The Assurance Package: Get Ready for February 2019! Annual Accounts Management Declaration Annual Summary Annual Control Report Interactive Workshop EXPERTS Simon Hannah (Chair & Speaker) ERDF Compliance and Quality Assurance Manager, East of England ERDF Growth Delivery Team, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Cambridge Olga Guza Deputy Director of EU Funds Audit Department, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Latvia, Riga Irena Dankova Certification and Financial Management of ESF Department, National Fund Directorate, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Bulgaria, Sofia Stanislav Uzunov Certification and Financial Management of ESF Department, National Fund Directorate, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Bulgaria, Sofia Juan Ignacio Gonzalez Bastero Principal Manager Chamber 2 Directorate Investment for cohesion, growth and inclusion, European Court of Auditors, Luxembourg The two day intensive workshop focuses on the following topics: Requirements and obligations of managing, certifying, audit authorities and intermediate bodies on preparing and submitting of the Assurance Package to the European Commission in 2014 2020 Management verifications: role of managing authority/intermediate body How to prepare, certify and submit payment applications to the European Commission How to prepare, certify and submit annual accounts to the European Commission Audit of annual accounts How to conduct annual summary and management declaration Verification of annual summary and management declaration How to prepare audit opinion and annual control report Errors and irregularities in the Assurance Package Audit of the Assurance Package by the European Court of Auditors
General Information www.lexxion.eu/sco www.lexxion.eu/events Overview In the current programming period a stronger control regime with the focus on effective financial management and control system was established. One of the new elements is the twelve month accounting year, which starts on 1 July and ends on 30 June (except for the first accounting period). According to the requirements of the European Commission, managing, certifying, audit authorities and intermediate bodies have to prepare the Assurance Package and to provide all included documents to the European Commission by 15 February of the next accounting year. Certifying authority is challenged to submit annual accounts, based on certified payment applications, conducted by managing authority during the accounting year. Accounts shall be accompanied by a management declaration and an annual summary of the final audit reports and of controls carried out. This is the responsibility of the managing authority. The accounts and the summary shall be accompanied by an annual control report and opinion of an independent audit body drawn up in accordance with internationally accepted audit standards. Methodology The participants will be actively involved in the workshop. The sessions will combine presentations, case studies and discussion on practical problems. You will have ample opportunities to present your own problematic issues and discuss them with the speakers and participants from other Member States. Participants will receive extensive materials: All presentations shown during the workshop (inclusive online access to all presentations after the workshop) Confirmations of Participation Selection of corresponding journals published by Lexxion Who should participate? Representatives from public authorities in charge of management and implementation of Operational Programmes 2014 2020, especially from: o Managing Authorities o Certifying Authorities o Audit Authorities o Intermediate Bodies ESI Funds experts from regional and local authorities and experts involved in ETC Programme Auditors controlling and auditing ESI Funds programmes and projects Experts from National and regional Court of Audit Experts from Institutions involved in implementation of ESI funds Consultants and lawyers specialized on ESI Funds Beneficiaries of EU funded projects Why should you participate? Learn about the new requirements for respective authorities in context of the Assurance Package Receive expert advice on how to carry out verifications in practice Learn how to draw up, certify and submit payment applications to the European Commission Exchange experiences how to draw up annual accounts and submit to the European Commission Increase your knowledge on audit of annual accounts Be aware of the rules for annual summary and management declaration Exchange experiences with verification of annual summary and management declaration Learn how to conduct audit opinion and annual control report Learn about errors and irregularities, which can happen during preparation of the Assurance Package Be aware of the audit of the Assurance Package, done by the European Court or Auditors Benefit from other Member State s implementation experience and learn good practices Have a platform to exchange ideas and challenges within your organisation and receive practical advice on your individual questions
Programme Day 1 08:45 Registration 09:00 Welcome Note by Lexxion and Chair; Introduction Round Chair: Simon Hannah, ERDF Compliance and Quality Assurance Manager, East of England ERDF Growth Delivery Team, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Cambridge Session 1: The Assurance Package: New Requirements and Obligations of Managing, Certifying, Audit Authorities and Intermediate Bodies 09:30 Introduction into the Assurance Package Regulatory framework What is the Assurance Package What is new in 2014 2020 Requirements and obligations of involved actors Management declaration and annual summary (Managing Authority) Annual accounts (Certifying Authority) Audit opinion and annual control report (Audit Authority) Timing obligations for programming bodies and division of tasks Irena Dankova and Stanislav Uzunov, Certification and Financial Management of ESF Department, National Fund Directorate, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Bulgaria, Sofia 10:00 Coffee Break "An excellent workshop to share experiences and clarify any areas of regulations that are unfamiliar" "The workshop I attended has been a great opportunity to gain new information & knowledges, to share experiences and meet professionals Participants of the workshop: Annual Accounts and Accompanying Documents of the Assurance Package, 2017 Brussels Session 2 Payment Applications and Annual Accounts 10:30 Management Verifications: Role of the Managing Authority/Intermediate Body 12:00 Lunch Break Legal requirements Strategy and planning for verifications Timing/nature/frequency of verifications Administrative versus on the spot verifications Cooperation between managing authorities and intermediate bodies Compliance with state aid and public procurement rules Verifications and Simplified Cost Options Risk analysis and sampling Control of management verifications Record keeping and reporting requirements The importance of documentation in the verification process What should be included in the summary of management verifications Communication of results of management verifications to certifying authority Simon Hannah, ERDF Compliance and Quality Assurance Manager, East of England ERDF Growth Delivery Team, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Cambridge 13:00 How to Draw up, Certify and Submit Payment Applications to the European Commission Timeline for structuring payment applications Preparation, documentation and reporting requirements Content of payment applications Legal requirements for certification process Taking into account results of management verifications for certification Taking into account results of audits for certification Other activities performed in order to certify payment applications Submission of payment applications to the European Commission Stanislav Uzunov, Certification and Financial Management of ESF Department, National Fund Directorate, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Bulgaria, Sofia
Programme Day 1 14:00 Participants will be offered to go through the template for payment application and discuss the challenges of conducting payment applications and possible mistakes, which may occur Stanislav Uzunov, Certification and Financial Management of ESF Department, National Fund Directorate, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Bulgaria, Sofia 14:30 Coffee Break 16:30 Audit of Annual Accounts Regulatory framework Timeline for conducting audit of annual accounts Communication between certifying and audit authorities How to use results of system audits for the audit of accounts How to use results of audit of operations for the audit of accounts Final additional verifications of the draft certified accounts Audit opinion on the accounts 15:00 How to Draw up, Certify and Submit Annual Accounts to the European Commission: Exchange of Experiences from 2017 and 2018 Timeline for annual accounts Preparation, documentation and reporting requirements Content of annual accounts Which information can be added after submission to the European Commission Examination and acceptance of accounts 17.30 Olga Guza, Deputy Director of EU Funds Audit Department, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Latvia, Riga Participants will go through the check list for audit of accounts and discuss in groups the most important issues to be checked and the common errors Irena Dankova, Certification and Financial Management of ESF Department, National Fund Directorate, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Bulgaria, Sofia Olga Guza, Deputy Director of EU Funds Audit Department, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Latvia, Riga 18:00 End of Day 1 16.00 Participants will be offered to go through the template for annual accounts and discuss, how to summarize the information from all payment applications and put it into annual accounts in a right way Irena Dankova, Certification and Financial Management of ESF Department, National Fund Directorate, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Bulgaria, Sofia
Programme Day 2 Session 3 Annual Summary and Management Declaration 08:30 Annual Summary and Management Declaration Regulatory framework & requirements from the European Commission What are the annual summary and Management Declaration Elements of the Management Declaration How to summarize final audit reports Difficulties by summarizing management verifications Simon Hannah, ERDF Compliance and Quality Assurance Manager, East of England ERDF Growth Delivery Team, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Cambridge Session 4 Audit Opinion and Annual Control Report 09:30 Audit Opinion and Annual Control Report Regulatory framework and requirements from the European Commission Results of audit activities o System audits o Audit of operations and sampling o Audit of accounts o Verification of management declaration and annual summary Annual Control Report Opinion Timeline Difficulties Olga Guza, Deputy Director of EU Funds Audit Department, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Latvia, Riga 10:30 Coffee Break Session 5 Most Common Errors and Irregularities in ESI Funds and How to Treat them 11:00 Errors and Irregularities to be Identified in the Assurance Package 13:00 Lunch Break Definition of an irregularity and difference between error, irregularity and fraud Overview on most common types of errors and irregularities Irregularities in public procurement and State aid Simplified Cost Options and Irregularities Ineligible Costs The role and obligations of managing authorities and intermediate bodies in the identification of irregularities How to treat irregularities in annual accounts perspective of the certifying authority Irregularities coming out of audits view of the audit authority Simon Hannah, ERDF Compliance and Quality Assurance Manager, East of England ERDF Growth Delivery Team, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Cambridge Session 6: Perspective from the European Court of Auditors 14:00 Audit of the Assurance Package by the European Court of Auditors New challenges and obstacles for the European Court of Auditors First experiences from audit of the Assurance Package Juan Ignacio Gonzalez Bastero, Principal Manager Chamber 2 Directorate Investment for cohesion, growth and inclusion, European Court of Auditors, Luxembourg 15:30 End of Workshop and Distribution of Certificates
Experts Simon Hannah (Chair & Speaker) ERDF Compliance and Quality Assurance Manager, East of England ERDF Growth Delivery Team, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Cambridge Simon Hannah is currently responsible for the financial management and programme compliance of the East of England s ERDF programme. Since 2007 his main responsibilities have been the development and operation of the East of England s management and control systems and processes covering contract management, grant payments, irregularity handling, and project monitoring and verification functions. He has over 8 years experience in ERDF policy, programme development and delivery at both Managing Authority and IntermediateBody levels, and actively contributes to the English ERDF programmes national policies and in the establishment and review of national procedures and controls. Prior to the current round of programmes, since 2003 Mr Hannah was involved in the 2000 2006 programmes for the Government Office, conducting onthe spot verifications and desk based checks on EU funded projects, identifying and coordinating irregularity management information and reports. Irena Dankova Certification and Financial Management of ESF Department, National Fund Directorate, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Bulgaria, Sofia Irena is a State Expert in the Bulgarian Certifying Authority for ESF, ERDF and CF. Since 2008 when she joined the National Fund Directorate within the MoF her main responsibilities have been in the area of financial management and certification of expenditure under ESF operational programmes. She started as financial controller for 2007 2013 ESF operational programmes from the very beginning of their financial implementation. Her current responsibilities are related to financial management of the following programmes: Human Resources Development, Good Governance, Science and Education for Smart Growth and OP FEAD incl. preparing and submitting of interim payment applications to EC, drawing up of annual accounts, performing CA s specific control activities, on the spot and desk based checks of ESF projects as well as developing/amending the relevant rules and procedures. Over the past years she was involved in the elaboration of national legal framework in the field of management of ESI funds. Juan Ignacio Gonzalez Bastero Principal Manager Chamber 2 Directorate Investment for cohesion, Growth and Inclusion, European Court of Auditors, Luxembourg Juan Ignacio Gonzalez Bastero joined the European Court of Auditors in December 1999. Since 1 August 2015, he is Principal Manager of the team responsible for the Statement of Assurance (SoA) audit of Economic, social and territorial cohesion. Before, Juan Ignacio was first Head of Unit of the financial audit for Employment and Social affairs, and later Head of unit for the financial audit of the Regional, Transport and Energy policies. From January 2008 until October 2012, he was the Head of Private office of Dr. Harald Noack, German Member of the ECA and Dean of Chamber II (dealing with Structural Policies, Transport and Energy). During this period, he was also in charge of supervising the SoA audit for Research, Transport and Energy, the Cohesion Policy, the EU Joint Undertakings and the performance auditor on the effectiveness of ERDF financial instruments. From 2002 to 2008, he was Member of the Private Offices of Mr François Colling and Mr David Bostock where he also participated in different financial and performance audits in the research and agricultural areas. Before joining the ECA, Juan Ignacio held the position of Director for Finance and Administration of the Siemens Nixdorf Retail and Banking Systems, S.L. in Spain. He has a University degree in Economics and Business and a Master in Business Administration. Furthermore, Juan Ignacio Gonzalez Bastero has been regular speaker for audit and financial management issues. Just send us your cases and questions in advance! We will forward them to our speakers, who will include your issues in the programme and answer them during the workshop. All information concerning your questions and cases will be treated confiden tially. As the number of participants is limited, participants will benefit from a maximum of exchange and discussion of their individual questions.
Experts Olga Guza Deputy Director of EU Funds Audit Department, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Latvia, Riga Olga Guza is Deputy Director in the Audit Authority for ESF, ERDF, CF and other financial mechanisms. She has been working in the area of auditing EU Funds since 2003. She started as an internal auditor for auditing the EU pre accession instruments and continued performing and managing system audits of the EU Funds. Her current responsibilities are related to the quality control for the Audit Authority s work. She also is responsible for the management of EU Funds Technical Assistance project for the Audit Authority, including budget planning, management of the implementation of the Technical Assistance project, budget monitoring and participation in procurement procedures necessary for the implementation of the Technical Assistance project. In 2014 she also participated as an expert in a Twinning project with Croatia Strengthening the competence of public internal auditors in the Republic of Croatia in auditing Cohesion and Structural Funds in line with the best EU practice. Stanislav Uzunov Chief Expert at Certification and Financial Management of CF Department, National Fund Directorate, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Bulgaria Stanislav is a Chief Expert in the Bulgarian Certifying Authority for ERDF and CF. Since 2008 when he joined National Fund Directorate within the MoF his main responsibilities have been in the area of financial management and certification of expenditure under CF/ERDF operational programmes. He started as a financial controller for ex ISPA (Regulation 1164/1994) projects and assumed certification responsibilities for the 2007 2013 and CF/ERDF operational programmes from the very beginning of their financial implementation. His main responsibilities are related to financial management of Environment and Transport and transport infrastructure operational programmes: incl. drawing up and submitting of interim/final payment applications to EC, drawing up of annual accounts, performing CA s specific control activities, onthe spot and desk based checks of CF/ERDF projects. Over the past years he was involved in the design and development of the electronic data exchange systems as referred to in the Regulations (in Bulgaria known as Unified Management and Information Systems) for both 2007 2013 and 2014 2020 programming periods.
Registration Venue Exclusive venue in the heart of Rome. Participation fee YES, I would like to participate for the reduced fee for public authorities EUR 1.190,00 (excl. VAT). YES, I would like to participate for the regular fee of EUR 1.590,00 (excl. VAT). YES, I am EStIF subscriber (10% discount applicable). Italian VAT of 22% will be added where applicable. The participation fees include the workshop material, drinks and snacks during the breaks and lunch. Newsletter subscription Please send me information about Structural and Investment Funds issues for free. I may unsubscribe from this service any time. Cancellations Cancellations should be made in writing per post or fax. Please note that the full fee will be charged for cancellations received after 3 October 2018. Nomination of a substitute remains possible. A cancellation arising by reason of too small a number of participants is effected no later than two weeks prior to the seminar. In this case the participation fee will be refunded. A requirement for reimbursement of travel and accommodation expenses as well as loss of working hours is not possible, unless such costs result from wantonly negligent or deliberate behaviour on the part of the organiser. For more detailed information, scope and conduct of contract as well as cancellation policy, please check the Terms & Conditions on our website. Please register with: Anya Zuschke Lexxion Publisher Güntzelstr. 63 10717 Berlin, Germany Phone: +49 (0)30 81 45 06 21 Fax: +49 (0)30 81 45 06 22 E mail: zuschke@lexxion.eu online: www.lexxion.eu/events Name Position, Department Company Name Address Address Phone, Fax E Mail Customer No. of EStIF Subscription VAT Reg. No. Date, Signature Upcoming events Indicators, Monitoring and Evaluation of ESI Funds 13 14 September 2018, Copenhagen During this interactive workshop you will learn in practice which indicators exist, how to use them, what are the monitoring requirements and systems, which evaluation approaches exist and how to implement them. You will also learn how to procure evaluation services and how to check the results. Finally you will get acquainted with the auditor s prospective to monitoring and evaluation. Errors, Irregularities and Fraud in ESI Funds 2014 2020 20 22 November 2018, Nice, France During this workshop you will learn about differences between errors, irregularities and fraud, about common types of irregularities, about irregularities resulted from public procurement and state aid, about simplified cost options and irregularities, and how to proceed with irregularities and financial corrections. The second day will be devoted to antifraud cycle and detecting and combatting of fraud in management of ESI Funds.