Exploring milestones and rationales for the development of the audit methodology of the European Court of Auditors

Abstract

The key objective of the article is to explore the evolution of the audit methodology of the European Court of Auditors, the external auditor of EU finances. The author identifies significant landmarks of the process, by splitting the whole period into three parts from its foundation until recent progresses. The research method applied is the consultation of the documents available at the Historical Archives of the European Union in Florence and the European Court of Auditors in Luxembourg (within the framework of the Postgraduate Research Grant Programme), and interviews with auditors of the Court and professionals who have the knowledge of the overall external audit. The article concludes that the Courts methodological framework reflects from all aspects the professional standards on auditing. Both the legal framework and the Courts institutional evolution highly influenced the development of the methodology. The outcome of the research later serves as a reference point to investigate whether a common methodology to EU funds across Member States is possible and of intention. This aspect is a fundamental prerequisite of the feasibility of the single audit concept in the context of the external audit function and internal control chain of EU funds.