11-10-2017 09:00
Post-2020 Audit Reform in the EU: mission possible

Audit work has changed over the years. Compliance audits look principally at the legality and regularity of payments, but they say nothing about whether the political and economic objectives were achieved. A bridge in the middle of nowhere may have been built in respect of public procurement rules and contract obligations. These compliance audits are increasingly supplemented by performance audits, in which you try to answer the question whether the objective was achieved in an economic, effective and efficient manner. In spite of the growing complexity of the audit process the administrative burden for beneficiaries should remain reasonable. The key question is: How do we strike the right balance between providing easy access to European public funds for beneficiaries, while guaranteeing sound financial management. One element which has to be put in place for this purpose is a single audit chain, where one level build on the work of the other.