5.12.2008   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 311/149

REPORT

on the annual accounts of the European Training Foundation for the financial year 2007 together with the Foundation's replies

(2008/C 311/22)

CONTENTS

1-2

 INTRODUCTION

3-6

 STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE

7-8

 OBSERVATIONS

Tables 1 to 4

The Foundation's replies

INTRODUCTION

1.

The European Training Foundation (hereinafter called the Foundation) was created by Council Regulation (EEC) No 1360/90 (1). The Foundation's purpose is to support the reform of vocational training in the European Union's partner countries. As such, it assists the Commission in the implementation of various programmes (PHARE, TACIS, CARDS and MEDA).

2.

Table 1 summarises the competences and activities of the Foundation. Key data summarised from the financial statements drawn up by the Foundation for the financial year 2007 are presented in Tables 2, 3 and 4 for information purposes.

STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE

3.

This Statement of Assurance is addressed to the European Parliament and the Council in accordance with Article 185(2) of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 (2); it was drawn up following an examination of the Foundation's accounts, as required by Article 248 of the Treaty establishing the European Community.

4.

The Foundation's accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2007 (3) were drawn up by its Director, pursuant to Article 11 of Regulation (EEC) No 1360/90, and sent to the Court, which is required to deliver a Statement of Assurance on the reliability and on the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions.

5.

The Court conducted its audit in accordance with the IFAC and ISSAI (4) International Auditing Standards and Codes of Ethics, in so far 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 obtained a reasonable basis for the Statement set out below:

Reliability of the accountsThe Foundation'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 Foundation'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 2007 budget of the European Training Foundation amounted to 21,1 million euro as compared with 26,5 million euro the previous year. The budget is mainly financed by subsidy from the Commission (19,7 million euro). The balance is financed by assigned revenue for implementing Commission programmes. The decrease in the budget is due on the one hand to a change in the presentation of assigned revenue and on the other hand to the phasing out of the ETE-MEDA programme.

8.

In the amending budget (5), the amount of the assigned revenue is incorrect. It should have been 1,2 million euro instead of the 3,4 million euro shown, which erroneously included assigned revenue carried over from the previous year.

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 131, 23.5.1990, p. 1.

(2)  OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.

(3)  These accounts were drawn up on 18 June 2008 and received by the Court on 1 July 2008.

(4)  International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI).

(5)  For 2007, the Foundation only approved one amending budget; it was published on 4 January 2008 (OJ L 2, 4.1.2008).

 

Table 1

European Training Foundation (Turin)

Areas of Community competence deriving from the Treaty

Competences of the Foundation Council Regulation (EEC) No 1360/90

Governance

Resources made available to the Foundation in 2007

(Data for 2006)

Products and services supplied during the financial year 2007

The Community shall carry out, within its spheres of competence, economic, financial and technical cooperation measures with third countries. Such measures shall be complementary to those carried out by the Member States and consistent with the development policy of the Community.

(Article 181a of the Treaty)

Objectives

—

To contribute to the development of the professional training systems of Central and Eastern Europe, the independent States of the former Soviet Union benefiting from the economic reform and recovery assistance programme, and the territories and Mediterranean third countries benefiting from financial and technical accompanying measures for the reform of their economic and social structures.

—

To promote the coordination of the assistance provided to eligible countries.

Tasks

In accordance with the general guidelines laid down by the Community, the ETF operates in the field of training, covering professional, initial and lifelong training and the retraining of young people and adults via the following tasks:

—

Assistance in defining training needs and priorities through the implementation of technical assistance measures in the training field and cooperation with the appropriate designated bodies in the eligible countries.

—

Acts as a clearing house to provide the Community, its Member States and interested third countries with information on current initiatives and future needs in the training field and provides a framework for channelling offers of assistance.

1.   Governing Board

—

One representative of each MemberState.

—

Three representatives of the Commission.

—

Chaired by the Commission.

2.   Director

—

Appointed by the Governing Board on the basis of a proposal from the Commission

3.   Advisory Forum

—

Appointed by the Governing Board.

—

Two experts from each MemberState.

—

Two experts from each eligible country.

—

Two experts from the social partners at European level.

4.   External audit

Court of Auditors.

5.   Internal audit

The Commission's internal audit department.

6.   Discharge authority

Parliament acting on recommendation from of the Council.

Final budget

21,1 (26,5) million euro of which 19,7 (19,5) million euro funded by a Commission subsidy and 1,4 (7,0) million euro funded by other bodies as assigned revenue.

This sum of 1,4 million euro is divided up as follows:

—

0,3 million euro from the Italian Ministry of foreign affairs;

—

0,9 million euro DG EAC (Tempus).

—

0,2 million euro from the Translations Centre.

Staff numbers as of 31 December 2007

—

100 (105) temporary posts in the establishment plan, of which 91 (94) posts occupied.

—

40 (32) other staff (auxiliaries, local agents, contract agents).

Total staff: 131 (126), assigned to the following duties:

—

operational tasks: 72 (73)

—

administrative tasks: 40 (34)

—

mixed tasks: 19 (19).

Activities

The assistance provided by the ETF covers a large range of technical fields including: initial vocational training, lifelong learning, continuing (adult) education, human resources development in companies, employment policies, training of the unemployed, poverty alleviation and social inclusion, and training to encourage local development.

Support for the Commission:

In 2007, 115 new requests for support were received from the Commission. Most came from the delegations (40 %), EAR (17 %), DG AIDCO (10 %), DG EAC and DG ENTRE (9 %), DG EMPL (6 %), DG ELARG (4 %), DG RELEX (3 %) and DG JLS (3 %), This included 29 analyses of the situation in the ENPI countries. The Commission's satisfaction rate with the ETF's response was 96 %.

The most frequent applications were those in the field of programming (32 %), followed by policies and contributions in the preparation of European Neighbourhood Instruments (25 %), the identification of projects (14 %) and follow-up.

Information and analysis: Country sector studies, statistics on education, policy advice to countries.

Innovation and development support projects

As a centre of expertise, the ETF contributes towards the setting up of development projects in order to test innovative approaches allowing partner countries to carry out reforms of their education and vocational training systems.

Technical assistance to DG EAC for the implementation of the Tempus Programme: Assistance Conventions with CARDS, MEDA and Tacis for the Tempus programme.

This assistance covers the whole cycle of the project. It includes the selection, management and follow-up of contracts and information and communications, including general administrative support.

IT tools such as online applications and report forms have greatly facilitated the administrative management of the various project cycles.

Source: Information provided by the Foundation.


Table 2

European Training Foundation (Turin) — Budgetary implementation for the financial year 2007

(1000 euro)

Revenue

Expenditure

Origin of revenue

Revenue entered in the final budget for the financial year

Revenue collected

Allocation of expenditure

Appropriations for the financial year

Appropriations carried over from the previous financial year

entered

committed

paid

carried over

cancelled

available

paid

carried over

cancelled

Community subsidies

19 700

19 450

Title I

Staff (NDA)

13 819

12 795

11 787

1 008

1 024

562

439

0

123

Other revenue

183

188

Title II

Administration (NDA)

1 745

1 592

1 128

464

153

437

361

0

76

Title III

Operating activites (DA)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

— CA

4 319

3 794

 

 

525

 

 

 

 

— PA

4 319

 

3 556

17

746

0

0

0

0

Assigned revenue Italian government

300

300

Assigned revenue Italian government

300

209

115

185

0

485

111

374

0

Assigned revenue ETE-MEDA

0

0

Assigned revenue ETE-MEDA

0

0

0

0

0

3 131

1 106

2 025

0

Assigned revenue TEMPUS

870

609

Assigned revenue TEMPUS

870

455

332

277

261

864

512

352

0

Total

21 053

20 547

Total CA

21 053

18 845

 

1 934

1 963

5 479

2 529

2 751

199

Total PA

21 053

 

16 918

1 951

2 184

5 479

2 529

2 751

199

NDA

:

non-differentiated appropriations (commitment appropriations are equal to payment appropriations).

DA

:

differentiated appropriations (commitment appropriations may differ from payment appropriations).

CA

:

commitment appropriations in a system of differentiated appropriations.

PA

:

payment appropriations in a system of differentiated appropriations.

NB: For assigned revenue the amounts given for the revenue entered in the budget and the expenditure appropriations are the corrected amounts (see paragraph 8 of the present report).

Source: Data supplied by the Foundation. This table summarises the data provided by the Foundation in its annual accounts. Revenue collected and payments are estimated on a cash basis.


Table 3

European Training Foundation (Turin) — Economic outturn account for the financial years 2007 and 2006

(1000 euro)

 

2007

2006

Operating revenue

Commission subsidy

17 572

16 015

CDT — reimbursement

183

0

Miscellaneous

33

36

Assigned revenue

2 250

3 183

Total (a)

20 038

19 234

Operating expenses

Staff expenses

12 101

11 539

Fixed asset related expenses

336

358

Operational expenses

2 980

4 021

Other administrative expenses

2 720

2 580

Operational expenses — assigned revenue

2 250

3 183

Total (b)

20 387

21 681

Surplus /(deficit) from operating activities (c = a – b)

– 349

–2 447

Financial operations revenue (e)

0

0

Financial operations expense (f)

0

1

Surplus /(deficit) from non-operating activities (g = e – f)

0

–1

Economic result for the year (h = c + g)

– 349

–2 448

Source: Data supplied by the Foundation. This table summarises the data provided by the Foundation in its annual accounts.


Table 4

European Training Foundation (Turin) — Balance sheet at 31 December 2007 and 2006

(1000 euro)

 

2007

2006

Non current assets

Intangible fixed assets

2 882

3 053

Tangible fixed assets

265

311

Current assets

Stocks

26

34

Short-term pre-financing

857

1 169

Short-term receivables

517

339

Cash and cash equivalents

12 806

12 157

Total assets

17 353

17 063

Non current liabilities

Provisions for risks and charges

1 001

550

Current liabilities

Provision for untaken leave

155

157

Accounts payable

15 324

15 134

Total liabilities

16 480

15 841

Net assets

873

1 222

Reserve

Accumulated surplus/deficit

1 222

3 670

Economic result for the year

– 349

–2 448

Net capital

873

1 222

Source: Data supplied by the Foundation. This table summarises the data provided by the Foundation in its annual accounts.

THE FOUNDATION'S REPLIES

7.

ETF confirms the facts presented in the Court's observation. For precision, ETF would like to add that in addition to Commission programmes, the assigned revenue contains as well funds from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

8.

ETF takes note of the Court's observation. While at no stage the principle of transparency has been disrespected, further efforts will be made to align ETF's budget presentation practices with regulatory requirements.