Annual reports of the Joint Managing Authority
1. Each year, by 30 June at the latest, the Joint Managing Authority shall submit to the Commission an annual report, approved by the Joint Monitoring Committee and certified by the audit report referred to in Article 31, on implementation of the joint operational programme from 1 January to 31 December of the previous year. The first annual report shall be submitted by 30 June of the second year of the programme.
2. Each annual report shall contain:
(a)
a technical part describing:
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the progress achieved in implementing the programme and its priorities,
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the detailed list of the signed contracts as well as possible difficulties encountered,
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the technical assistance activities carried out during the previous year,
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the measures undertaken to monitor, evaluate and audit projects, their results and actions undertaken to remedy to the problems identified,
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the information and communication activities,
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the programme of activities to be implemented the following year.
(b)
a financial part giving, in euro, for each priority:
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the amounts allocated to the Joint Managing Authority by the Commission as the Community contribution and by the participating countries as co-financing, as well as any other possible revenue for the programme,
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the payments made and amounts recovered by the Joint Managing Authority for technical assistance and for the projects, as well as the report reconciling these with the bank account for the programme,
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the amount of eligible expenditure incurred by the projects as presented by the beneficiaries in their reports and payment requests,
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the provisional budget (commitments and expenditure) of the Joint Managing Authority for the following year.
(c)
a declaration signed by the representative of the Joint Managing Authority giving an assurance that the management and control systems set up by the programme in the course of the previous year continue to comply with the model approved by the Commission and that they have operated in such a way as to warrant a reasonable degree of confidence in the correctness of the financial report and in the legality and regularity of the transactions to which it relates.
Annual report of the internal audit service
1. The internal audit service of the Joint Managing Authority shall each year implement a control programme to check the internal circuits and ensure procedures have been correctly applied within the Joint Managing Authority. It shall draw up an annual report and send it to the representative of the Joint Managing Authority.
2. The Joint Managing Authority shall send the report referred to in paragraph 1 to the Commission and to the Joint Monitoring Committee as an annex to the annual report referred to in Article 28.
Annual report on implementation of the audit plan for the projects
1. Each year the Joint Managing Authority shall draw up a report on the previous year's implementation of the audit plan for the projects, referred to in Article 37. The report shall describe in detail the methodology used by the Joint Managing Authority for selecting a representative sample of projects, as well as the controls carried out, the recommendations made and the conclusions drawn by the Joint Managing Authority in relation to the financial management of the projects concerned.
2. The Joint Managing Authority shall send the report referred to in paragraph 1 to the Commission and to the Joint Monitoring Committee as an annex to the annual report referred to in Article 28.
External audit report
1. Independently of the external audits of the Joint Managing Authority undertaken by the administration of the country in which the Joint Managing Authority is established, the Joint Managing Authority shall call upon an independent public body or contract an independent approved auditor who is a member of an internationally recognised supervisory body for statutory auditing to carry out each year an ex post verification of the revenue and expenditure presented by the Joint Managing Authority in its annual financial report, in accordance with the standards and ethics of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC).
2. The scope of the external audit shall cover the Joint Managing Authority's direct expenditure on technical assistance and project management (payments). The external audit report shall certify the statement of revenue and expenditure presented by the Joint Managing Authority in its annual financial report, and in particular it shall certify that stated expenditure has actually been incurred and is accurate and eligible.
3. The Joint Managing Authority shall send the external audit report to the Commission and to the Joint Monitoring Committee as an annex to the annual report referred to in Article 28.
Final report
The final report on implementation of the joint operational programme shall contain mutatis mutandis the same elements as the annual reports, including their annexes, for the entire duration of the programme. It shall be submitted by 30 June 2016 at the latest.
