Role & Responsibilities of the Certifying Authority at Closure

Transcription

1 Role & Responsibilities of the Certifying Authority at Closure Barry North MA MBA Head of Closure Compliance European Programmes & Local Growth Delivery Directorate Department of Communities & Local Government United Kingdom

2 Summary of Presentation Statement of Expenditure Application for payment Debtors Ledger Reporting post closure 2

3 Steps in the Process Verification of latest expenditure declaration Proceeding with individual necessary individual financial corrections Aggregating the first set of financial data Check that Financial Data in Statement of Expenditure matches data in Final Programme Report and Closure Declaration 3

4 The Closure Pack Member States shall ensure that the financial information contained in all the above documents as well as in SFC 2007 are aligned 4

5 Final date of Eligibility of Expenditure Art 56(1) (EC)1083/2006 ( General Regulations ) states this is 31 st December 2015 Defined as Expenditure paid by the beneficiary and reimbursed or due to be paid to the Beneficiary by the MS Expenditure submitted by Beneficiaries must be supported by appropriate evidence (probative value) of defrayal 5

6 95% Threshold MS should continue submitting Interim payment claims even after 95% threshold reached 6

7 Timescale for Final Interim Declaration Audit Authority can only start its verification process when the last Interim Claim has been submitted to the Commission The Average length of time (across all MS) for a round of Article 16 audits, subsequent contradictory processes and removal of Irregularities is 9 months Closure Guidance recommends that MS submit last interim payment claim by 30 June 2016 Too late! Recommend this is sent by 30 April 2016 if not earlier 7

8 Timescales for Final Interim Declaration & Final Declaration Important that Certifying Authority exerts itself and doesn t allow Managing Authority and Audit Authority to set the timetable for the last 15 months that suits them. 8

9 Warning! If there is a problem with your closure pack or you miss the deadline, the Commission will close the programme based on the last received legal claim 9

10 Table of Recoveries (Debtors Ledger) Section 1 of Annex 6 of the Closure guidance requires that all errors and irregularities have been treated appropriately by the Managing Authority and/or intermediate bodies That any irregular amounts recovered are either removed from the final declaration or repaid to the Commission That Irregularities corrected as a result of the recommendations of Commission audits or Audit Authority action under Article 16 are clearly recorded by the MA on the Debtors ledger and verified by the Audit Authority 10

11 Non functioning projects Member state must submit details of all non functioning projects as of 21 March 2017 Projects must have a total value of EUR 5 million or more The total fund contribution towards these projects must not exceed 10% of the total programme value (what happens if it does?) After March 2017 Commission must receive a progress report every 6 months For any project not complete by March 2019, the MS must repay the Community contribution If repayment is late or refused the Commission will apply a financial correction 11

12 Changing Documents after deadline Not permitted for documents listed under Art 89(1) except to correct clerical mistakes. This term is not defined. After submission the Final Declaration and Statement of expenditure can only be revised downwards Corrections to the Final Report and Final Declaration or supplementary information requested or required by the Commission must be completed by the MS within 2 months of notification. Failure to meet this deadline will result in closure being completed on the basis of the closure documents which may result in a reduced settlement 12

13 Changing Information in the Final Declaration after submission Never send a modified claim except at the request of the Commission 13

14 Section 9: Payment Suspension Section 9: These will be lifted before the Commission makes a final settlement offer These usually arise from an extended contradictory periods arising from EC Audits or a specific issue in the FIR or FCR 14

15 Certified Statement of Final Expenditure & Final Payment Application (#1) Drawn up in the form in Annex X to the Implementing Regulation (still requires wet signature) Shall also identify the Total Amount of eligible expenditure relating to regions receiving Transitional Support Bank Account must be as encoded in ABAC Discrepancies between the payments from the EC and the effective funds contribution to the operations might occur. The amount of public contribution paid or to be paid should be at least equal to the contribution paid by the Commission to the programme (this is programmed into SFC2007) 15

16 Certified Statement of Final Expenditure & Final Payment Application (#2) Particular attention to be paid to: Advance payments received when calculating balance to be paid/recovered That interim payments are taken into account (properly recorded in the calculation sheet) The declaration should not be based on the money received from the Commission because there might be compensation to the EC due to be deducted 16

17 Recoveries The Final Annual Statement needs to take account of: Pending Recoveries: Including those included in the final payment application will not be paid at closure but will constitute an outstanding commitment MS must inform the Commission promptly on the conclusion of pending legal/administrative procedures Irrecoverable amounts, where the MS requests the Commission to bear from EU funds, will constitute an outstanding commitment If the MS does not request this, the unrecovered amount must be removed from the Final Declaration 17

18 Calculation of Final Payment or Recovery (#1) Declared total Expenditure with corresponding amount of public expenditure Then at priority Axis level Deduct financial corrections imposed by the Commission Individual cases Systemic error For extrapolated errors (residual Error rate >2%) = Total Accepted amount of eligible expenditure 18

19 Question! What happens if the Residual Error rate is a negative value? 19

20 Calculation of Final Payment or Recovery (#2) Application of Intervention Rate result (potential ERDF/ESF contribution per Priority Axis) Comparison with Public contribution amount after corrections Cut to the lower amount of the two Cut to maximum amount in the Financial Table NB Flexibility rule on Financial Table? 20

21 Calculation of Final Payment or Recovery (#3) Now we sum the results for all Priority Axes Compare the Total Budget for: Objective Area Transitional Support Area Minus Flat Rate Corrections (Programme Level) = Final ERDF/ESF Amount 21

22 Special Note Calculating Interim Payments and payments of the final balance (Art 77 of regulation (EC)1083/2006) and related audit issues What happens if the MS has paid out less grant than has been received from the Commission? Is the CA required to reconcile these figures at Closure? COCOF states Payments of the final balance are calculated by application of the co-financing rate at the level of the priority axis of each Operational Programme to the eligible expenditure declared by the CA. Article 80 of (EC)1083/2006 General Regulations must be complied with; the applicant must receive the funds they are due without unreasonable delay. This may be different from the settlement received from the EC. 22

23 Calculation of Final Payment or Recovery (#4) Final ERDF/ESF Amount Minus Funds already paid by the Commission = Theoretical amount owed to MS or to be Recovered 1) Payment value of suspended cases deducted Payment made 3 year file retention period commences (except for suspended cases) 2) Recovery Recovery order issued 3 year file retention commences 23

24 The Certifying Authority Role QUESTIONS? Barry North +44(0)