1 Homologues Group Meeting Slovenia, October 2009 Republika SlovenijaEuropean Union Ljubljana, October 2009 Draft information note on the Annual Control Report and Opinion for 31/12/2009 Ljubljana, October 2009 Caroline Callens Deputy Head of Unit DG REGIO J.1, Coordination of audit, relations with the Court of Auditors and OLAF Caroline Callens Deputy Head of Unit DG REGIO J.1, Coordination of audit, relations with the Court of Auditors and OLAF

2 Homologues Group Meeting Slovenia, October 2009 Republika SlovenijaEuropean Union Ljubljana, October 2009 Objective of the note To clarify the Commission’s expectations with respect to the Annual Control Report and the Opinion for the year 2009.

3 Homologues Group Meeting Slovenia, October 2009 Republika SlovenijaEuropean Union Ljubljana, October 2009 Introduction The annual control report and opinion -> main source of assurance for the Commission in 2009

4 Homologues Group Meeting Slovenia, October 2009 Republika SlovenijaEuropean Union Ljubljana, October 2009 ACR 2009 – What to be reported ? Second report Findings of audits carried out during 01/07/ /06/2009 -> System audits -> Audits of operations (01/01/ /12/2008)

5 Homologues Group Meeting Slovenia, October 2009 Republika SlovenijaEuropean Union Ljubljana, October 2009 ACR 2009 – What to be reported ? Any important information or any significant events occurring after the audit period -> should be reported and considered when establishing the level of assurance and opinion

6 Homologues Group Meeting Slovenia, October 2009 Republika SlovenijaEuropean Union Ljubljana, October 2009 ACR 2009 – 3 cases 1) Expenditure has been declared in ) Significant expenditure declared by 31/12/2009 3) No or minimal amount of expenditure declared by 31/12/2009

7 Homologues Group Meeting Slovenia, October 2009 Republika SlovenijaEuropean Union Ljubljana, October 2009 Case 1 - Expenditure declared in > annual control report and annual opinion to be provided in accordance with Article 62 (1) (d) (i) and (ii) of Council Regulation No 1083/2006 and Article 18 (2) of Commission Regulation 1828/2006

8 Homologues Group Meeting Slovenia, October 2009 Republika SlovenijaEuropean Union Ljubljana, October 2009 Case 2 : Significant expenditure declared by 31/12/2009 -> actual implementation of OP and systems are functioning -> system audits should have been performed in line with AS agreed and as discussed in the bilateral coordination meetings

9 Homologues Group Meeting Slovenia, October 2009 Republika SlovenijaEuropean Union Ljubljana, October 2009 Case 2 : Significant expenditure declared by 31/12/2009 However, maybe no audit of operations done -> no basis for determining an error rate -> complete ACR -> opinion based on the results of the systems audits with scope limitation for audits of operations

10 Homologues Group Meeting Slovenia, October 2009 Republika SlovenijaEuropean Union Ljubljana, October 2009 Case 2 : Significant expenditure declared by 31/12/ Opinion ?

11 Homologues Group Meeting Slovenia, October 2009 Republika SlovenijaEuropean Union Ljubljana, October 2009 Case 3 - No or minimal amount of expenditure (see information note 2008) -> only valid for a limited number of programmes Case 3 a) - > all audit work planned is done -> audit opinion Case 3 b) - > audit work planned has not been performed or limited audit work -> disclaimer of opinion Case 3 c) -> No sufficient audit work -> disclaimer of opinion

12 Homologues Group Meeting Slovenia, October 2009 Republika SlovenijaEuropean Union Ljubljana, October 2009 Reminder Audit opinions only based on the results on the CA are not considered appropriate CA is on the set up of the MCS Annual opinion concerns the effective functioning of the MCS

13 Homologues Group Meeting Slovenia, October 2009 Republika SlovenijaEuropean Union Ljubljana, October 2009 The future of the Audit Reference Manual Ljubljana, October 2009 Caroline Callens Deputy Head of Unit DG REGIO J.1, Coordination of audit, relations with the Court of Auditors and OLAF Caroline Callens Deputy Head of Unit DG REGIO J.1, Coordination of audit, relations with the Court of Auditors and OLAF

14 Homologues Group Meeting Slovenia, October 2009 Republika SlovenijaEuropean Union Ljubljana, October 2009 State of play of the ARM Following documents are still in the pipeline: Audit approach with regard to the simplified rules of eligibility on flat rate indirect costs, standard scales of unit costs and lump sums Revision of the guidance note on the annual summaries Update Financial Corrections guidelines C(2001)476 of

15 Homologues Group Meeting Slovenia, October 2009 Republika SlovenijaEuropean Union Ljubljana, October 2009 New subjects? Survey during Technical Meeting May 2007 Only 7 countries replied - > Very diverse requests ? -> Financial Engineering -> Article 73 -> Further suggestions ? Send mail to

16 Homologues Group Meeting Slovenia, October 2009 Republika SlovenijaEuropean Union Ljubljana, October 2009 Process Draft prepared by the Commission Presented in Technical Meeting Written comments requested from Member States –> revision of draft Draft presented to the COCOF for information Final

17 Homologues Group Meeting Slovenia, October 2009 Republika SlovenijaEuropean Union Ljubljana, October 2009 How could we proceed for future guidance notes and revisions ? Based on the need/experiences -> creation of a working group for informal discussions on subject

18 Homologues Group Meeting Slovenia, October 2009 Republika SlovenijaEuropean Union Ljubljana, October 2009 What else can the Commission do ? Provide checklists used by Commission Services via CIRCA ? (example CA&AS) Provide checklists of MS in CIRCA?

19 Homologues Group Meeting Slovenia, October 2009 Republika SlovenijaEuropean Union Ljubljana, October 2009 Future Technical Meeting ? Commission presentations and Member States presentations ->exchange of experiences Q&A sheets ? Twice a year Next technical meeting ->11 December > Closure

20 Homologues Group Meeting Slovenia, October 2009 Republika SlovenijaEuropean Union Ljubljana, October 2009 Thank you for your attention! Tel: