The European Commission administers the funding which has been approved by the European Union. It ensures that Programmes are compliant with the conditions under which the funding is made available.
Who Manages the Programme?
DoF’s role is as ‘Member State’ and as such has responsibility for preparing, negotiating and obtaining approval for the IGJ Programme, for carrying out the Programme’s ex-ante evaluation and for setting up the management, monitoring and control arrangements for the Programme. DoF has ongoing responsibility for overseeing the Managing Authority’s governance of the Programme, providing guidance on the implementation of the Programme, overseeing publicity and information activities and representing the interests of the Programme in discussion with the other UK regions and with the European Commission.
DfE has three separate areas of responsibility with regard to the IGJ Programme – Managing Authority, Certifying Authority and Audit Authority.
The Managing Authority is responsible for:
- Ensuring that operations are selected for funding in accordance with the applicable criteria
- Verifying that products and services are delivered and that expenditure has been incurred and is compliant with European and national rules
- Ensuring that a database is in place and is populated with information necessary for financial management, monitoring, verifications, audits and evaluation
- Ensuring that evaluations of the Programme are carried out as required
- Ensure that an adequate audit trail is maintained
- Ensuring that the Certifying Authority receives all information necessary for certification
- Preparing and submitting annual and final reports on Programme implementation
- Ensuring compliance with information and publicity requirements
- Providing the European Commission with information to allow it to appraise major projects
The Certifying Authority is responsible for:
- Drawing up and submitting to the Commission certified statements of expenditure and applications for payment
- Certifying that the statements of expenditure are accurate, based on reliable accounting systems and verifiable supporting documents, complies with European and national rules and has been incurred in respect of appropriately selected activities
- Ensuring that it receives adequate information from the Managing Authority for the purposes of certification
- For certification purposes, taking account of all audits carried out by or under the responsibility of the audit authority
- Maintaining accounting records in computerised form of expenditure declared to the Commission
- Keeping an account of amounts recoverable and amounts withdrawn following cancellation of all or part of the contribution for an operation
The Audit Authority is responsible for:
- Ensuring that audits are carried out to verify the effective functioning of the management and control system of the Programme
- Ensuring that audits are carried out on operations on the basis of an appropriate sample to verify expenditure declared
- Presenting an audit strategy to the European Commission
- Submitting an annual control report to the European Commission
- Issuing an opinion on whether the management and control systems function effectively
- Submitting a Programme closure declaration
Intermediate Body responsibilities:
Some of the Managing Authority responsibilities have been delegated to the Intermediate Bodies, specifically:
- Notify Managing Authority of any proposed changes
- Select operations for funding through the Programme
- Make offers of funding to beneficiaries
- Conduct verifications of the administrative, physical, technical and financial aspects of each project
- Ensure that performance against agreed outputs is monitored and reported
- Record all relevant information on the Programme database
- Ensure that an adequate audit trail is maintained
- Ensure compliance with the applicable European and national rules
- Record and report irregularities as necessary