First Financial Audit on the spot

28 Apr 2008 - Sabina Griffith
The auditors at work "on the spot".

For the first time in the history of the ITER project, the Financial Audit Board came together in Cadarache for its first "on the spot" audit. In February a kick-off meeting had been held at the Château in order to prepare for this audit.

The role of the Board which has one representative from each ITER Member, was to examine whether the financial statements made by IO in the year 2007, including balance sheets, expenditure tables and contracts, corresponded to the Project Resources Management Regulations. Although the Board had little time to prepare for the audit, the Chairman, Professor Hiroshi Nagano, described the result of this one-week exercise as "a true and fair view of the IO's financial statement." Even though there were still some things to be improved, "we are here to make ITER become a success," Nagano said. The final Audit Report will go to the ITER Council, together with the Financial Statement made by IO.