from EUR 1,500 to EUR 2,700. The funding rate depends on the federal state and is capped at 90 per cent. In practice, it has been found that, to cover administrative tasks, the recommended minimum fee for a consultant should be 1,000 euros. The Go-Digital funding scheme offers support in the form of a flat-rate grant covering 50 per cent of eligible costs. However, the scope of consultancy covered is significantly broader here: it applies to eligible costs of up to 33,000 euros.

Application for funding with software support

The software company hsp Handels-Software-Partner GmbH, in collaboration with the consultant Alexander Thiem (Förderquelle), has launched its solution Opti.Tax expanded to automate the application and subsequent processing of the grant as far as possible.

As a first step, the software generates the necessary documents to apply for accreditation with the BAFA as a tax adviser or practice. If the application is successful, the firm is issued with a consultancy number, which is stored in the software. It can now create client records and begin compiling the process documentation.

To ensure that the Process documentation To ensure that this is also eligible for funding, the 20.1. release – which will go live in April – includes the „Recommendations for Action“ option in the ‘Tasks’ section. This allows a recommendation for action to be associated with every process step set out in the process documentation. Once the process documentation, including the recommendations, has been finalised, a report is generated from it. This consultancy report is essential for obtaining funding. It is submitted and forms the basis for the grant award decision.

Here lies a further obstacle: law firms often do not know exactly what a consultancy report must contain in order to be eligible for funding. To help with this, the software includes templates showing how a consultancy report should ideally be structured – but there are also examples of incorrect reports, complete with comments, the subsequent revisions made and the correct final version.

The consultancy report can be sent from the software either to hsp or to the consultant Alexander Thiem (Source of funding) can be sent. The practice then receives feedback and helps to populate a sample database for all Opti.Tax users, so that the software can be continuously optimised.

The software automates and minimises repetitive tasks such as entering master data. This means that the application can be completed in five minutes.

Process documentation as a starting point for further funding

Process documentation provides a good starting point for exploring the various advisory topics relating to funding.

This gives law firms another argument to use in convincing their clients of the benefits and necessity of process documentation. With their help and a broader view of processes within the organisation, it is possible to identify areas for optimisation and develop recommendations for action to put the organisation in a stronger position.

Conclusion

In the current climate, process documentation presents an opportunity and offers the potential to scrutinise and optimise a company’s structures and processes. The government’s funding schemes offer an incentive to tackle the issue of process documentation – suitable software further lowers the barrier to entry and guides law firms through the process of applying for funding and documenting their processes.