5.12.2008 |
EN |
Official Journal of the European Union |
C 311/71 |
REPORT
on the annual accounts of the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency for the financial year 2007 together with the Agency's replies
(2008/C 311/11)
CONTENTS
1-2 |
INTRODUCTION |
3-6 |
STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE |
7-10 |
OBSERVATIONS |
Tables 1 to 4
The Agency's replies
INTRODUCTION
1. |
The Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (hereinafter referred to as the Agency) was set up by Commission Decision 2005/56/EC of 14 January 2005 (1). The Agency was established for a period beginning on 1 January 2005 and ending on 31 December 2015 (2). The Agency manages programmes decided by the Commission in the fields of education, audiovisual and culture, including undertaking the detailed implementation of technical projects. |
2. |
Table 1 summarises the Agency's competences and activities. Key data summarised from the financial statements drawn up by the Agency for the financial year 2007 are presented in Tables 2, 3 and 4for information purposes. |
STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE
3. |
This Statement is addressed to the European Parliament and the Council in accordance with Article 14 of Council Regulation (EC) No 58/2003 of 19 December 2002 (3); it was drawn up following an examination of the Agency's accounts, as required by Article 248 of the Treaty establishing the European Community. |
4. |
The Agency's accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2007 (4) were drawn up by its Director, pursuant to Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 58/2003, and sent to the Court, which is required to give a statement of assurance on their reliability and on the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions. |
5. |
The Court conducted its audit in accordance with the IFAC and ISSAI (5) International Auditing Standards and Codes of Ethics, insofar as these are applicable in the European Community context. The audit was planned and performed to obtain reasonable assurance that the accounts are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular. |
6. |
The Court has thus obtained a reasonable basis for the Statement set out below: Reliability of the accountsThe Agency's accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2007 are, in all material respects, reliable.Legality and regularity of the underlying transactionsThe transactions underlying the Agency's annual accounts, taken as a whole, are legal and regular.The observations which follow do not call the Court's Statement into question. |
OBSERVATIONS
7. |
The Agency's final administrative budget for 2007 amounted to 36,0 million euro as compared with 27,7 million euro for the previous year. This increase is mainly explained by the extension of the Agencys mandate to cover implementation of the new generation of EU programmes for the period 2007-2013. Of the budget appropriations, 6,8 million euro have been carried over to 2008. A significant part of these carry-overs concerned external services contracted in 2007 which will to a large extent be implemented in 2008 (IT development, experts, etc.). Thus the budgetary principle of annuality was not strictly observed. |
8. |
1,1 million euro of the appropriations carried over from 2006 were cancelled in 2007 mainly due to the overstatement of expert-related expenditure and delays in the implementation of audit contracts. A high number of audits (6) contracted before the end of 2006 were still not closed at the end of 2007. The corresponding appropriations had to be cancelled and the Agency will need to use 2008 appropriations to pay the costs related to these audits. There is a risk this situation will repeat itself in 2008 (7). The above described situations show that there is still room for improvement in the programming and the budgeting of the Agency's activities. |
9. |
For one contract (8), the intermediate payment was made by the Agency for fees despite the fact that all the required supporting documentation was not provided by the contractor. |
10. |
The Agency has yet to adopt a formal recruitment practical guidelines for temporary and contractual staff. This would better ensure transparent and non-discriminatory procedures. |
This Report was adopted by the Court of Auditors in Luxembourg at its meeting of 18 September 2008.
For the Court of Auditors
Vítor Manuel da SILVA CALDEIRA
President
(1) OJ L 24, 27.1.2005, p. 35.
(2) OJ L 49, 17.2.2007, p. 21.
(4) These accounts were drawn up on 16 June 2008 and received by the Court on 8 July 2008.
(5) International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI).
(6) About 34 contracts for a total value of 139 103,74 euro.
(7) More than 1,1 million euro appropriations pertaining to ‘Audit fees’ (Article 264 of the budget) have been carried over from 2007 to 2008.
(8) Contract for the organisation of the annual Erasmus Mundus Consortia conference (Value of the contract: 283 953,50 euro).
Table 1
Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), Brussels
Areas of Community competence deriving from the Treaty |
Competences of the Agency as defined in Commission Decision 2005/56/EC of 14 January 2005 and in Commission Decision 2007/114/EC of 8 February 2007 |
Governance |
Resources made available to the Agency in 2007 (Data for 2006) |
Activities and outputs in 2007 (Products and services supplied in 2007) |
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The Community shall contribute to the development of quality education. (Article 149(1) of the Treaty) The Community shall implement a vocational training policy. (Article 150(1) of the Treaty) The Community shall contribute to the flowering of the cultures of the Member States. (Article 151(1) of the Treaty) The Community and the MemberStates shall ensure that the conditions necessary for the competitiveness of the Community's industry exist. (Article 157(1) of the Treaty) |
Objectives In the framework of the education, culture and industry policies, numerous measures have been taken to promote education, vocational training, audiovisual, culture, youth and active citizenship in the European Union. The main objectives of these measures are to reinforce social cohesion and to contribute to competitiveness, to economic growth and to an ever closer union amongst the people of Europe. These measures include a variety of Community programmes. The Agency is responsible for managing certain strands of these programmes (e.g. 'Lifelong learning', 'Culture', 'Youth in Action', 'Europe for Citizens', 'MEDIA', 'Erasmus Mundus' and 'External Cooperation Windows'). In this respect, it implements the community aid, except for programme evaluation, strategic studies and any other task which require discretionary powers in translating political choices. |
Tasks
|
1. Steering Committee Comprises five members appointed by the European Commission. It adopts the Agency's annual work programme after approval by the European Commission. In addition, it adopts the administrative budget of the Agency and its annual activity report. 2. Director Appointed by the European Commission. 3. External audit Court of Auditors. 4. Discharge authority The European Parliament following a recommendation of the Council. |
Final 2007 budget
Staff at 31 December 2007
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Source: Information supplied by the Agency. |
Table 2
Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (Brussels) — Implementation of the budget for the financial year 2007
(1000 euro) |
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Revenue |
Expenditure |
||||||||||
Source of revenue |
Revenue entered in the final budget for the financial year |
Revenue collected |
Allocation of expenditure |
Final budget appropriations |
Appropriations carried over from the previous financial year |
||||||
entered |
committed |
paid |
carried over |
cancelled |
available |
paid |
cancelled |
||||
Community Subsidies (1) |
36 027 (2) |
36 136 |
Title I Staff |
21 008 |
20 201 |
19 178 |
1 023 |
807 |
1 220 |
927 |
293 |
Title II Administration |
15 019 |
14 231 |
8 437 |
5 795 |
787 |
5 468 |
4 629 |
839 |
|||
Total |
36 027 |
36 136 |
Total |
36 027 |
34 432 |
27 615 |
6 818 |
1 594 |
6 688 |
5 556 |
1 132 |
Source: Data supplied by the Agency. This table summarises the data provided by the Agency in its annual accounts. Revenue collected and payments are estimated on a cash basis. |
Table 3
Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (Brussels) — Economic outturn account for the financial year 2007 and 2006
(1000 euro) |
||
|
2007 |
2006 |
Operating revenue |
||
Community subsidies |
33 191 |
26 397 |
Other revenue |
292 |
|
Total (a) |
33 483 |
26 397 |
Operating expenses |
||
Staff expenses |
15 665 |
13 071 |
Fixed asset related expenses |
210 |
57 |
Other administrative expenses |
17 005 |
9 725 |
Total (b) |
32 880 |
22 853 |
Financial operations expenses |
4 |
0 |
Total (c) |
4 |
0 |
Economic result for the year (d = a – b – c) |
599 |
3 544 |
Source: Data supplied by the Agency. This table summarises the data provided by the Agency in its annual accounts: these accounts are drawn up on an accrual basis. |
Table 4
Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (Brussels) — Balance sheet at 31 December 2007 and 2006
(1000 euro) |
||
|
2007 |
2006 |
Non-current assets |
||
Intangible fixed assets |
222 |
159 |
Tangible fixed assets |
338 |
243 |
Current assets |
||
Short-term receivables |
915 |
1 252 |
Cash and cash equivalents |
9 829 |
7 886 |
Total assets |
11 304 |
9 540 |
Current liabilities |
||
Provisions for risks and charges |
476 |
310 |
Accounts payables |
6 684 |
5 686 |
Total liabilities |
7 160 |
5 996 |
Net assets |
4 144 |
3 544 |
Reserve |
||
Accumulated surplus/deficit |
3 544 |
— |
Economic result of the year |
599 |
3 544 |
Net capital |
4 144 |
3 544 |
NB: Variations in totals are due to the effects of rounding. Source: Data supplied by the Agency. This table summarises the data provided by the Agency in its annual accounts: these accounts are drawn up on an accrual basis. |
(1) European Economic Area.
(2) Including 50 000 euros from the FED.
Source: Data supplied by the Agency. This table summarises the data provided by the Agency in its annual accounts. Revenue collected and payments are estimated on a cash basis.
THE AGENCY'S REPLIES
7. |
The Agency has already reduced the rate for the carryover of appropriations by 4 % compared with 2006. Moreover, the second renewal in 2008 of a number of contracts of employment signed at the end of 2006 after the Agency became self-financing covers a shorter period in order to remedy the situation during the carryover of appropriations around 2009. |
8. |
In order to avoid large-scale cancellations of appropriations carried over, the Agency implemented a closing procedure at the end of 2007 aimed at carrying over to N + 1 only those approprations intended to cover the payment of invoices not received by 31/12/N. There was also greater monitoring of provisional commitments in 2007. As for audits, the continued gradual reduction of the backlog from 2006 remains a priority for 2008. Also, the 2008 audit plan has been adapted to allow the backlog to be absorbed and to ensure speedier implementation of the latter. |
9. |
Given the particularly short interval between the date of the seminar and the date for submission of the report, the Agency agreed with the contractor that the interim report would be limited to financial data and to confirmation of the number of participants. A detailed examination of all the documents is in progress before final payment is made. |
10. |
The Practical Guide will be adopted once the consultation procedure with the Staff Committee has been finalised. |