Marta Andreasen (born 26 November 1954) is an Argentine-born Spanish accountant. She was employed in January 2002 by the European Commission as Chief Accountant, and raised concerns about flaws in the commission's accounting system which she felt left it vulnerable to potential fraud. Elected as a Member of the European Parliament for the UK Independence Party (UKIP) in the 2009 election, she defected to the Conservative Party in February 2013. She lost her seat in the 2014 European Parliamentary election. Professional career Andreasen qualified in 1977 as a certified public accountant in Buenos Aires, then worked for five years as an auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers. From 1982 she worked as a finance and administration manager, then as a regional finance director at various companies, such as Rockwell Automation and Lotus Development, mostly in Spain. OECD She joined the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1998, where she reported serious problems with its accounting system, raised her concerns with the management and suggested reforms. After initial resistance, Arthur Andersen was assigned for an outside analysis. In August 2000, their report described the OECD's internal accounting systems as outdated and inadequate. Andreasen, however, was suspended from her job for 15 months. Accountancy Age stated in October 2003 that Andreasen's spell at the OECD ended with "her bid to take the organisation to the European Court of Justice claiming her human rights had been violated as she had not been given a 'fair trial' following allegations of racism, and that she raised 'undue doubts' and unsupported 'alarmist allegations' in relation to OECD accounts." The OECD never confirmed allegations of racism were part of the cause for her suspension. Andreasen had already dismissed those in Accountancy magazine in October 2000 ("Andreasen claims allegations against her emerged only after she had raised concerns about the accounts"). Brussels In January 2002 she began her new job in Brussels as Chief Accountant ("budget execution director and accounting officer"), the first professional accountant hired. Concerns over EU's accounting Andreasen criticised the EU's accounting system for being open to fraud. She raised her criticisms and proposals for overdue improvements and changes internally, but made no progress with her superior. She then submitted her report to Commissioner Michaele Schreyer and Commission President Romano Prodi. She again received no answers and so approached members of the EU Parliament's Budget Control Committee. She, consequently, refused to sign off the 2001 European