Audit Implosion in European Affairs: How to Govern the Dimension and Development of the European Paying Agencies? The Argea Case: A Qualitative Research of Audit Loops and Restatement

Abstract

Accounting information has a strong political meaning, and cases of accounting failure demonstrate that the regulation and standard are far from saving accountants from making mistake and auditors from failing to recognize the errors. European financial report SoA (Statement of Assurance) offer guidelines for the proper depiction of an entity, but, in the settlement of the accounting practice, there is still plenty of room for the personal professional opinions of the prepares. So this paper use after a quantitative (descriptive and mathematical approach) a qualitative research: "Argea Case", to discuss a modification of organization settings of an Italian paying agencies, it's reflexes in efficiency and effectiveness of public spending. As a result, a high risk of losing accounting credibility affects all the participants in the preparation, reviewer and approval of the accounting data that are published and then restated; above all, it reduces the credibility of the paying agency releasing the official financial report affected by mistakes. All these aspects describe the audit implosion in European affairs and how future payments from EU policy are conditioned by the inability to formalize agreements and contracts between auditors, consultants and the government of paying agency; fueling uncertainty, risks and unpredictability events about the quality of  EU public spending.