Audit of European Structural and Investment Funds, a Component of the Management and Control System

The European Commission (EC) has established through European regulations that at each Member State an independent body, generically called the Audit Authority (AA), who will ensure the external public audit function for each operational program financed by the European grants. Each Member State was free to set up its audit authority, subject to the above-mentioned conditions. The Romanian Audit Authority was set up at the level of the Romanian Court of Accounts, being established by national law as a body without juridical personality, operationally independent from the rest of the public audit activity. This audit body performs the external audit function for all operational programs financed by the European grants. The present article aims to present the Romanian Audit Authority, its institutional and organizational capacity to fulfil the legal requirements of the European legislation and the extent to which its results can provide a reasonable assurance to the European Commission that the management and control system (MCS) functions in way to prevent, detect and correct deficiencies and financial sanctions. One of the challenges of the audit is whether its recommendations can prevent malfunctions in the MCS, and in the event of irregularities, the managing authority (MA) and the certifying authority (CA) can correct them in time before the European Commission is declared expenditure. It will also present the procedure established by the legal framework on how audit recommendations are implemented by the other entities within the management and control system. Although it is part of the Court of Auditors, the Audit Authority has its own working procedures, which must reflect the requirements of European regulations and guidelines, and the results of its verifications are communicated to the European Institutions. The manner in which the EC uses the audit reports will also be the subject of this article.