The terms ‘control’ and ‘audit’ (and thus controller and auditor) are not interchangeable since they have two different meanings as well as implications.
The term “control”¹ refers to the management verifications performed by the MA/JS and the controllers identified by each participating country. The control ensures the legality and regularity of expenditure declared by the project partners before the reimbursement of project costs. Depending on the system in the given country, controllers can be either a national or regional authority or a private body or a natural person.
¹ REGULATION (EU) No 2021/1059, Art 46
The term ‘audit’² refers to the verifications performed by auditors supporting the audit authority. Auditors check expenditure already reimbursed by the MA/JS and declared to the European Commission. The auditors perform their checks based on annual samples.
