Brussels, 20/06/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission will be examining on Monday the Financial Controller's annual report for 1999 on the audits and financial control conducted by the Audit Directorate General between 1 January 1999 and 30 April 2000. The error rate detected through preliminary control of operations is 1.8% for commitment proposals (after correction of errors, only 0.5% of operations were annulled) and 0.7% for payment orders (0.3% of operations were annulled). Audits take place on selected samples. The report specifies that these samples concerned 10% of operations, which represent 89% of the value of the budget.
The report also includes a number of recommendations on reform of financial control and audits, undertaken in the framework of the White Paper on reform of the Commission, and aimed at the gradual elimination of the Audit DG. The report warns against the risk of division in the conducting of audits and calls for the recruitment of qualified personnel in the different departments. It stresses the importance of the clarification of financial management rules and effective strengthening of internal controls in the Commission services. Lastly, it notes that the departments should continue using the computerised tools developed by the Audit DG.
Adoption of the Commission's report on the strategy for combating fraud, also slated for Wednesday, has been postponed to next week.