seurantaeriä

Seurantaerä is a Finnish budgeting term referring to a dedicated budgetary line item used for follow-up, monitoring, or post-implementation activities related to a project, program, or contract. The word combines seuranta (monitoring) with erä (item or amount), and the plural form seurantaeriä denotes multiple such items.

In practice, seurantaerä is commonly encountered in the public sector, including municipalities and the state, as well as in corporate project budgeting. It serves to provide financial room for activities that arise after the main procurement or project work has begun or concluded, such as evaluations, reporting, audits, data collection, performance measurements, or contract management. By earmarking these funds separately, organizations aim to ensure that necessary monitoring tasks can be financed without changing the primary project budget.

Accounting and governance practices regarding seurantaerä vary by organization but typically involve recording the amount as a separate appropriation or sub-item within a larger budget. Expenditures charged to the seurantaerä are allocated to follow-up activities, and the use of the funds is usually subject to reporting requirements and, in the public sector, external oversight or auditing.

Examples of activities that might be funded through seurantaerä include post-implementation reviews, compliance checks, performance reporting, and the handling of contractual obligations during the monitoring phase. Proper documentation and transparency are important to prevent ambiguity about how the funds are used and to ensure accountability.

See also: budget line item, appropriation, reserve, post-implementation costs.