Monitoring audit successful

As a newcomer to the European scheme of Operational Grants to NGOs, Sea Alarm was recently audited in late October by a UK based team which was sent by the European Commission to check Sea Alarm’s financial and administrative structure. This is a standard procedure which provides essential information both to the Commission and the beneficiary of the grant if the internal procedure and structures comply with the standards set by the Commission. After three days of studying Sea Alarm’s administration and interviewing the staff, the auditors came to a positive end conclusion. Although they recommended a number of improvements, preliminary feedback indicated that none of the issues raised represented any serious challenge to Sea Alarm’s compliance with the Commission’s standards. In theory any beneficiary of an EU operational grant may be subject to a real audit. The monitoring audit therefore was a useful real time exercise.