Common use of Audit Trail Clause in Contracts

Audit Trail. 1. In accordance with Article 21 of the Framework Agreement the management and control system for the programme shall provide a sufficiently detailed audit trail. 2. For the purposes of this agreement an audit trail shall be considered sufficient where it permits: a.) the aggregate amounts certified to the Commission to be reconciled with the detailed accounting records and supporting documents held at the various administrative levels, by the Operating Structure and the final beneficiaries with regard to operations co-financed under the operational programme; b.) verification of the allocation and transfer of the available Community and national funds; c.) verification of the correctness of the information supplied on the execution of the programme in accordance with the terms of the Financing Agreement granting the assistance and the objectives assigned to the programme; d.) verification of the selection criteria established for the operational programme, and e.) in respect of each operation, as appropriate, the technical specifications and financing plan, documents concerning the grant approval, documents relating to public procurement procedures, progress reports and reports on verifications and audits carried out. 3. An indicative description of the information requirements for a sufficient audit trail is given in Annex XIV. 4. The Beneficiary shall satisfy itself that the following points have been addressed: a) that there are procedures to ensure that documents that are relevant to specific items of expenditure incurred, payments made, works undertaken and verification of them carried out in connection with the programme, and which are required for a sufficient audit trail, are held in accordance with the requirements of Annex XIV; b) that a record is maintained of the body holding them and its location; and c) that the documents are made available for inspection by the persons and bodies who would normally have the right to inspect such documents. 5. The persons and bodies referred to in paragraph 4 (c) shall be: a) the staff of the National Fund, Operating Structure and specific bodies who process payment applications; b) the services undertaking audits of management and control systems; c) the National Authorising Officer as person responsible for certifying interim and final payment applications and the person or department which issues declarations for the winding up of measures; and d) mandated officials of national audit institutions and of the Community. They may require that extracts or copies of the documents or accounting records referred to in paragraph 4 be supplied to them.