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 general concepts of the Audit Management Services system also apply to the audit process. For a detailed description of the roles mentioned in this process, see the Roles and access rights in the Online Manual.
Audited organisations (auditee) will have an Audit Contact (AUCO) nominated, who will access AMS (Audit Management System) and carry out their audit related tasks – for more information, please consult How to assign or revoke roles.
Outsourced audits are carried out by External Auditor Firms (EXAF) appointed by the Commission. The appointed EXAF will access AMS in order carry out their audit related tasks.
If the outsourced audit flow is cancelled, the LEAR and the AUCO of the audited organisation and and the External Audit Firm (EXAF) will be notified about the cancellation of the flow via a Formal Notification containing the Audit Cancellation Letter.
The audit process consists of several phases:
- The Primary Audit Contact (PAUCO), or LEAR/Account Administrator if no other PAUCOs have been appointed yet, is asked to nominate an Audit Contact (AUCO) (Step 1)
- The Commission sends a letter of announcement to the AUCO
- The AUCO uploads the Annexes requested in the Letter of Announcement (Step 2)
- The EXAF appointed by the Commission 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 to the EXAF (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
Step 1: The LEAR and the Account Administrator receive a pre-notification letter to appoint an Audit Contact
The LEAR and the Account Administrator receive a PNS and a Formal Notification that a letter has been sent by the EU to ask him/her to appoint Audit Contact(s) (AUCO). They will find and open the PNS in the Funding & Tenders Portal, in the section My Formal Notification(s).
If not defined, when opening the Formal notification, the LEAR/Account Administrator 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.
The LEAR of the organisation is automatically assigned the role of Primary Audit Contact (PAUCO). The person holding this role, will nominate as many Audit Contacts as needed for each audit. The Audit Contact(s) will access AMS in order carry out their audit related tasks. For more information about how to appoint an AUCO in the Funding & Tenders Portal please consult How to assign or revoke roles .
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: The Audit Contact uploads the Annexes requested in 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.
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.
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.
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 their observations on the DAR to the External Audit Firm
The external audit firm prepares the draft audit report (DAR) and sends it to you for observations. You will have to upload the Letter of representation and the files with your observations, and send the DAR back to the audit firm.
You have 30 days to complete this task. If the deadline is reached, the task will auto-complete and the external audit firm will be notified to take a decision on how to proceed.
The AUCO receives a PNS with a request to consult the Draft Audit Report (DAR) and uploads and submits comments on it:
Access the audit and the process details
Access your audit via My Audits and click on Actions / Access Audit. Then click Process documents. Note that you will see a counter next to the task name indicating the remaining days you have to complete the task.
In the process screen click on View task details.
Note that you will see a counter next to the task name indicating the remaining days you have to complete the task.
Provide your observations file and the LoR
By default, the option Provide observations will be selected under the Select an outcome section. To proceed, upload both the Letter of Representation (LoR) and your file with observations by clicking on Upload.
If you do not wish to provide observations, under the Select an outcome section, select Proceed without observations. You will need to upload the Letter of Representation.
Submit the task
Once you have uploaded the files, tick the confirmation that you have verified the files and click on Submit.
If you are sending it back without observations, tick the confirmation that you wish to proceed without observations and that you have uploaded the LoR and click Submit.
Provide additional observations when requested
When you are being requested to provided further observations, or the deadline for observations have been extended, you will receive a PNS to inform about it.
Access your audit via My Audits and click on Actions / Access Audit. Then click Process documents. A new task will be active for you, click on View task details to access it.
You will need to provide a new file with observations, or change the outcome to Proceed without observations.
Regarding the Letter of representation, you will see the previous one you provided. You may decide to replace it by uploading a new version or reuse the exiting one. Select the corresponding option according to what you want to do. If you are going to replace it, then upload a new version via the Upload button.
Finally click the confirmation and click on Submit.
No more actions from are required for this process after the observations have been provided and accepted. The audit will move to the Closed step When the EU finalises the audit. A Formal Notification containing the letter of conclusion and the Final Audit Report (FAR) will be sent to you, and the process will reach the Closed step and be archived.
