eEurope Benchmarking-2002

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AUDIT CERTIFICATES
Jacques Van Oost 12 April 2002
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AUDIT CERTIFICATE

• Objective of the Pilot Actionto give the
  Commission greater assurance that costs charged
  under RTD contracts are calculated and claimed by
  the contractors in accordance with the legal and
  financial provisions of FP5 contracts

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AUDIT CERTIFICATE

• Who has to submit an audit certificate
• IST- RTD contracts as from the 6th call (There
  is a separate clause in the contract to which the
  certificates apply)
• In principle it applies to all contractors
  submitting cost statements which exceed the
  threshold

Only exception ? Public entities which are
normally audited by public bodies, may have
valid reasons for non-compliance? to be
demonstrated
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AUDIT CERTIFICATE

• Who has to submit an audit certificateThe
  thresholds are the following

It is noted that-the contractors who have to
submit a certificate in respect to the 1st CS,
will also have to submit one along with the final
CS-there will be no certificate required for the
intermediate periods -however, the certificate
to be submitted with the final CS, must cover all
preceding reporting periods, except for the first
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AUDIT CERTIFICATE

• How to submit the certificateThe Certificates
  are to be submitted along with the cost statement

Problem thresholds are based on cost
statement(s) amount actual cost basis(not on
budgeted costs) ? cost statement amount should
be assessed by contractor in order to know
whether a certificate is required
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AUDIT CERTIFICATE

• Who can deliver an audit certificate ?
• An auditor of the contractors choice, this will
  generally be its statutory auditor
• independent and qualified member of the national
  professional organisation

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AUDIT CERTIFICATE
Preliminary Conclusion

• Prior to the preparation of the first cost
  statement, the contractor must asses whether the
  actual costs reported will exceed the threshold

• If yes, he will contact his (or an) auditor in
  order to arrange the contract and plan the audit
  fieldwork

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AUDIT CERTIFICATE

• Scope of the Audit Certificateestablish
  whether the costs claimed are eligible, necessary
  for the project, actually incurred during the
  project and recorded in the account books of the
  contractor

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AUDIT CERTIFICATE

• The Commission seeks a certification, not a
  detailed audit report
• The contractor should aim for obtaining an
  unqualified opinion
• It can however not be excluded that some
  certificates will show a qualified opinion

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AUDIT CERTIFICATE

• Future handling of cost statements

Reduced Risk ? minimization controls ? should
contribute to speeding up payments
Below threshold for submitting certificate
Unqualified Certificate
Analysis qualification
Qualified Certificate
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AUDIT CERTIFICATE

• Finally please note that..
• As it is a DG INFSO pilot action, an ad hoc task
  force will be set up in order to handle the
  qualified certificates and to gain experience
  thereof
• If a cost claim, which ought to be accompanied by
  a certificate, is presented without, the costs
  will be deemed ineligible until the certificate
  is presented(i.e. next cost reporting period)