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Article 32 Audit and control Structures

United Kingdom

Original text. Later amendments are not shown.

1.

Expenditure declared by the beneficiary in support of a payment request shall be examined by an auditor or by a competent public officer being independent from the beneficiary. The auditor or the competent public officer shall examine whether the costs declared by the beneficiary and the revenue of the project are real, accurately recorded and eligible in accordance with the contract.

This examination shall be performed on the basis of an agreed-upon procedure which will be undertaken in accordance with:

(a)

the International Standard on Related Services 4400 Engagements to perform Agreed-upon Procedures regarding Financial Information as promulgated by International Federation of Accountants (IFAC);

(b)

IFAC Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants, developed and issued by IFAC's International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants.

For public officers, those procedures and standards shall be laid down at national level taking account of international standards.

The auditor shall meet at least one of the following requirements:

(a)

be a member of a national accounting or auditing body or institution which in turn is member of IFAC;

(b)

be a member of a national accounting or auditing body or institution. Where this organisation is not a member of IFAC, the auditor shall commit to undertake the work in accordance with IFAC standards and ethics;

(c)

be registered as a statutory auditor in the public register of a public oversight body in a Member State in accordance with the principles of public oversight set out in Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Councilf1;

(d)

be registered as a statutory auditor in the public register of a public oversight body in a CBC partner country, provided this register is subject to principles of public oversight as set out in the legislation of the country concerned.

The public officer shall have the necessary technical expertise in carrying out its examination work

2.

In addition the Managing Authority shall perform its own verifications pursuant to point (a) of Article 26(5) and Article 26(6). For the purpose of carrying out verifications throughout the whole programme area, the Managing Authority may be assisted by the control contact points.

The participating countries shall take all possible measures to support the Managing Authority in its control tasks.

3.

The Audit Authority shall ensure that audits are carried out on the management and control systems, on an appropriate sample of projects and on the annual accounts of the programme as referred to in Article 28. The group of auditors mentioned in Article 28(2) shall be set up within three months of the designation of the Managing Authority. It shall draw up its own rules of procedures. It shall be chaired by the Audit Authority appointed for the programme.

Each participating country may authorise the Audit Authority to carry out directly its duties on its territory.

4.

The independence of the body(ies) mentioned in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall be guaranteed.

Annotations

Footnotes

f1

Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on statutory audits of annual accounts and consolidated accounts, amending Council Directives 78/660/EEC and 83/349/EEC and repealing Council Directive 84/253/EEC (OJ L 157, 9.6.2006, p. 87).