Finance safeguards are ‘seriously weak’, says chief auditor

Date: 04/07/02

By David Cronin

SERIOUS misgivings about how the European Commission controls its use of taxpayers' money have been raised by the institution's chief internal auditor, European Voice has learned.

Documents obtained by this newspaper reveal that Jules Muis, head of the internal audit service, complained in late March that many of the Commission's staff dealing with accounting matters are administrative 'B' grade officials, 'unfamiliar with the practice of accounting'.

The number of trained officials at the higher 'A' grade level who work on budget management is 'insufficient to constitute a viable team', he said. 'Despite their best efforts, the structural weaknesses of the accounting and the control systems and the deficiency in the staff numbers operating these systems has meant that staff performance is below what one would expect in an organisation such as the Commission.'

Muis' remarks are contained in a letter sent to the outgoing head of the budget directorate-general, Jean-Paul Mingasson. In it, Muis bemoaned the 'reluctance to accept responsibilities that straddle the institution's services.'

He argued that this diminished the 'process of accountability at many levels'. He also berated the Commission's hierarchy for their 'explicit non-acceptance of a central controller's function', arguing this 'detracts from the establishment of clear responsibilities'.

Speaking to the European Parliament's budget control committee last month, Muis said there is a 'strong convergence of views' among his colleagues in support of criticisms expressed by Marta Andreasen, the Commission's recently sacked accounting officer. She had alerted the European Court of Auditors about her fears that Sincom, the computer system used for EU accounts, was 'vulnerable to fraud'.

In his letter, Muis said the role of the accounting officer had been 'subordinated' within DG Budget and the 'control aspects of the function have been minimised to that of an authorised record keeper.'

He also complained that there is no central register of bank guarantees issued to the Union's executive. 'The Commission's accounting systems are too piecemeal for comfort,' he wrote.

'They do not in reality represent double entry bookkeeping and therefore are fragile in their reliability for both management and accountability purposes.'

Muis, furthermore, expressed puzzlement about what role the Commission's Central Financial Service (CFS) plays in the 'total control architecture'. This body in DG Budget is charged with providing advice to staff on issues such as the definition of financial management rules.

In a response to Muis, dated 8 April, Mingasson said 'only a misunderstanding could explain your perplexity about the exact role of the CFS.'

Serious misgivings about how the European Commission controls its use of taxpayers' money have been raised by the institution's chief internal auditor, Jules Muis.