Internal and external AUDIT of the
EU funded programmes and projects
Structural Funds, Cohesion Fund and
Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance
Barcelona (ES), 24-26 November 2014
Seminar
Target groups
Beneficiaries eligible under Structural Funds, Cohesion Fund and IPA (national and regional), Managing Authorities, Certifying Authorities and Audit Authorities, Intermediate Bodies, as well as independent auditors and junior auditors dealing with or interested in EU funded project and programmes and consulting companies specialised in audit of the EU Funds or programmes and projects.
Description
In the previous programming period 2007 – 2013, the effective control systems and audit of the EU Funds began one of the key issues in the framework of the whole architecture of the implementation of the EU Cohesion Policy. The administrations on national, regional and local levels had more responsibilities to build an effective control system and to assure a proper spending of public money then in previous financial perspectives.
Audit questions are even more important now, when we are closing programmes from 2007 – 2013 and starting the implementation of the current programming period 2014 – 2020. The seminar will focus not only on the EU structural and cohesion funds, but as well on pre – accession instrument IPA II. Apart from
the presentation of the relevant legislation, methods of increasing efficiency of control and audits, seminar will provide know–how on combating fraud and preventing irregularities, public procurement and State Aid. The new element is the performance audit. The unique feature of this seminar is that it covers the experience of internal and external audit experts coming from public sector, EU Commission, as well as the European Court of Auditors. Objectives
The goal of this three days practical seminar / workshop is to give to participants the whole overview and detailed understanding of practical aspects of control (external and internal) and audit of the EU Funds in the programming period 2007 – 2013 (closure) and 2014 – 2020.
Learning methodology
Apart from traditional training methods (lectures and presentations, including concrete examples and case studies), the interactive approach will be applied. There will be discussions in question and answer sessions after each practical part. Participants will work in small working groups on concrete practical exercises - case studies with direct involvement of EU experts.
Introduction
European Institute of Public Administration Institut européen d’administration publique
MOnDAy 24 nOveMber 2014
08.30 registration and hand-out of seminar material
09.00 Opening of the seminar: Introduction to the programme, objectives and methodology
Iwona Karwot, Senior Lecturer and Project Leader, EIPA
Barcelona
09.20 “Tour de table”: Participants’ presentation to endorse networking
I. Setting the scene: How the audit and control (internal and external) for the Structural Funds will work was functioning in the programming period 2014-2020? Main changes in relation to 2007 – 2013?
09.40 Audit and control in the programming period 2014 – 2020: rules, mechanisms, challenges and introduced changes in relation to the programming period 2007 – 2013.
Rafael López Sánchez, Unit C.1. “Audit Coordination, relations
with the Court of Auditors and OLAF”, DG Regional and Urban Policy, European Commission
11.10 Question & answer session 11.20 Coffee break
II. Anti - fraud and its role in the management and Implementation process of the eU Funds
11.45 Fraud prevention and detection for auditors in the eU environment, the role of OLAF and practical case studies.
Koen Binon, Internal Audit Capability in the Directorate-
General for Human Resources and Security, European Commission
13. 15 Question & answer session 13.30 Joint lunch in the restaurant
III. Organisation of internal control in different models applied by beneficiaries of eU Structural Funds. Success factors of efficient internal control system for higher absorption of eU funds
15.00 best Practices from Audit Authority bulgarian case study
Ludmila Rangelova, Director of Audit Activity Directorate,
Audit of EU Funds Executive Agency 16. 30 Question & answer session Iv. external audit – eCA’s approach
16.45 european Court of Auditors’ Approach to the audit of Cohesion policy: Annual report 2012 and current work on Audit Authorities
Milan Smid and Annekatrin Langer, European Court of Auditors
17.45 Question & answer session 18.00 end of the first day 20.30 Welcome seminar dinner
TUeSDAy 25 nOveMber 2014 v. eCA: Performance auditing
09.00 Performance auditing: why do we do this; what is it and how is it done: the basic theory and a practical showcase”
Luc T’Joen, European Court of Auditors
11.00 Question & answer session 11.15 Coffee break
vI. eCA: Audit of State Aid
11.45 Audit of state aid in the area of Cohesion Policy - practical examples and lessons learnt
Milan Smid
13.15 Question & answer session 13.30 Joint lunch in the restaurant
15.00 Audit of state aid in the area of Cohesion Policy – practical workshop in small working groups
Milan Smid
16.00 Groups presentations. evaluation of workshops’ results, including debates on problems faced by the participants during the exercises and possible solutions
17.30 end of the second day
WeDneSDAy 26 nOveMber 2014 vII. eCA: Audit of Public Procurement
09.30 Presentation of the Case study: audit of public procurement in the area of Cohesion – Practical examples and lessons learnt
Annekatrin Langer
11.00 Coffee break
11.20 Case study: audit of public procurement in the area of Cohesion - Practical examples in working groups
Annekatrin Langer
12.20 Short break
12.30 Plenary session – Groups presentations. evaluation of workshops’ results, including debates on problems faced by the participants during the exercises and possible solutions
13.30 Closure and issuing of eIPA and seminar certificates to participants
(in alphabetical order)
Mr Koen binon (be)
Head of Unit of the Internal Audit Capability in the Directorate-General for Human Resources and Security, European Commission. His unit is responsible for the Internal audit of the Directorate HR and Security, Infrastructure in Brussels and Luxemburg, EPSO and the Payment Office. Next to this he provides a course for the European Institutions Audit Community called “The Internal Auditor, Fraud and OLAF”. Previously Mr Binon was responsible for the Financial Management and the Internal Control Coordination within the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). Before this, he worked as the Head of Internal Audit and Evaluation in OLAF, as a Senior Consultant for one of the big 4 audit companies and in DG BUDGET on the development of the European Commission’s COSO based Internal Control Standards and the Risk Management Methodology.
Ms Iwona Karwot (PL)
Senior Lecturer and project leader, EIPA Barcelona, PhD in EU Regional Policy; she specialises in EU funds with a main focus on the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and pre-accession funds (IPA, PHARE). She has working experience as an EU expert, trainer, manager and adviser in the framework of Institutional Building and Technical Assistance EU projects in the field of regional development: Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Albania, Spain, Germany, France, Luxembourg, etc.
Ms Annekatrin Langer (De)
Auditor in the ERDF, Transport and Energy Division at the European Court of Auditors where she is mainly engaged in financial audits in Germany, Spain and Sweden. Before joining the Court, she worked in the private sector in Germany.
Mr rafael López Sánchez (eS)
Deputy Head of Unit C.1 “Audit Co-ordination, relations with the Court of Auditors and OLAF” in the Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy (European Commission). Before he was Head of Sector with responsibility of the ERDF and Cohesion Fund audits in 3 Member States: Ireland, Portugal and Spain. He is working in DG REGIO since 2005. From 2003 to 2005, he was working as auditor in Directorate General for Agriculture of the European Commission. Before joining the Commission, Mr. Lopez Sanchez was auditor in the Spanish Public Administration for 7 years.
Ms Ludmila rangelova (bG)
Director of Audit Activity Directorate, Audit of EU Funds Executive Agency. At her current position Ms. Rangelova is responsible for the management and quality assurance of Audit Authority assignments under ERDF, CF, ESF and EFF, ex-ISPA/CF projects, Schengen Facility and other EU funds. She is involved in compliance assessments audits, systems audits and audits of operations. Ms. Rangelova is responsible for elaboration of the annual control reports and annual audit opinions for each programme. She has 14 years of professional experience in the field of financial control and audit. Previously Ms. Rangelova held the position of Head of the Central Harmonizing Unit on Internal Audit at the Ministry of Finance, while before that she was Head of the Legal Directorate; Head of the Department for Audit of EU Funds, Head of the Department for Legal Assurance of Audit Activities and a legal adviser at the Public Financial Control Agency.
Mr Milan Smid (CZ)
Auditor in the ERDF, Transport and Energy Division at the European Court of Auditors where he is mainly engaged in financial audits in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Spain. Before joining the Court, he was working in the private sector in the Czech Republic and Luxembourg.
Mr Luc T’Joen (be)
Team leader transport and energy performance audits, European Court of Auditors. Having a fiscal economy background, Luc T’Joen dealt for ten years with economic customs policy legislation and controls in the Belgian Ministry of Finances and, for 19 years, he has been involved in legislation, revenue controls, investigations and financial audits as a European Commission official in the Directorates-General Taxation and Customs Union, Budget and Eurostat. As of 2008, Mr T’Joen joined the European Court of Auditors leading teams dealing with performance audits in the fields of structural funds, transport, research and energy. The most recent special reports on transport of his teams, published by the European Court of Auditors are dealing with the effectiveness of cohesion policy spending for seaport infrastructures (SR4/2012), the effectiveness of the Marco Polo programmes (SR3/2013) and an upcoming Special Report on the cost-effectiveness of cohesion policy spending for airport infrastructures. “
european Institute of Public Administration eIPA barcelona C/ Girona, 20 / 08010 – Barcelona www.eipa.eu Project Leader Iwona Karwot Senior Lecturer Tel.: +34 93 245 12 04 E-mail: [email protected]
Experts
Programme
The programme will commence on Monday at 09.00 and will finish on Wednesday at 14.00.
Seminar venue
Hotel Avenida Palace ****
Gran Vía de les Corts Catalanes, 605 08007 Barcelona
Tel.: +34 93 301 96 00 www.avenidapalace.com Working language
The seminar will be conducted in English. registration
• Participation fee: €990 (includes: documentation, two lunches, a welcome dinner, coffee breaks and certificate of attendance). Accommodation and travel costs are at the expense of the participants or their administration.
• EIPA offers its members a reduction of 10% off the registration fee. This reduction is available to all civil servants working for one of EIPA’s member countries (i.e. AT, BE, BG, CY, CZ, DK, EE, FI, FR, DE, GR, HU, IE, IT, LT, LU, MT, NL, PL, PT, ES, SE, UK), as well as civil servants working for an EU institution or agency. If you are eligible for the discount, please tick the box on the registration form. Please note that discounts cannot be accumulated. For more information, please visit EIPA’s website: http://seminars.eipa.eu • You can submit the online registration form which can be found on EIPA’s website http://seminars.eipa.eu; or send the completed registration form by e-mail to Miriam Escolà. Your name and address will be part of EIPA’s database for our mailing purposes only. If you do not want to be included in our mailing database, please tick the box on the registration form.
• Deadline for registration: 10 November 2014.
• The number of participants is limited (we will not accept any registrations once the available places have been filled).
• Payment: the fee should be paid after you receive the confirmation of your registration and before the seminar. Please indicate the method of payment on the registration form. For cancellations received after the deadline we will have to charge an administration fee of €150 unless an alternative participant is nominated.
Information
European Institute of Public Administration, EIPA Barcelona Miriam Escolà, Programme Organiser
C/ Girona, 20 - 08010 Barcelona (ES) Tel.: + 34 93 245 12 06
Fax: +34 93 245 13 12 E-mail: [email protected] Hotel reservations
EIPA Barcelona will be pleased to make reservations for you at the following hotel (where special rates apply for EIPA participants):
Hotel Avenida Palace ****s
Gran Vía de les Corts Catalanes, 605 08007 Barcelona
Tel.: +34 93 301 96 00 www.avenidapalace.com
Rates of room with breakfast buffet included:
• Double room for single use: €125 + €1.21 tax • Double room for two persons: €135 + €2.42 tax. The 10% of VAT is already included in these rates
Should you wish to make use of this possibility, please indicate the dates of arrival and departure on the registration form as well as the type of room required. Payment is to be made directly and personally to the hotel upon checking out. Please note that if you register after the deadline, hotel reservations cannot be guaranteed.
Meals
Lunches will be served at Avenida Palace Hotel and dinner on the first evening at a restaurant in town. Should you require a special menu, please inform the Programme Organiser, so that this can be arranged. Confirmation of registration
Please note that your registration is not finalised until you receive a confirmation e-mail from us. Moreover, your participation is not confirmed until you receive another e-mail from the Programme Organiser confirming your registration and some details.
Cancellation policy
EIPA reserves the right to cancel the seminar up to two weeks before the starting date. EIPA accepts no responsibility for any costs incurred (travel, hotel, etc.). For EIPA’s cancellation policy, please visit our website http://seminars.eipa.eu (FAQ - cancellation policy)
Registration Form
Internal and external AUDIT of the EU funded programmes and projects
Barcelona (ES), 24-26 November 2014
Surname: ... Title: ... M / F First name: ... Organisation: ... Department: ... Current position: ... Work address: ... Postal code & Town: ... Country: ... Telephone number: ... Fax number: ... E-mail address: ...
Meals
Vegetarian Fish allowed Other dietary requirement: ...
Invoice information
Organisation: ... Fiscal number/NIF: ... Department: ... Address: ... Postal code & Town: ... Country: ... VAT number: ... Your reference number: ... E-mail address: ...
Registration fee
The fee includes participation in the seminar, documentation, coffee breaks, two lunches, a dinner
and a certificate of attendance.
€990
Discount of 10% (Please check first the conditions at http://seminars.eipa.eu (FAQ - special discounts)) Method of payment
bank transfer
Please state the name of the participant and the reference ‘1466602 AUDIT’. EIPA’s Barcelona account number
IBAN: ES27-0182-6035-43-0018000225, BIC: BBVAESMM at the BBVA, Plaça Catalunya 5, 08002 Barcelona (ES) Credit card
American Express card Eurocard/Mastercard Visa card
Card number: ... Expiry date: ... /... Card Validation Code: ...
Hotel reservation
Please book the hotel for me at Hotel Avenida Palace****
Double room for single use Date of arrival: ... Date of departure: ... Double room Number of nights: ... No hotel reservation required
Your name and address will be part of EIPA’s database for our mailing purpose only. Please tick if you do not want to be included in our mailing database.
To ensure the optimal organisation of the seminar, please return the completed registration form by fax or e-mail
before 10 november 2014 to: Miriam Escola, Programme Organiser, tel.: +34 93 245 12 06; fax: + 34 93 245 13 12
