(3)

Article 14 is replaced by the following: ‘Article 14 Audits 1. To deliver the opinion referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 59(5) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (*1), the Audit Authority shall conduct system audits, audits of expenditure and audits of accounts. 2. System audits shall verify whether the Responsible Authority's management and control system has functioned effectively so as to give reasonable assurance that the financial data included in the request for payment of the annual balance submitted to the Commission in accordance with Article 44 of Regulation (EU) No 514/2014 is legal and regular. Based on these system audits, the Audit Authority shall verify the compliance with the key requirements set out in Annex to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/378 (*2) and whether the Responsible Authority continues to comply with the designation criteria set out in Annex I to the present Regulation. 3. Audits of expenditure shall be carried out in respect of each financial year on an appropriate sample drawn from the financial data considered eligible by the Responsible Authority (“the draft accounts”) after completion of all its controls referred to in Article 27 of Regulation (EU) No 514/2014 and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/840 (*3). The financial data shall comprise all types of payments made by the Responsible Authority during a financial year as defined in Article 38 of Regulation (EU) No 514/2014, including advance payments, interim payments, final payments and payments relating to technical assistance and operating support. The financial data shall also comprise, for the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, the number of persons relocated, resettled, transferred or legally admitted. Audits of expenditure shall: — be carried out on the basis of supporting documents constituting the audit trail and shall verify the legality and regularity of the financial data in the draft accounts, — where applicable, include on-the-spot verification of the expenditure incurred by the beneficiaries, including mutatis mutandis for payments made under technical assistance and operating support, — where applicable, include verification of compliance with the requirements set for persons relocated in accordance with Council Decisions (EU) 2015/1523 and 2015/1601, resettled in accordance with Article 17 of Regulation (EU) No 516/2014, transferred in accordance with Article 18 of Regulation (EU) No 516/2014 and legally admitted in accordance with Council Decisions (EU) 2015/1601, for which a lump sum is claimed, — verify the accuracy and completeness of the payments to beneficiaries and recorded by the Responsible Authority in its accounting system and the reconciliation of the audit trail at all levels. When the Audit Authority detects an error rate in the draft accounts that is material or problems detected appear to be systemic in nature and therefore entail a risk for other payments funded by the national programme, the Audit Authority shall ensure further examination, including, where necessary, additional audits to establish the scale of the problems. The maximum materiality level shall be 2 % of the Union contribution of the financial data in the “draft accounts”. The Audit Authority shall recommend the necessary corrective actions to the Responsible Authority, including where applicable, flat rate financial corrections in line with Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/378. The Audit Authority shall report the results of the audits of expenditure and the associated recommendations and corrective measures in the annual control report referred to in Article 14(8). 4. The Audit Authority shall establish the method for the selection of the appropriate sample (“the sampling method”) in accordance with internationally accepted auditing standards. The sampling method shall enable the Audit Authority to estimate the total error rate in the “draft accounts” for the financial year. The Audit Authority shall document, in the annual control report referred to in Article 14(8), its professional judgment used to establish the statistical or non-statistical sampling method and the applicable sampling parameters. The Audit Authority shall keep records of the sampling methodology applied covering the planning, selection, testing and evaluation stages, in order to demonstrate that the selected sampling method is suitable. When statistical sampling methods cannot be used, a non-statistical sampling method may be used on the professional judgment of the Audit Authority. Any non-statistical sampling method shall provide for a random selection of the sample items and cover a minimum of 10 % of the value of the financial data included in the “draft accounts”. The sampling method chosen and the sample size shall allow the Audit Authority to draw conclusions on the total population from which the sample was drawn. For this purpose and if applicable, the Audit Authority may stratify the financial data by dividing into strata, each of which is a group of sampling units which have similar characteristics. When the audit sample includes interim payments and/or final payments clearing advance payments declared in the accounts of previous financial years, these advance payments shall fall within the scope of the audit of expenditure. However, for reporting in Table 10.2 “Results of audits of expenditure” in the annual control report referred to in Article 14.8, the error rates and audit coverage shall be calculated solely on the basis of the audit sample drawn from the financial data in the “draft accounts” of the current financial year. 5. Audits on accounts shall be carried out to provide reasonable assurance that the annual accounts give a true and fair view of the financial data reported in the request for payment of the annual balance (“the final accounts”) submitted by the Responsible Authority to the Commission in accordance with Article 44 of Regulation (EU) No 514/2014. In order to conclude whether the final accounts give a true and fair view, the Audit Authority shall verify that all the financial data and public contributions received and entered in the accounts prepared by the Responsible Authority for the financial year are correctly recorded in the accounting system and correspond to the supporting accounting records maintained by the Responsible Authority. The Audit Authority shall in particular, on the basis of these accounts: (a) verify that the total amount of financial data reported in the request for payment of the annual balance agrees with the Responsible Authority's accounting system and, if there are differences, that adequate explanations have been documented for the reconciling amounts; (b) verify that the amounts withdrawn and recovered, the amounts to be recovered and the irrecoverable amounts as at the end of the financial year, correspond to the amounts entered in the accounting system of the Responsible Authority and are supported by documented decisions of the Responsible Authority; (c) ascertain that the Responsible Authority has performed the administrative and financial and operational on-the-spot controls in compliance with Article 27 of Regulation (EU) No 514/2014 and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/840. The verifications referred to in points (a), (b) and (c) may be carried out on a sample basis. On the basis of the total error rate determined by the audits of expenditure and the results of the audit of accounts, the Audit Authority shall calculate the residual error rate to deliver the opinion referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 59(5) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012. The calculation of the residual error rate shall be documented in the annual control report referred to in paragraph 8. 6. If the Audit Authority's audit findings, on completion of all its audit work, suggest material weaknesses in the effective functioning of the Responsible Authority's management and control system, the Audit Authority shall: (a) assess the financial impact of these weaknesses in line with Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/378; (b) make appropriate recommendations to the Responsible Authority for corrective and preventive measures; (c) monitor the Responsible Authority's implementation of the measures referred in point (b) above and assess whether an action plan to restore the effective functioning of the management and control systems is in place. 7. Pursuant to Article 3(2), the Audit Authority shall report its findings to the Designating Authority, including whether, in its opinion, the Responsible Authority continues to comply with the designation criteria. 8. The Audit Authority shall ensure that all information related to its audit activity referred to in paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 is adequately reported to the Commission. For this purpose, the Audit Authority shall draw up an annual control report setting out the main findings of its audit work. The annual control report shall be drawn up in accordance with the model set out in Annex to this Regulation and shall be sent to the Commission via the electronic data exchange system referred to in Article 2 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 802/2014. The annual control report shall be sent to the Commission no later than 3 working days after the Responsible Authority submits the request for payment of the annual balance to the Commission in accordance with Article 44 of Regulation (EU) No 514/2014. (*1) Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union and repealing Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 (OJ L 298, 26.10.2012, p. 1)." (*2) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/378 of 2 March 2015 laying down rules for the application of Regulation (EU) No 514/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to the implementation of the annual clearance of accounts procedure and the implementation of the conformity clearance (OJ L 64, 7.3.2015, p. 30)." (*3) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/840 of 29 May 2015 on controls carried out by Responsible Authorities pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 514/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down general provisions on the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund and on the instrument for financial support for police cooperation, preventing and combating crime, and crisis management (OJ L 134, 30.5.2015, p. 1).’;"