First level control information
The system
Germany has chosen a decentralised first level control system. The project partners will have to propose an independent internal or external, public or private controller to the body of their Land.
This body will authorise the controller proposed by the project partner after having checked that the controller is sufficiently independent from project activities and finances and qualified to carry out the control of an INTERREG Europe project.
The project partner and the chosen controller have to fill in and sign a partner questionnaire in which they both confirm the specific performance demands of a qualified first level control. This partner questionnaire has to be presented for confirmation to the respective approbation body. The responsible approbation body will confirm/not confirm the auditors qualification and independence by signing a letter of acknowledgement.
The partner proposes a controller from the public sector
Qualified controllers in the public sector are, all public bodies authorised to carry out independent financial audits and controls, e.g.
- Rechnungsprüfungsämter (offices for auditing and accounting control),
- so-called Unabhängige Stellen (Independent Bodies),
- unabhängige interne Prüfstellen (independent internal departments for audit and controls).
The partner proposes a controller from the private sector
Qualified controllers in the private sector are all members of professions officially approved for dealing with audit and controls.
With regard to Germany and the German part of the programme, tax practitioners are tasked to assess compliance with regard to expenditure reported by private beneficiaries.
Tax practitioners include:
- Steuerberater and Steuerberatungsgesellschaften (tax consultants or consultancy firms)
- Steuerbevollmächtigte (tax agents)
- Wirtschaftsprüfer and Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaften (chartered certified accountants or accountancy firms)
- vereidigte Buchprüfer and Buchprüfungsgesellschaften (sworn accountants or accountancy firms)
In this case the general accountant's qualification has to be confirmed. Therefore the general accountant's qualification will be confirmed by either the state supervised Chambers of Tax Consultants or the state supervised Chambers of Public Accountants by a confirmation of membership for the chosen controller.
The costs
The costs resulting from the control can be reported as eligible costs in compliance with the relevant EU-regulations and programme rules.
On-the-spot checks
In compliance with the article 23 (4) of the Regulation (EU) No 1299/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 and article 125 (5) and (6) of the Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013, on-the-spot verifications are done for each project partner at least once during the project lifetime. For first level controllers controlling more than one project partner, sampling may be possible under the condition that the method is well justified and documented.
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