EC audit methodology for financial instruments 2014-2020

The European Commission’s ‘Audit methodology for auditing financial instruments 2014-2020’ is available here on the fi-compass website.

This methodology has the objective to assist the European Commission auditors and audit authorities for their audits pursuant to Article 127 of Common Provisions Regulation (CPR). It sets out the overall audit approach of the Commission services for carrying out audits of financial instruments in accordance with the applicable rules.

The methodology focusses on the following topics:

• Key audit areas of financial instruments,

• Work to be carried out by the audit authorities, related to the different stages of a financial instrument: set-up, implementation, at closure, confirmation of eligibility (Article 42 of CPR),

• Specificities for the audit of financial instruments implemented by EIB and other international financial institutions, and

• Treatment of irregularities in financial instruments.

The three annexes of the audit methodology include:

• A comprehensive audit checklist for auditing financial instruments in the period 2014-2020,

• A sampling methodology for financial instruments, and

• Special provisions for documentation of investments in working capital.

The relevant parts of the audit checklist can also be used by the managing authorities while carrying out their management verifications under Article 125 of CPR. These shall be carried out throughout the programming period, based on the progress of implementation, at the level of bodies implementing the financial instrument and, in the context of guarantee funds, at the level of bodies delivering the underlying new loans, when applicable.

Audit and control in financial instruments 2014-2020 was also presented by European Commission’s experts at the FI Campus 2019 event in Brussels. The presentation can be found here.