Transcript PowerPoint-presentatie

Auditing EU funds –
National SAI experiences
Jan van den Bos –
Netherlands Court of Audit
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VI Eurosai Training Event - Prague
7 November 2006
Contents
•
Background and present situation
•
The Dutch experience
•
General overview
•
Conclusion
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Background
and
Present Situation
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Developments in EU financial
management since 2000
•
Unchanged negative opinion of ECA on EU
financial management
•
Reform of the Commission
•
Single Audit opinion of ECA
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Critical Discharge resolutions of EP
•
Commission Roadmap
•
Action Plan
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General framework (1)
European Court of Auditors (ECA)
•
external auditor of the EU accounts
•
audits the European Commission
•
also audits in the Member States
National SAIs (25)
•
audit how their Member States carry out their
responsibilities
•
also how they implement their EU obligations
(including spend and collect EU funds)
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General Framework (2)
Co-operation among EU SAIs
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National SAIs assist the ECA with their audit
missions in the Member States
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Discuss matters of common interest in the
Contact Committee of the Heads of EU SAIs /
at the meetings of Liaison Officers
•
Carrying out common activities in the CC
Working Groups
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National SAIs and EU audit work
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National SAIs can differ greatly in the activities
they undertake
•
Much depends on:
- the constitutional position of the SAI
- the mandate of the SAI
- size of the institution
•
Reflected in work carried out (financial,
compliance, performance audits and
certification work)
•
Capability/willingness to carry out overall
national SAI reports
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EU audits published in 2005
Country
Number of public reports by EU policy sector in 2005
Agriculture
Structural
measures
Internal
policy
Austria
4
-
1
Belgium
1
-
1
Cyprus
-
-
6
Czech Republic
-
1
Denmark
-
-
Germany
-
Estonia
Other (incl.
preaccession)
Overarching/
multiple sectors
Total
2005
Total
2004
-
-
5
7
1
1
4
1
-
-
6
0
2
1
1
5
3
-
-
2
2
5
-
-
1
-
1
5
-
-
-
-
2
2
3
Finland
1
-
-
-
-
1
6
France
-
-
-
-
-
0
2
Greece
-
3
-
-
-
3
3
Hungary
1
-
1
1
3
6
2
Ireland
-
-
-
-
-
0
0
Italy
-
-
-
-
2
2
1
Latvia
-
1
-
-
-
1
4
Lithuania
1
2
1
-
4
8
3
Luxembourg
-
-
-
-
-
0
0
Malta
1
-
1
-
-
2
0
Netherlands
-
1
1
-
1
3
3
Poland
1
1
1
3
-
6
4
Portugal
-
5
-
-
1
6
9
Slovak Republic
2
2
-
-
3
7
3
Slovenia
-
-
-
-
-
0
1
Spain
-
-
-
-
-
0
0
Sweden
-
-
1
-
2
3
2
United Kingdom
TOTAL
8
-
-
-
-
2
2
4
12
16
16
7
24
75
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Some general remarks
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Almost all national SAIs publish results of EU
audits annually
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All sectors of EU policy are covered in the
audit work of national SAIs
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Some SAIs focus more on particular sectors
than others:
- Austria on agriculture
- Portugal and Greece on structural measures
(among others the Cohesion Fund)
- Cyprus on internal policy
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Type of EU audits published on
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Financial audits (26) - mostly in new Member States
(especially Cyprus, Lithuania, Slovak Republic and
Hungary - due to certification/winding-up audit activities)
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Compliance audits (19) - usually focus on the set
up/functioning of management and control systems carried out by 12 national SAIs
•
Performance audits (22) - focus on the execution/results of
EU policy (especially Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and
Sweden)
•
Hybrid audits (8) - not easily categorized - often more
descriptive overall national SAI reports (6 cases)
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The Dutch experience
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1970s/1980s
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Financial/compliance auditing of EC
agricultural spending in the Netherlands
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Part of our annual regularity audit
(for those funds included in the national
accounts)
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1990s
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EU became and integral part of the audit
strategy of the NCA
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NCA started carrying out specific performance
audits in the EU field
(with increasing focus on the structural funds)
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1995 - The Watershed
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Increased interest in Dutch Parliament for EU
affairs
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Request by Public Accounts Committee to
make an inventory of management and control
systems of EU funds
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Increased auditing of individual EU funds
(compliance/performance type)
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Inventory updated three years later
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Since 1999
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The NCA has further developed its EU strategy
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It aims at assisting in
- Getting the Netherlands’ household up to
standards, with respect to collecting and
spending EU-money
- Upgrading EU financial management in EU
as a whole
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Key project to achieve both strategic goals:
the EU Trend Report
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EU Trend Report (1)
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Three Parts:
1) EU Institutions
2) Member State comparisons
3) The Netherlands
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Part 1 and 2: based only on publicly available
information; Part 3: includes own audit results
as well.
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Use of Indicators: to assess regularity and
system quality
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EU Trend Report (2)
Present state of affairs
•
Development of indicators
•
Information coming from DG Budget on
EU expenditure in individual Member States
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More information from EU SAIs is becoming
available/collected
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Member State
assurance statement (1)
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Dutch government has decided to show that it
is possible to give the EC better accountability
reporting on the management of EU funds (will
be sent to both Dutch Parliament and the EC)
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Regularity up to the level of the final
beneficiaries will be included
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If the EC/ECA are satisfied with the assurance
given by the MS the audit intensity by them is
expected to drop
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Member State
assurance statement (2)
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NCA has been asked to give an opinion on the
statement for Dutch Parliament
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Could fit into annual regularity audit that the
NCA does on the State accounts
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General Overview
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EU activities of national SAIs (1)
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More and more SAIs are publishing overall
national SAI reports:
- 4 (Denmark, Italy, Netherlands and UK) in
2004 and
- 8/9 (the above, Belgium, Estonia, Hungary,
Slovenia and possibly Austria) in 2007
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EU activities of national SAIs (2)
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7 other SAIs have separate EU sections in
their annual (audit) reports (Finland, France,
Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal and the
Slovak Republic)
•
3 SAIs are working together with their national
authorities to develop MS declarations
(Denmark, Netherlands and UK)
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Conclusion
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Development
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The role of national SAIs in the audit of EU funds
has become broadly accepted
- by the Member States
- by the EU institutions
•
In the future a more structural role of the national
SAI in assisting its Member State to give the EU
and its citizens better assurance seems probable
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