As the external auditor of the EU, the European Court of Auditors checks that EU funds are correctly accounted for are spent in compliance with the rules and legislation and with due consideration for achieving best value for money. The results of the Court's work are used by the European Commission, Parliament and Council, as well as Member States, to improve the financial management of the EU budget.
From visiting vineyards in Sicily to checking the canning of tomatoes in Naples, our case study Jeff Mason can confirm that a career in EU auditing is far more interesting than you might think! Check out his case study here.
My EU career: Jeff Mason
Employer: European Commission
Occupation: Head of unit, Internal Audit Service
Studied: Economics, University of Kent.
Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA)
My interest in working for the EU was first stimulated by a short secondment to the European Court of Auditors in Luxembourg. In fact, what started out as a three-month loan ended up as one year and really opened my eyes to what lay beyond the UK's shores. In that short time I was exposed to new cultures, new ways of working, the challenges of functioning in different languages and seeing another side to the often perceived dry world of audit.
Whether it was checking vineyards in Sicily, the destruction of surplus oranges in Greece or the canning of tomatoes near Naples, wherever the Community's EURO (or ECU in those days) was being spent, the Court would be there.
On coming back to London, I resumed my role at the National Audit Office (NAO), but the hankering for an EU career never waned. It took another six years of experience and the start of a family, but I took the opportunity of a temporary agent post in 2000 in the European Commission (again on secondment from the NAO) it was great time to arrive. New bodies were being created, a big focus on accountability and control – perfect for an auditor with aspirations to make a career in the EU. What's more, I seemed to be really appreciated for what I could bring. Those years of training, the disciplined report writing skills and English as well, these were things in real demand.
A short way into my temporary contract I successfully passed an external competition to join the EU as a permanent official. A few carefully rehearsed arguments with my family about the benefits and opportunities that lay ahead and I soon found myself signing away my old life in the NAO and embarking on a new, and longer term one in Brussels and my wife and young children on their own European adventure. Eleven years later I am now working as a head of unit in the Internal Audit Service of the European Commission
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