ECA: Work programme 2013 - 2017

25 January 2013

The ECA published its work programme of audit reports for 2013. In 2013, the ECA intends to publish more than 70 audit reports in the areas of the EU budget and the European Development Funds. The topics will include EU public accountability and audit deficits, and EU financial management risks.

In 2013 the ECA intends to publish:

The ECA will prepare two landscape reports: one on EU public accountability and audit deficits and the other covering EU financial management risks.

The landscape reports will provide an assessment of the situation and highlight any gaps, overlaps and grey areas. The aim of these reports is to assist EU policy maker s in assessing the implications of developments in EU governance, policy and financial management.

Finally, in the context of the EU’s response to the financial crisis, the ECA is working on an audit of the reform of the regulatory and supervisory systems launched by the Commission to address the crisis in the banking sector, as well as an audit of the management of the balance of payments assistance (to be completed by mid-2014).

A significant proportion of the ECA’s resources is devoted to preparing its annual statements of assurance (also known as ‘DAS’). These are based on financial audits of the EU budget and European Development Funds, as well as the 51 EU agencies, decentralised bodies and other institutions.

The work underlying the statement of assurance covers the two aspects on which the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) requires the ECA to provide an annual opinion: the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the transactions that underlie them.

Where it can, the ECA takes account of the results of the work of other auditors, as well as the representations of management in the form of the annual activity reports of the Directors general of the Commission.

The ECA’s objective for the period 2013 to 2017 is to maximise the value of its contribution to EU public accountability. To meet this objective, ECA’s priorities are to:

Work programme 2013

Strategy 2013 - 2017


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