Martin Weber, Chrysoula Latopoulou, Jorge Guevara López

European Structural and Investment Funds Journal, Volume 2 (2014), Issue 1, Page 39 - 45

The setting-up of national audit authorities in the 2007-2013 programming period has considerably strengthened the control arrangements for cohesion expenditure in Member States. How these bodies are organised differs across the European Union, generally reflecting the administrative structure of each Member State. This article provides information on the ‘cost of control’ of auditing cohesion expenditure. It is based on data provided by audit authorities in response to a European Court of Auditors’ survey in the context of a recent audit published in December 2013 as Special Report No 16/2013 under the title ‘Taking stock of ‘single audit’ and the Commission’s reliance on the work of national audit authorities in Cohesion’.

Martin Weber, Bernard Witkos

European Structural and Investment Funds Journal, Volume 1 (2013), Issue 1, Page 35 - 39

The following article presents the European Court of Auditors’ (ECA) approach to auditing public procurement for activities co-financed from Structural Funds. It discusses the regulatory framework for public procurement as set out in the EU Directives and national laws and the Structural Funds Regulations. It then explains the main features of its audit methodology underlying the annual Statement of Assurance and how this applies to public procurement audits. According to the Court’s audits, problems of non-compliance with EU and national public procurement rules are often related to a weak implementation of existing rules (rather than overly complex legal provisions). This is an important aspect to be kept in mind in view of an effective simplification of the current legal framework.