Table of contents
All pages about audits
Related pages
- Audit management services (My Audits)
- Formal Notifications for audits
- Information for audit firms (
concerns only audit firms)
Online Manual
Process description and steps
The Audit Contact (AUCO) needs to have been assigned to a the team working on this audit, as for a detailed description of the roles mentioned in this process, see Roles and access rights in the Online Manual.
Audited organisations (auditee) will have an Audit Contact (AUCO) nominated, who will access AMS and carry out their audit related tasks – for more information, please see Audit Roles.
The audit process consists of several phases:
- The Primary Audit Contact (LEAR by default for first audit on the organisation) receives the letter of announcement of the audit asking to nominate an Audit Contact (AUCO) and to assign both the audit and the AUCO to the same team (Step 1). Consult How to assign or revoke roles for more information.
- The Commission sends a letter of announcement to the AUCO.
- The AUCO uploads the Annexes requested in the Letter of Announcement - LoA (Step 2).
- The auditor appointed by the EU carries out the field work, prepares a Draft Audit Report (DAR) and sends the DAR to the AUCO for observations (contradictory).
- The AUCO submits their observations on the DAR (Step 3).
- The Commission sends the letter of conclusion and the Final Audit Report (FAR), reconciliation of the DAR and the observations submitted by the AUCO, to the AUCO.
In-house audits are carried out by an auditor within the EU own staff, and AMS will be used for all audit related exchanges with the auditee.
If the in-house audit flow is cancelled, the LEAR and the AUCO will be notified about the cancellation of the flow via a PNS (i.e. a notification in the Portal) and a Formal Notification containing the Audit Cancellation Letter.
Step 1: The LEAR and the Account Administrator receive a pre-notification letter to appoint an Audit Contact (AUCO)
The Primary Audit Contact(s) of the organisation receives a PNS and a Formal Notification informing that an audit will take place and requesting to appoint an Audit Contact(s) (AUCO). The AUCO(s) will act as point of contact and will upload the requested documents in the Audit Management System (AMS).
If not defined, when opening the Formal notification, the Primary audit contact will be prompted to select a communication means, either to receive the documents electronically or on paper. If no selection is made within 15 days, the paper communication mode will be automatically selected.
If this is the very first audit, the Primary Audit contact will have been automatically assigned to the LEAR of the organisation, who can allocate the role to other people for future administration of the audits. The Primary Audit contact distributes the audits and AUCOs into teams, see How to assign or revoke roles for more information. This is a prerequisite to be able to carry out the actions in Step 2.
To download the document, click the link to the letter and again the download icon/the link for the "Audit Contact letter". The AUCO will also have access to this document and the rest of documents linked to the audit via a the documents tab within AMS once you have assigned both the AUCO and the audit to a team.
Step 2: Upload the annexes to the Letter of Announcement
The Audit Contact uploads the Annexes requested in the Letter of Announcement as follows:
Access the audit
Access the audit via My Audits and click on Actions / Access Audit.
Access the process details
Then click on View Process details.
Access the task details
You need to upload 3 annexes. Click on View task details for each one of the them to access the task details screen.
Upload the documents
In the task details screen, upload all the mandatory documents, and additional documents if applicable, via the Upload button.
Submit the annex
Then confirm that you have verified the uploaded documents by ticking the checkbox and click on Submit.
Please note that once you click on Submit, it is not possible to upload any revised version of that corresponding annex. Please, make sure that the file is correct before clicking on the button.
If you have submitted already one of the annexes but you need to send an updated version, you can use the 
button to send your revised version.
Upload the documents for the rest of annexes
The system will take you back to the process details. You have a task per annex. After submitting one of the annexes, it will not show any longer under the list of tasks. Repeat your actions for the remaining annexes.
Once you have submitted all annexes, the task will show in green in the metro line on the left, meaning that there is no action pending from your side.
Step 3: The Audit Contact submits observations on the Draft Audit Report (DAR)
The AUCO receives a Formal Notification with a request to consult the Draft Audit Report (DAR) and uploads and submits comments on it. The Formal Notification needs to be acknowledged first in order to be able to access the task. To acknowledge the Formal Notification, please see Acknowledging a formal notification from the EU.
Acces the audit
Access your audit via My Audits and click on Actions / Access Audit.
Then click Process documents.
Access the process details
Then click on View Process details.
Download the DAR documents
Click on the Documents tab and download the Draft Audit Report (DAR), the Letter of Representation template, and if applicable, the Cover letter. Providing Observations in not compulsory but you will need to upload the Letter of Representation properly signed to be able to complete the task.
Alternatively, you will have a download button in the task details from where you can download all documents, see step 4 below.
Access the Task details and submit documents
Under Tasks, on the right side of the screen, you will see the corresponding task to provide your comments. Click on View task details to access the task.
Then, click on Download if you did not downloaded the documents yet. Proceed then to upload the Letter of Representation and your comments by clicking on upload for each one of the two documents.
If you do not need or do not wish to provide any comments on the draft audit report, simply upload the Letter of Representation. Then tick the confirmation that the documents have been verified and click on Submit.
After submitting, the task will disappear from the list of tasks and the DAR Comments step in the metroline will become green.
The auditor might request further comments on the DAR. Should this be the case, you will have a new task to upload both your comment and the letter of representation, the latter being compulsory for you to be able to complete the task as it was the previous time.
After the auditor receives your comments, a Final Audit Report (FAR) will be prepared and uploaded in the system incorporating your comments in the report. When registered, the audit will move to the Closed step in the metroline and the process will be terminated. Remember that if you want to check this process, it will not display as an active process any longer, so switch to the archive processes to find it back:
