The European Court of Auditors' latest report on the management of the EU budget states that in 2013 the error rate was 4.7 percent, compared to 4.8 percent in 2012, and it continues to be below 5 percent for many years now.
With regard to the EU's account keeping, this is the seventh year in a row that the Commission has been given a clean bill of health by the Court of Auditors. In other words, the day-to-day accounting practices of the Commission have proven themselves solid and reliable throughout the entire 2007-2013 period.
The European Court of Auditors (ECA) is the independent external auditor of the European Union. Each year, the Court publishes an Annual Report on the implementation of the EU budget. The main components of this report is "statement of assurance" on the Commission's accounts and EU expenditure, along with an explanation of the Court's findings.
The Court's findings are drawn mainly from audits that it carries out on sample transactions throughout the year, at EU, national, regional and individual beneficiary level.
In 2013, the Commission recovered or corrected EUR3.4 billion of incorrectly paid amounts.
European Commission welcomed the findings of the report. This shows that the Commission's continuous efforts to improve the management of EU funds pay off, it said in a press release Wednesday.
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