Automatically translated with deepl.com.
The complete IDW Audit Guidelines are published in German in the IDW Life magazine. They can also be obtained from IDW Verlag GmbH.
Audit notes from the Institut der Wirtschaftsprüfer in Deutschland e.V. (IDW) are published annually by the institute's own publishing house. Here you will find a current excerpt for the final accounts according to EEG, EnFG and other levies.
Please note that transmission system operators (TSOs) have been requiring the submission of digital audit notes and the use of so-called receipt files for several years now.
The TSOs make the receipt files available online to network operators subject to reporting requirements via their portals. This applies to the processes for summary final settlements in connection with the Energy Financing Act, the Renewable Energy Sources Act, the Combined Heat and Power Act, and the Electricity Grid Fee Ordinance.
These receipt files each contain an electronic signature from the TSO, which it uses to determine whether the file has been altered. This electronic signature on the receipt file should be retained when it is included in the audit note and should not be technically altered. Otherwise, the integrity of the file created cannot be automatically verified.
Irrespective of this, the TSOs point out that the receipt files represent an aggregation of the data reported by the grid operator and that the “plausibility check of the final accounts” by the TSOs is limited to data inconsistencies, e.g., with previous reports from the grid operator or public/reported master data.
The audit procedures of the responsible auditing company therefore remain unchanged (e.g., whether the eligibility requirements and conditions for subsidies have been met, whether the subsidies in favor of the plant operators have been billed accordingly by the grid operators, or whether there are any relevant legal disputes with the plant operators).