The Fathers of Financial Control: Beginning to Audit Europe
Paul Stephenson, Maastricht University
The paper looks at the origins of financial control in the European Union, by focusing specifically on the work of the Audit Board (1959-1977), the precursor to the present-day European Court of Auditors. It traces the very beginnings of attempts to monitor and control administrative and policy expenditure at a time when the EU institutions were just established. Based on an examinations of records in the historical archives it charts the evolutions of audit culture and ethics in the EU, as well as the emergence of inter-institional cooperation and conflict between auditors and bodies such as Euratom, Commission, Parliament and Council of Ministers. It identifies the practical challenges faced in the first two decades of the Community and reflects on the influence of this early period on the practice of auditing the EU today.