Income and expenditure NWO
In short
- NWO mainly receives money from OCW. Revenues increased gradually until 2017 and sharply in 2018.
- NWO mainly gives money to the universities and to the NWO institutes.
- In 2018 there was a one-off change in reporting between NWO and OCW.
| Other income | Third party contributions | OCW funding | |
| 2001 | 17,8 | 67,4 | 347,4 |
| 2002 | 6 | 58,7 | 381,5 |
| 2003 | 12,9 | 70,4 | 355,1 |
| 2004 | 13,4 | 79,5 | 358,8 |
| 2005 | 9,5 | 93,3 | 386,9 |
| 2006 | 7,8 | 85,9 | 411 |
| 2007 | 10,6 | 89,6 | 466,5 |
| 2008 | 9,4 | 88,9 | 502,8 |
| 2009 | 13,3 | 84,1 | 610,1 |
| 2010 | 8 | 94 | 625,4 |
| 2011 | 22 | 91,8 | 584,6 |
| 2012 | 11,9 | 107 | 615,1 |
| 2013 | 16 | 97,3 | 617,8 |
| 2014 | 8,9 | 116,3 | 688,4 |
| 2015 | 7,3 | 138 | 706,4 |
| 2016 | 8,8 | 135,9 | 769,2 |
| 2017 | 7,1 | 150,6 | 745,5 |
| 2018 | 6,7 | 131,7 | 1081,9 |
| 2019 | 6,2 | 146,1 | 1014 |
| 2020 | 6,4 | 78,4 | 950,8 |
| 2021 | 6,2 | 103,6 | 997,5 |
| 2022 | 14,9 | 133,8 | 1559,5 |
| Management and administration NWO | Other research institutes | NWO-institutes | KNAW-institutes | Universities | Universities of applies sciences | TO2 institutions | Ministry of Education | |
| 2015 | 51 | 103,868 | 185,825 | 496,425 | 31,7 | |||
| 2016 | 60,135 | 111,174 | 183,336711 | 439,114 | 31,525 | |||
| 2017 | 62,506 | 136,6605976 | 167,407 | 478,9507239 | 34,97367857 | |||
| 2018 | 72,38 | 115,0942041 | 177,73 | 608,7107959 | 25,435 | 342,023 | ||
| 2019 | 80,743 | 94,219 | 189,597 | 16,73 | 521,664 | 56,258 | 5,192 | |
| 2020 | 78,8 | 101,5 | 188,5 | 15,8 | 611,7 | 53,7 | 3,3 | |
| 2021 | 84,5 | 76,6 | 207,5 | 8,3 | 413,9 | 69 | 3,6 | |
| 2022 | 95,6 | 142,8 | 184,6 | 5,7 | 669,4 | 91,5 | 3,4 |
Income mainly from OCW
Some 79% to 92% of NWO's income comes from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. The income from OCW increases gradually between 2001 and 2017. In 2018 there is a large increase. The main reason for this increase is an amount of 186 million euros for sector plans, for the digital and large-scale infrastructure, for the National Science Agenda and for the governing bodies National Regieorgaan Education Research (NRO) and National Regieorgaan Praktijkgericht Onderzoek SIA (NRPO-SIA). In addition to income from OCW, NWO also has other income and contributions from third parties. The contributions from third parties increase over time but decrease in 2020, possibly as a result of the corona crisis, and rise to 134 million euros in 2022. The other income is more erratic.
Expenditure especially at universities and institutes
NWO's total expenditure decreases slightly in 2016 and increases slightly in 2017. In 2018, expenditure increases further to almost 1,000 million euros. On top of this, there is a one-off large expenditure of 342 million euros to OCW in 2018. This is the result of a different accounting methodology (see also the drop-down window below). In 2020, the expenditure will also exceed 1000 million euro.
Each year half of NWO's expenditure goes to universities. About 20% is spent on NWO institutes and STW, 8% on universities of applied sciences and about 10% on other research institutions. Administration costs fluctuate between 6% and 10% of total expenditure and consist of programme costs and NWO administration costs.
NWO prepares the financial statements in accordance with the accrual system (RJ 660). This means that the expenses are accounted for when NWO grants funding instead of when it is paid out. As a result, liabilities that were financed with the government grant from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science were included as receivables on the balance sheet.
An important consequence of the transition to RJ 660 and the financing agreements with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science was that from 2013, part of the receivables from OCW could no longer be valued. As a result, this part of the OCW receivable was written down in 2013 and included in the other reserve.
In 2018 and 2019, various discussions were held between NWO and OCW about NWO's annual report. As a result, OCW has changed its view with regard to the long-term subsidy claim against OCW.
The changed view of OCW and the assessment of this against the applicable frameworks and guidelines for annual reporting that apply to NWO ultimately resulted in a full write-down of the long-term subsidy claim against OCW in 2018. This write-down will also be charged to the rest in 2018 brought in reserve.
Source: NWO 2019 Annual Report, page 59.
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For an explanation of the used definitions and acronyms we kindly refer to the web page Definitions for Science in Figures.