Audits of EU funds and division of powers between public financial control bodies: the experience of the French Republic

On 5 December 2024, the Chairwoman of the Accounting Chamber Olha Pishchanska and the Director of the State Budget Control Department Yulia Myronenko met with the representatives of the French National Authority for the Audit of European Fund (AnAFe).

The meetings discussed the approaches and methodology used by this institution when conducting audits of EU funds. The importance of risk assessment for proper audit planning was also emphasised. One of the important tasks aimed at protecting the financial interests of the EU is to identify cases of double funding.

The Accounting Chamber will cooperate with AnAFe within the framework of the Interreg Europe 2021-2027 programme in Ukraine. The draft Agreement on financing of this programme designates AnAFe as an audit body and the Accounting Chamber as a representative of Ukraine in the group of auditors.

On 6 December 2024, a delegation of the Accounting Chamber met with a representative of the General Economic and Financial Control (CGEFi). This Service is responsible for controlling the state-owned enterprises of the French Republic by analysing risks and evaluating the activities of such enterprises. The annual reports of this service are submitted to the Court of Accounts of the Republic of France and can be used by the latter in its audits.

The Chairwoman of the Accounting Chamber Olha Pishchanska also met with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the French Republic Vadym Omelchenko. Particular attention was paid to the support of France for Ukraine and the importance of independent external audits of the use of financial assistance provided by international partners by the Accounting Chamber. This will increase the confidence of foreign partners in Ukraine and help ensure proper spending of the assistance provided.

Summarising the results of the working visit, the Chairwoman of the Accounting Chamber expressed her gratitude to the representatives of the French public international cooperation agency “Expertise France” (the organiser of the visit) for the opportunity to learn about the system of public financial control in this country. According to her, professional discussions with representatives of the French public controlling bodies of different levels of control made it possible to understand the distribution of powers and tasks between them. This knowledge and understanding will help to improve the system of public financial control in Ukraine.

As part of this working visit, Olha Pishchanska also met with Pierre Moscovici, First President of the Court of Accounts of the French Republic, representatives of SIGMA, the Inspectorate General of Finance (IGF), the General Directorate of Public Finance (DGFiP), the Ministerial budgetary and accounting control Department of the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry, as well as the special envoy of the President of France for Ukraine’s transformation and our economic support.