a d d V Alue to public management Winding-up declaration Portuguese experience Carlos Trigacheiro Inspecção-Geral de Finanças (IGF) General Inspection of Finance

a d d V Alue to public management a d d V Key topics 1.Portuguese audit system 2.Audit strategy 3.Specific work for closure 4.Treatment of errors and irregularities 5.Main conclusions 2

a d d V Alue to public management a d d V Portuguese audit system IGF (winding-up body for all programmes and funds) – coordination system, audits system and audits on operations, when necessary (Art. 15 and 16, Reg. 438). Independent (segregated) audit units in line with the Ministries and in Management Bodies – mainly oriented to audits of operations (also systems in some situations) as foreseen by Art. 10, Reg

a d d V Alue to public management a d d V The role of IGF National system coordination: Planning, monitoring, reporting and follow-up; Audit standards and training of the auditors. Coordination with Commission / EU Audit Authorities. Responsible for communications to OLAF. Annual control report (art. 13, Reg. 438). Winding-up declarations. 4

a d d V Alue to public management a d d V The role of IGF IGF plays a similar role for: Cohesion Fund, Interreg Programms, Agriculture Funds, Solidarity Fund, Innovative schemes, and European Economic Space Financial Mechanism. 5

a d d V Alue to public management a d d V until Structural funds – 24 Programmes to be closed until (one declaration per fund): ERDF – 22 ESF – 16 EAGGF - 10 FIFG - 9 INTERREG – 2 (co-responsible with Spain) winding-up declarations How many winding-up declarations Cyprus,15oct2007, jvr6

a d d V Alue to public management a d d V IGF audit strategy 3.Preparation for closure (from 2007 onwards): Final follow-up of all outstanding issues (specific audits, monitoring of system information about audits results, audits of programmes with actions plans); Technical and methodological preparation for closure (guidelines, training and meetings with managing and paying authorities – treatment of errors and irregularities). 7

a d d V Alue to public management a d d V Main objectives Have a picture of outstanding problems for each operational programme (OP) Identify the next steps: Audits on-the-spot on the OP with major problems; Improvements on the treatment of errors / irregularities; Assessment of the compliance with Art. 10 requirements; Recommendations to correct the weaknesses, if necessary. 8

a d d V Alue to public management a d d V Specific work for closure The work done helps, but is not enough. All actors needs time and resources to prepare their final report / declaration (MA/IB, PA, WuB). A precise time schedule is crucial - IGF first time schedule in December 2007, after a first meeting we organized with all MA and PA - time schedule was updated. Now, MA are preparing financial information and final reports – we hope this work will be finalized until this December. 9

a d d V Alue to public management a d d V Specific work for closure January we will start our final audit work: Check coherence of draft reports, final declarations of expenditure and other relevant information performed by MA and PA – in line with Guidelines for closure; Special attention on the treatment of errors and irregularities; We can start in parallel with work to be performed by PA. So, final documents can be amended according our feed-back. 10

a d d V Alue to public management a d d V Treatment of errors and irregularities Check the work done by MA in order to: Examine and classify the type of errors: systemic, random and isolated/anomalous; Determine the perimeter of systemic errors and assure that they have been corrected and reported (as well as all known errors). If the remaining error rate (random) is below 2% - OK (if art. 10 is reliable). If it is above 2% – we have a problem to solve – art. 10 does not apply to statistical sample. So we can not follow a statistical process to conclude about error rates. 11

a d d V Alue to public management a d d V Main conclusions 1.IGF is the Portuguese winding-up body for all programmes and funds. 2.The success of the closure exercise depends very much of the work done during the period and of the preparation for closure. 3.But a specific final audit work oriented and tailored for closure is crucial. 4.Guidelines to treat errors and irregularities are helpful, but nevertheless case decisions requires professional judgment. 12

a d d V Alue to public management a d d V Thank you for your attention Contact: Carlos Trigacheiro Inspecção-Geral de Finanças 13