Seminar Internal and external AUDIT of the EU funded programmes and projects Structural Funds, Cohesion Fund and Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance Barcelona (ES), 28-30 April 2015 European Institute of Public Administration Institut européen d’administration publique Introduction Target group Beneficiaries eligible under Structural Funds, Cohesion Fund and IPA (national and regional), Managing Authorities, Certifying Authorities and Audit Authorities, Intermediate Bodies, as well as independent auditors and junior auditors dealing with or interested in EU-funded projects and programmes, and consulting companies specialised in audit of EU Funds or programmes and projects. Description In the previous programming period 2007-2013, the effective control systems and audit of EU Funds began one of the key issues in the framework of the whole architecture of the implementation of the EU Cohesion Policy. The administrations at national, regional and local levels had more responsibilities to build an effective control system and to ensure a proper spending of public money than in previous financial perspectives. Audit questions are even more important now, when we are closing programmes from 2007-2013 and starting the implementation of the current programming period 2014-2020. The seminar will focus not only on the EU Structural and Cohesion Funds, but also on the pre-accession instrument IPA II. Apart from the presentation of the relevant legislation, and methods of increasing efficiency of control and audits, the seminar will provide knowhow on combating fraud and preventing irregularities, public procurement and State Aid. The new element is the performance audit. The unique feature of this seminar is that it covers the experience of internal and external audit experts coming from the public sector, the EU Commission, as well as the European Court of Auditors and OLAF. Learning methodology Apart from traditional training methods (lectures and presentations, including concrete examples and case studies), an interactive approach will be applied. There will be discussions in question and answer sessions after each practical part. Participants will work in small working groups on concrete practical exercises and case studies, with direct involvement of EU experts. Objectives The goal of this three-day practical seminar/workshop is to give participants a whole overview and detailed understanding of practical aspects of control (external and internal) and audit of EU Funds in the programming period 2007-2013 (closure) and 2014-2020. Programme Tuesday 28 April 2015 IV. External audit: ECA’s approach 08.30 Registration and handing out of seminar material 16.45 09.00 09.20 Opening of the seminar: introduction to the programme, objectives and methodology Iwona Karwot, Senior Lecturer and Project Leader, EIPA Barcelona Tour de table: presentation of participants to endorse networking I. Setting the scene: How the audit and control (internal and external) for Structural Funds will function in the programming period 2014-2020? Main changes in relation to 20072013? 09.40 Audit and control in the programming period 2014-2020: rules, mechanisms, challenges and introduced changes in relation to the programming period 2007-2013 Rafael López Sánchez, Unit C.1 ‘Audit Coordination, relations with the Court of Auditors and OLAF’, DG Regional and Urban Policy, European Commission European Court of Auditors’ approach to the audit of cohesion policy: Annual Report 2012 and current work on Audit Authorities Milan Smid and Annekatrin Langer, European Court of Auditors 17.45 Q&A session 18.00 End of the first day 20.30 Welcome seminar dinner Wednesday 29 April 2015 V. ECA: performance auditing 09.00 Performance auditing: why do we do this? What is it and how is it done? The basic theory and a practical showcase Luc T’Joen, European Court of Auditors 11.00 Q&A session 11.10 Question and answer (Q&A) session 11.15 Coffee break 11.20 Coffee break VI. ECA: Audit of state aid II. Anti-fraud and its role in the management and implementation process of EU Funds 11.45 Audit of state aid in the area of cohesion policy: practical examples and lessons learnt Milan Smid, European Court of Auditors 11.45 Organisation, mission and procedures of the European Anti-Fraud office. Practical examples. Piotr Baczmański, Unit D.2 ‘Fraud Prevention, Reporting and Analysis’, OLAF - European Anti Fraud Office, European Commission 13. 15 Q&A session 13.30 Joint lunch in the restaurant III. Organisation of internal control in different models applied by beneficiaries of EU Structural Funds: success factors of an efficient internal control system for higher absorption of EU Funds 15.00 Best practices for internal audit: Member State case study Representative of Internal Audit Unit 16. 30 Q&A session 13.15 Q&A session 13.30 Joint lunch in the restaurant 15.00 16.00 Audit of state aid in the area of cohesion policy: practical workshop in small working groups Milan Smid Group presentations: evaluation of workshop results, including debates on problems faced by the participants during the exercises and possible solutions 17.30 End of the second day Programme Thursday 30 April 2015 VII. ECA: Audit of public procurement 09.30 Presentation of the case study: audit of public procurement in the area of cohesion – practical examples and lessons learnt Annekatrin Langer, European Court of Auditors 11.00 Coffee break 11.20 Case study: audit of public procurement in the area of cohesion – practical examples in working groups Annekatrin Langer 12.20 Short break 12.30 Plenary session: group presentations – evaluation of workshop results, including debates on problems faced by the participants during the exercises and possible solutions 13.30 Closure and issuing of EIPA seminar certificates to participants Iwona Karwot Experts (in alphabetical order) Mr Piotr Baczmański (PL) Policy Analyst at Unit D.2 ‘Fraud Prevention, Reporting and Analysis’, OLAF - European Anti-Fraud Office, European Commission Ms Iwona Karwot (PL) Senior Lecturer and project leader, EIPA Barcelona, PhD in EU Regional Policy; she specialises in EU Funds with a main focus on the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and pre-accession fund (IPA II). She has working experience as an EU expert, trainer, manager and adviser in the framework of Institutional Building and Technical Assistance EU projects in the field of regional development: Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Albania, Spain, Germany, France, Luxembourg, etc. Ms Annekatrin Langer (DE) Auditor in the ERDF, Transport and Energy Division at the European Court of Auditors where she is mainly engaged in financial audits in Germany, Spain and Sweden. Before joining the Court, she worked in the private sector in Germany. Mr Rafael López Sánchez (ES) Deputy Head of Unit C.1 ‘Audit Co-ordination, relations with the Court of Auditors and OLAF’ in the Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy (European Commission). Before he was Head of Sector with responsibility for the ERDF and Cohesion Fund audits in three Member States: Ireland, Portugal and Spain. He has been working in DG REGIO since 2005. From 2003 to 2005, he was working as auditor in the DirectorateGeneral for Agriculture of the European Commission. Before joining the Commission, Mr Lopez Sanchez was auditor in the Spanish public administration for seven years. Mr Milan Smid (CZ) Auditor in the ERDF, Transport and Energy Division at the European Court of Auditors where he is mainly engaged in financial audits in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Spain. Before joining the Court, he was working in the private sector in the Czech Republic and Luxembourg. Mr Luc T’Joen (BE) Team leader transport and energy performance audits, European Court of Auditors. Having a fiscal economy background, Luc T’Joen dealt for ten years with economic customs policy legislation and controls in the Belgian Ministry of Finances and, for 19 years, he was involved in legislation, revenue controls, investigations and financial audits as a European Commission official in the Directorates-General Taxation and Customs Union, Budget and Eurostat. As of 2008, Mr T’Joen joined the European Court of Auditors leading teams dealing with performance audits in the fields of structural funds, transport, research and energy. The most recent special reports on transport of his teams, published by the European Court of Auditors deal with the effectiveness of cohesion policy spending for seaport infrastructures (SR4/2012), the effectiveness of the Marco Polo programmes (SR3/2013) and a Special Report on the cost-effectiveness of cohesion policy spending for airport infrastructures (SR21/2014). European Institute of Public Administration EIPA Barcelona C/ Girona, 20 / 08010 – Barcelona www.eipa.eu Project Leader Iwona Karwot Senior Lecturer Tel.: +34 93 245 12 04 E-mail: i.karwot@eipa.eu General Information Programme The programme will commence on Tuesday at 09.00 and will finish on Thursday at 13.45. Seminar venue Hotel Catalonia Eixample 1864 **** Roger de Llúria, 60 08009 Barcelona Tel.: +34 93 2720050 www.hoteles-catalonia.com Working language The seminar will be conducted in English. Registration • Participation fee: €1060 (includes: documentation, two lunches, a welcome dinner, coffee breaks and certificate of attendance). Accommodation and travel costs are at the expense of the participants or their administration. • Deadline for registration: 14 April 2015. • You can submit the online registration form which can be found on EIPA’s website http://seminars.eipa.eu; or send the completed registration form by e-mail to Miriam Escolà. Your name and address will be part of EIPA’s database for our mailing purposes only. If you do not want to be included in our mailing database, please tick the box on the registration form. • EIPA offers its members a reduction of 10% off the registration fee. This reduction is available to all civil servants working for one of EIPA’s member countries (i.e. AT, BE, BG, CY, CZ, DK, EE, FI, FR, DE, GR, HU, IE, IT, LT, LU, MT, NL, PL, PT, ES, SE, UK), as well as civil servants working for an EU institution or agency. If you are eligible for the discount, please tick the box on the registration form. For more information, please visit EIPA’s website: http://seminars.eipa.eu • Please note that discounts cannot be accumulated. It is clearly stated on EIPA’s website which seminars and training courses are eligible for the reductions. Full fees apply to all other seminars and training courses. For more information, please visit EIPA’s website: http://seminars.eipa.eu (FAQ – special discounts). • The number of participants is limited (we will not accept any registrations once the available places have been filled). • Payment: the fee should paid after you receive the confirmation of your registration and before the seminar takes place. Please indicate the method of payment on the registration form. For cancellations received after the deadline, we will have to charge an administration fee of €150 unless an alternative participant is nominated. Information European Institute of Public Administration, EIPA Barcelona Miriam Escolà, Programme Organiser C/ Girona, 20 - 08010 Barcelona (ES) New tel.: + 34 93 245 12 06 New fax: +34 93 245 13 12 E-mail: m.escola@eipa.eu Hotel reservations The EIPA Barcelona will be pleased to make reservations for you at the hotel where the seminar will take place (where special rates apply for EIPA participants): Hotel Catalonia Eixample1864 **** Roger de Llúria, 60 08009 Barcelona Tel.: +34 93 2720050 www.hoteles-catalonia.com Rates of room with breakfast buffet included: €105, double room for single use + 10% VAT + €1.21 t.t. per night €125, double room for 2 persons + 10 % VAT + €2.42 t.t. per night. Should you wish to make use of this possibility, please indicate the dates of arrival and departure on the registration form as well as the type of room required. Payment is to be made directly and personally to the hotel upon checking out. Please note that if you register after the deadline, hotel reservations cannot be guaranteed. Meals Lunches will be served at the hotel and dinner on the first evening at a restaurant in town. Should you require a special menu, please inform the Programme Organiser, so that this can be arranged. Confirmation of registration Please note that your registration is not finalised until you receive a confirmation e-mail from us. Moreover, your participation is not confirmed until you receive another e-mail from the Programme Organiser confirming your registration and some details. Cancellation policy EIPA reserves the right to cancel the seminar up to two weeks before the starting date. EIPA accepts no responsibility for any costs incurred (travel, hotel, etc.). For EIPA’s cancellation policy, please visit our website http://seminars.eipa.eu (FAQ cancellation policy) Registration Form Internal and External AUDIT of EU-Funded Programmes and Projects Barcelona (ES), 28-30 April 2015 Surname: ............................................................................................................. Title: .................................................................................... M / F First name: ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Organisation: ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Department: ....................................................................................................... Current position: ......................................................................... Work address: ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Postal code & Town: ........................................................................................ Country: .......................................................................................... Telephone number: ......................................................................................... Fax number: .................................................................................. E-mail address: ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Invoice information Organisation: ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Fiscal number/NIF: ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ Department: ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Address: ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Postal code & Town: ......................................................................................... Country: .......................................................................................... VAT number: ....................................................................................................... Your reference number: ............................................................ E-mail address: ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Registration fee The fee includes participation in the seminar, documentation, coffee breaks, two lunches, a dinner, a certificate of attendance. €1060 Discount of 10% (Please check first the conditions at http://seminars.eipa.eu (FAQ - special discounts) Method of payment Bank transfer Please state the name of the participant and the reference ‘1566601 AUDIT’. EIPA’s Barcelona account number IBAN: ES27-0182-6035-43-0018000225, BIC: BBVAESMM at the BBVA, Plaça Catalunya 5, 08002 Barcelona (ES) Credit card American Express card Eurocard/Mastercard Visa card Card number: .......................................................................... Expiry date: ................. /................. Card Validation Code: ......................... Hotel reservation Please book the hotel for me at Hotel Catalonia Eixample 1864**** Double room for single use Date of arrival: ................................................ Date of departure: ..................................... Double room Number of nights: ........................................ No hotel reservation required Meals Vegetarian Fish allowed Other dietary requirement: ...................................................................................... To ensure the optimal organisation of the seminar, please return the completed registration form by fax or e-mail before 14 April 2015 to: Miriam Escola, Programme Organiser, Tel.: +34 93 24 51 206; Fax: + 34 93 24 51 312 E-mail: m.escola@eipa.eu, www.eipa.eu – The registration will be confirmed by e-mail. Your name and address will be part of EIPA’s database for our mailing purpose only. Please tick if you do not want to be included in our mailing database.