Internal Control - Key Element of the Financial Control System in the European Union

The internal control refers to the financial control performed by organizational structures of internal control at the economic entity (public authorities of central and local administration), including a priori approval systems (ex-ante) and internal audit (a-posteriori or ex-post). One of the basic features of internal control is the distinction between management and public internal financial control (PIFC), on one hand, and internal audit, on the other hand, which provides the functioning of the first and the independence of the second. The European Commission is the developer of the concept of public internal financial control (PIFC), the goal being to provide an operational model and structure to help national governments in reshaping their internal control environment and in particular to improve control systems in the public sector in the EU, in line with international standards of good practice.