Portugal’s Audit Court (Tribunal de Contas) is an independent body that supervises public accounts and expenditure and prosecutes public financial violations.
The Court, among other things, issues opinions on public annual accounts and controls expenses arising from decisions or contracts entered into by public entities. It assumes an important (and sometimes decisive) role in public procurement – works, services or supply exceeding €350,000 require prior clearance (visto) of the Audit Court in order to be effective financially.  Public contracting entities do not however necessarily need to wait for the clearance to initiate the performance of the contracts. In fact, the private contracting party is usually required to carry out the supply, the provision of services or initiate the construction before the Court issues a decision on the clearance procedure.