On 17 and 18 November 2022, the Commission's expert group on the certification of paying agencies' accounts met. This meeting was attended by representatives of paying agencies, coordinating organisations and certification bodies from all Member States. Cyprus was represented by three experts from the paying agency and certifying body.
Guidelines 1, 2 and 5 were discussed at the meeting in the light of the changes promoted through the new strategic plan for the common agricultural policy.
Guideline 1 aims to provide guidance on the accreditation criteria, the tasks of the bodies involved in the accreditation process, the assessment of the internal control system/compliance with the accreditation criteria and reporting requirements.
It is noted that paying agencies are accredited by Member States if they meet certain minimum criteria set at EU level.
Guideline 2 is intended to guide certifying bodies to properly formulate the paying agency's audit strategy within the scope of their functions to collect sufficient and appropriate audit evidence to form an audit opinion. This Guideline describes the proposed audit methodology to be followed to enable the certifying body to formulate an opinion as indicated above.
The proposed methodology sets out four Audit Objectives (AC1: Audit of annual accounts, AC2: Audit of Member States' governance systems, AC3: Audit of the correctness of the annual performance report, AC4: Audit of the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions in respect of measures outside the strategic plan) and proposes the approach The reporting level changes in the new legal framework with regard to debts incurred in relation to expenditure from 2023 onwards. However, as explicitly stated, existing long-standing Member States' debt management procedures and systems should be maintained.
(NG/SX)
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