Audits of operations
Article 42
1. The audits referred to in Article 61(1)(b) of the basic Regulation shall be carried out each 12-month period from 1 July 2008 on a sample of operations selected by a method established or approved by the audit authority in accordance with Article 43 of this Regulation. The audits shall be carried out on-the-spot on the basis of documentation and records held by the beneficiary. 2. The audits shall verify that the following conditions are fulfilled: (a) the operation meets the selection criteria for the operational programme, has been implemented in accordance with the approval decision and fulfils any applicable conditions concerning its functionality and use or the objectives to be attained; (b) the expenditure declared corresponds with the accounting records and supporting documents held by the beneficiary; (c) the expenditure declared by the beneficiary is in compliance with Community and national rules; (d) the public contribution has been paid to the beneficiary in accordance with Article 80 of the basic Regulation. 3. Where any problems detected appear to be systemic in nature and therefore entail a risk for other operations under the operational programme, the audit authority shall ensure that further examinations are carried out, including additional audits where necessary, to establish the scale of any such problems. The necessary preventive and corrective action shall be taken by the responsible authorities. 4. Only expenditure falling within the scope of the audit in accordance with paragraph 1 shall be counted towards the amount of expenditure audited, for the purposes of reporting in the tables in point 9 of Part A of Annex VI and point 9 of Part A of Annex VII.