Public Sector Assurance - EU & International Institutions

A holistic policy does not end at national borders. National, European and global concerns are intertwined in many ways and present public decision-makers and companies with increasingly complex challenges.

For this reason, we have assembled an integrated team combining our expertise in advising companies and public institutions at national, European and international level. This allows you to draw on more than ten years of experience with public funds. Our services are aimed at companies using public funds as well as public funders such as federal and state ministries.

Evaluation - the independent examination and assessment of projects, programmes, a specific policy or initiative - has grown in importance in recent years. Public institutions in Germany and Europe, as well as private organisations and foundations, are increasingly using this instrument to account for the results achieved. While it is important to review how efficiently public funds are used, the focus has increasingly shifted to enhancing funding instruments in line with changing overall conditions.

In addition to our expertise in empirical social research, we can draw on many years of consulting experience. This includes European decision-makers, national and regional institutions as well as the actual funding recipients. Our services include:

• Evaluation of European structural funding (especially ERDF and EFS)
• Measuring the success of national and international funding measures (achievement of objectives, impact and cost-effectiveness)
• Design of monitoring systems
• Regulatory impact assessment and further development of funding instruments
• Organisational and process consulting
• Policy advice (evidence-based policy making)

As an institutional member of the German Evaluation Society (DeGEval e. V.), we are very familiar with evaluation standards. Supplemented by KPMG's network of experts, we have contacts for all relevant matters and sectors.

Applying a professional reporting approach, we provide you with the security and confidence that, once audited, the financial statements for EU-funded projects will be free from any significant repayment risks. Based on our extensive experience in auditing the use of funds, in particular through our engagement for audits (second level) under the Horizon 2020 research funding framework programme in 42 countries, we can provide you with high-quality support for the following:

• Support in the correct presentation or accounting of funds
• Support with the application for funds
• Audit and certification of the correct use of funds in accordance with EU requirements.

Our public sector audits include examining the use of funds concerning public funding at state, federal or EU level. 

For example, as part of the EU's audit of subsidies, we carry out audits for grants awarded by the EU relating to structural funds (ESF and ERDF) and research grants (Horizon 2020, FP 7) to issue certificates on the proper use of funds.

As a service provider in international cooperation for sustainable development, we contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) worldwide. Since 2018, KPMG has been building a hub for "International Development Assistance Services" (IDAS) based in Berlin. This is part of a KPMG network that cooperates globally and has been established for many years. We bundle (inter)national KPMG expertise from the private and public sectors for bilateral and multilateral clients with a focus on target groups, efficiency, innovation and compliance.

We understand sustainability as a socially, ecologically and economically balanced approach that keeps an interdisciplinary eye on relevant actors at different levels. In this context, we focus on business-related topics and approaches and cooperate with external alliance partners. We provide support through:

• Assignments of short-/long-term experts to plan, implement and evaluate DC projects in developing and emerging countries (e.g. concerning innovative financing for development, energy/climate)
• Project-related analyses, studies and concept papers on DC-specific issues
• Advising donor organisations on improving their steering capacity in development cooperation, e.g. with regard to compliance, risk and IT issues.

A particular concern of ours is to mobilise more private investment in developing and emerging countries.

Our colleagues offer extensive expertise on the functioning of the European Commission, its cohesion and structural policies, the use of funding in the individual member states as well as the current instruments of international development cooperation.

We are an international team that provides regional knowledge worldwide through our association with European and global KPMG member firms and our International Development Assistance Services (IDAS). In our studies, we incorporate these different perspectives and use a variety of analytical tools and innovative approaches to address the complexity of the issues and the respective needs of the actors. In addition to content expertise in audit/development cooperation and evaluation, we offer cross-sectional, tailor-made project management based on methods such as PRINCE2.