—

the information in the accounts is properly presented, complete and accurate in accordance with Article 49(1) of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014,

—

the expenditure entered in the accounts was used for its intended purpose, as defined in Regulation (EU) No 223/2014, and in accordance with the principle of sound financial management,

—

the management and control system put in place for the operational programme gives the necessary guarantees concerning the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions, in conformity with the applicable law.

—

Identification of the operational programme(s) (title(s) and CCI (1)) and period covered by the audit strategy.

—

Identification of the audit authority responsible for drawing up, monitoring and updating the audit strategy and of any other bodies that have contributed to this document.

—

Reference to the status of the audit authority (national, regional or local public body) and the body in which it is located.

—

Reference to the mission statement, audit charter or national legislation (where applicable) setting out the functions and responsibilities of the audit authority and other bodies carrying out audits under its responsibility.

—

Confirmation by the audit authority that the bodies carrying out audits pursuant to Article 34(2) of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014 have the requisite functional independence (and organisational independence, where applicable under Article 31(5) of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014).

—

Explanation of the risk assessment method followed.

—

Reference to internal procedures for updating the risk assessment.

—

Reference to audit manuals or procedures containing the description of the main steps of the audit work, including the classification and treatment of the errors detected.

—

Reference to the internationally accepted audit standards that the audit authority shall take into account for its audit work, as established by Article 34(3) of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014.

—

Reference to the procedures in place for drawing up the control report and audit opinion to be submitted to the Commission in accordance with Article 34(5) of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014.

—

quality of the administrative and on-the-spot verifications referred to in Article 32(5) of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014, including in relation to the respect of public procurement rules, equal opportunities, reduction and prevention of food waste, and Union law on consumer product safety;

—

functioning and security of IT systems set up in accordance with Articles 28(d), 32(2)(d) and 33(d) of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014; and their connection with the IT system, referred to in Article 30(4) of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014 (‘SFC 2014’);

—

reliability of data relating to indicators and, for OP II, data relating to the progress of the operational programme in achieving its objectives provided by the managing authority under Article 32(2)(a) of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014;

—

reporting of withdrawals and recoveries;

—

implementation of effective and proportionate anti-fraud measures underpinned by a fraud risk assessment in line with Article 32(4)(c) of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014.

—

Description and justification of the audit priorities and specific objectives in relation to the current accounting year and the two subsequent accounting years, together with an explanation of the linkage of the risk assessment results to the audit work planned.

—

An indicative schedule of audit assignments in relation to the current accounting year and the two subsequent accounting years for system audits (including audits targeted to specific thematic areas), as follows:

—

Organisation chart of the audit authority and information on its relationship with any audit body that carries out audits as referred to in Article 34(2) of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014, where appropriate.

—

Indication of planned resources to be allocated in relation to the current accounting year and the two subsequent accounting years.

(a)

…

(b)

…

(c)

….

—

the accounts give a true and fair view, as established by Article 7(5) of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 532/2014;

—

the expenditure in the accounts for which reimbursement has been requested from the Commission is legal and regular,

—

the management and control system put in place functions properly.

—

the accounts give a true and fair view, as established by Article 7(5) of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 532/2014;

—

the expenditure in the accounts for which reimbursement has been requested from the Commission is legal and regular;

—

the management and control system put in place functions properly,

—

in relation to material matters related to the accounts: …

and/or [delete as appropriate]

—

in relation to material matters related to the legality and regularity of the expenditure in the accounts for which reimbursement has been requested from the Commission: …

—

and/or [delete as appropriate] in relation to material matters related to the functioning of the management and control system (6): ….

—

the accounts give/do not give [delete as appropriate] a true and fair view, as established by Article 7(5) of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 532/2014;

—

the expenditure in the accounts for which reimbursement has been requested from the Commission is/is not [delete as appropriate] legal and regular;

—

the management and control system put in place functions/does not function [delete as appropriate] properly.

—

in relation to material matters related to the accounts: …

and/or [delete as appropriate]

—

in relation to material matters related to the legality and regularity of the expenditure in the accounts for which reimbursement has been requested from the Commission: …

and/or [delete as appropriate]

—

in relation to material matters related to the functioning of the management and control system (7): …

1.1

Identification of the responsible audit authority and other bodies that have been involved in preparing the report.

1.2

Reference period (i.e. the accounting year (1)).

1.3

Audit period (during which the audit work took place).

1.4

Identification of the operational programme(s) covered by the report and of its/their managing and certifying authorities. [Where the annual control report covers more than one programme, the information shall be broken down by programme, identifying in each section the information that is specific for the programme, except for section 10.2 where such information shall be provided under section 5.]

1.5

Description of the steps taken to prepare the report and to draw up the audit opinion.

2.1

Details of any significant changes in the management and control systems related with managing and certifying authorities' responsibilities, in particular with respect to the delegation of functions to new intermediate bodies, and confirmation of their compliance with Articles 28 and 29 of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014 based on the audit work carried out by the audit authority under Article 34 of that Regulation.

2.2

Information relating to the monitoring of the designated bodies according to Article 35(5) and (6) of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014.

2.3

The dates from which these changes apply, the dates of notification of the changes to the audit authority, as well as the impact of these changes on the audit work are to be indicated.

3.1

Details of any changes that have been made to the audit strategy, and explanation of the reasons. In particular, indicate any change to the sampling method used for the audit of operations (see section 5 below).

3.2

Differentiation between the changes made or proposed at a late stage, which do not affect the work done during the reference period, and the changes made during the reference period, that affect the audit work and results. Only the changes compared to the previous version of the audit strategy are included.

4.1

Details of the bodies (including the audit authority) that have carried out audits on the proper functioning of the management and control system of the programme (as provided for in Article 34(1) of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014) — hereafter ‘system audits’.

4.2

Description of the basis for the audits carried out, including a reference to the audit strategy applicable, more particularly to the risk assessment methodology and the results that led to establishing the audit plan for system audits. In case the risk assessment has been updated, this shall be described in section 3 above covering the changes of the audit strategy.

4.3

In relation to the table in section 10.1 below, description of the main findings and conclusions drawn from system audits, including the audits targeted to specific thematic areas, as defined in section 3.2 of Annex II to this Regulation.

4.4

Indication of whether any problems identified were considered to be of a systemic character, and of the measures taken, including a quantification of the irregular expenditure and any related financial corrections, in line with Article 5(5) of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 532/2014.

4.5

Information on the follow-up of audit recommendations from system audits from previous accounting years.

4.6

Level of assurance obtained following the system audits (low/average/high) and justification.

5.1

Indication of the bodies (including the audit authority) that carried out the audits of operations (as provided for in Article 34(1) of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014 and Article 5 of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 532/2014).

5.2

Description of the sampling methodology applied and information whether the methodology is in accordance with the audit strategy.

5.3

Indication of the parameters used for statistical sampling and explanation of the underlying calculations and professional judgment applied. The sampling parameters include: materiality level, confidence level, sampling unit, expected error rate, sampling interval, population value, population size, sample size, information on stratification (if applicable). The underlying calculations for sample selection and the total error rate (as defined in Article 6(14) of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 532/2014) shall be disclosed in section 10.3 below, in a format allowing an understanding of the basic steps taken, in accordance with the specific sampling method used.

5.4

Reconciliation between the total expenditure declared in euro to the Commission in respect of the accounting year and the population from which the random sample was drawn (column ‘A’ of table in section 10.2 below). Reconciling items include negative sampling units where financial corrections have been made in respect of the accounting year.

5.5

Where there are negative sampling units, confirmation that they have been treated as a separate population in accordance with Article 6(7) of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 532/2014. Analysis of the principal results of the audits of these units, namely focusing on verifying whether the decisions to apply financial corrections (taken by the Member State or by the Commission) have been registered in the accounts as withdrawals or recoveries.

5.6

In case of the use of non-statistical sampling, indicate the reasons for using the method in line with Article 34(1) of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014, the percentage of operations/expenditure covered through audits, the steps taken to ensure randomness of the sample (and thus its representativity) and to ensure a sufficient size of the sample enabling the audit authority to draw up a valid audit opinion. A projected error rate is calculated also in case of non-statistical sampling.

5.7

Analysis of the principal results of the audits of operations, describing the number of sample items audited, the respective amount and types (2) of error by operation, the nature (3) of errors found, the stratum error rate and corresponding main deficiencies or irregularities, (4) the upper limit of the error rate (where applicable), root causes, corrective measures proposed (including those intending to avoid these errors in subsequent payment applications) and the impact on the audit opinion. Where necessary, provide further explanations on the data presented in sections 10.2 and 10.3 below, in particular concerning the total error rate.

5.8

Explanations concerning the financial corrections relating to the accounting year and implemented by the certifying authority/managing authority before submitting the accounts to the Commission, and resulting from the audits of operations, including flat rate or extrapolated corrections, as detailed in section 10.2 below.

5.9

Comparison of the total error rate and the residual total error rate (5) (as shown in section 10.2 below) with the set materiality level, in order to ascertain if the population is materially misstated and the impact on the audit opinion.

5.10

Information on the results of the audit of the complementary sample (as established in Article 6(12) of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 532/2014), if any.

5.11

Details of whether any problems identified were considered to be systemic in nature, and the measures taken, including a quantification of the irregular expenditure and any related financial corrections.

5.12

Information on the follow-up of audits of operations carried out in previous years, in particular on deficiencies of systemic nature.

5.13

Conclusions drawn from the overall results of the audits of operations with regard to the effectiveness of the management and control system.

6.1

Indication of the authorities/bodies that have carried out audits of accounts.

6.2

Description of audit approach used to verify the elements of the accounts defined in Article 49 of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014. This shall include a reference to the audit work carried out in the context of system audits (detailed in section 4 above) and the audits of operations (detailed in section 5 above) with relevancy for the assurance required on the accounts.

6.3

Indication of the conclusions drawn from the audit in regard to the completeness, accuracy and veracity of the accounts, including an indication on the financial corrections made and reflected in the accounts as a follow-up to the results of the system audits and/or audit on operations.

6.4

Indication of whether any problems identified were considered to be systemic in nature, and the measures taken.

7.1

Description of the procedure for coordination between the audit authority and any audit body that carries out audits as foreseen in Article 34(2) of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014, where appropriate.

7.2

Description of the procedure for supervision and quality review applied by the audit authority to such audit body(ies).

8.1

Where applicable, information on reported fraud and suspicions of fraud detected in the context of the audits performed by the audit authority (including the cases reported by other national or Union bodies and related to operations audited by the audit authority), together with the measures taken.

8.2

Where applicable, subsequent events occurred after the submission of the accounts to the audit authority and before the transmission of the annual control report under Article 34(5)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 223/2014 to the Commission and considered when establishing the level of assurance and opinion by the audit authority.

9.1

Indication of the overall level of assurance on the proper functioning of the management and control system, (6) and explanation of how such level was obtained from the combination of the results of the system audits (as reflected in section 10.2 below) and audits of operations (as reflected in section 10.3 below). Where relevant, the audit authority shall take also account of the results of other national or Union audit work carried out in relation to the accounting year.

9.2

Assessment of any mitigating actions implemented, such as financial corrections and assessment of the need for any additional corrective measures necessary, both from a system and financial perspective.