If the amount of the EU grant per beneficiary reaches or exceeds a specified amount, a Certificate on the Financial Statements (CFS) issued by a qualified auditor must be submitted together with the final financial report. The costs for this obligatory CFS are eligible as "other goods, works or services" (category C.3) and must therefore be budgeted in the proposal phase.
When is a CFS required?
A CFS is obligatory for all beneficiaries who request a contribution reaching or exceeding the threshold of 430,000 euros for the entire duration of the action. The check has to be carried out by each beneficiary on its own and is based on the requested total funding according to all costs of the beneficiary (including the 25% flat-rate for indirect costs as well as under consideration of the individual funding rate). The same applies to "affiliated entities" which have to do this check independently from the beneficiary they are affiliated to.
An obligatory CFS has to be issued once for the whole duration of the action. Alternatively, it is possible to prepare several CFS during the action duration (e.g. per reporting period). In both cases, however, the certificate(s) may be submitted only at the end of the project (together with the final report).
What will be audited?
The audit involves examining whether the actual costs and unit costs calculated according to the beneficiary's usual accounting practice declared are in compliance with the criteria of the Grant Agreement (GA). The audit is carried out according to the steps described in the template of the European Commission.
Costs which have already been audited by the EU Commission do not have to be audited again.
Who may audit?
A CFS may be issued by any qualified auditor in Europe.
The Austrian "Kammer der Steuerberater:innen und Wirtschaftsprüfer:innen" provides a search function for Austria.
What is the process for issuing a CFS?
The CFS must be issued by a qualified auditor using the template of the European Commission. The template consists of the "Terms of Reference" (model for the agreement between the beneficiary/affiliated entity and the auditing firm) and the model for the certificate itself. The auditor will indicate any irregularities and errors in his/her report. The EU Commission/funding agency is responsible for deciding on the consequences of the errors indicated by the auditor.
More information can be found ...
- in the Annotated Grant Agreement (AGA), Article 21, 24.2 and Data Sheet, Point 4.3.
- in the template of the European Commission including the audit steps
Contact
