EN Official Journal of the European Union C 333/248

THE COURT’S STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE ON THE 8TH, 9TH AND 10TH EUROPEAN DEVELOPMENT FUNDS (EDFs) TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL — INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT

2013/C 333/02

I. Pursuant to the provisions of article 287 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Article 141 of the Financial Regulation applicable to the 10th EDF, which also applies to previous EDFs, the Court has audited: (a) the annual accounts of the 8th, 9th and 10th European Development Funds which comprise the balance sheet, the economic outturn account, the statement of cash flow, the statement of changes in net assets and the table of items payable to the European Development Funds and the report on financial implementation for the financial year ended 31 December 2012 approved by the Commission on 16 July 2013; and (b) the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying those accounts within the legal framework of the EDFs in respect of the part of the EDF resources for whose financial management the Commission is responsible (1).

Management's responsibility

II. In accordance with Articles 310 to 325 of the TFEU and the Financial Regulations applicable to the 8th, 9th and 10th EDFs, management is responsible for the preparation and presentation of the annual accounts of the EDFs on the basis of internationally accepted accounting standards for the public sector (2) and for the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying them. This responsibility includes the design, implementation and maintenance of internal control relevant to the preparation and presentation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. Management is also responsible for ensuring that the activities, financial transactions and information reflected in the financial statements are in compliance with the authorities which govern them. The Commission bears the ultimate responsibility for the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts of the EDFs (Article 317 of the TFEU).

Auditor's responsibility

III. The Court's responsibility is to provide, on the basis of its audit, the European Parliament and the Council with a statement of assurance as to the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions. The Court conducted its audit in accordance with the IFAC International Standards on Auditing and Codes of Ethics and the INTOSAI International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions. These standards require that the Court plans and performs the audit to obtain reasonable assurance as to whether the annual accounts of the EDFs are free from material misstatement and the transactions underlying them are legal and regular.

IV. An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the accounts and the legality and the regularity of the transactions underlying them. The procedures selected depend on the auditor's judgment, including an assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the accounts and of material non-compliance of the underlying transactions with the requirements of the legal framework of the EDFs, whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk assessments, internal control relevant to the preparation and fair presentation of the accounts, and supervisory and control systems implemented to ensure legality and regularity of underlying transactions, are considered in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances but not for the purposes of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of internal control. An audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used and reasonableness of accounting estimates made, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the accounts.

V. The Court considers that the audit evidence obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for its opinions.

Reliability of the accounts

Opinion on the reliability of accounts

VI. In the Court's opinion, the annual accounts of the 8th, 9th and 10th EDFs for the year ended 31 December 2012 present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position as at 31 December 2012, the results of their operations, their cash flows and the changes in net assets for the year then ended, in accordance with the EDF Financial Regulation and with internationally accepted accounting standards for the public sector.

Legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts

Revenue

Opinion on the legality and regularity of revenue underlying the accounts

VII. In the Court's opinion, revenue underlying the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2012 is legal and regular in all material respects.

Commitments

Opinion on the legality and regularity of commitments underlying the accounts

VIII. In the Court's opinion, commitments underlying the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2012 are legal and regular in all material respects.

Payments

Basis for adverse opinion on the legality and regularity of payments underlying the accounts

IX. The Court concludes that the supervisory and control systems are partially effective in ensuring the legality and regularity of payments underlying the accounts. The Court’s estimate for the most likely error rate for expenditure transactions from the 8th, 9th and 10th EDFs is 3,0 %.

Adverse opinion on the legality and regularity of payments underlying the accounts

X. In the Court’s opinion, because of the significance of the matters described in the basis for adverse opinion on the legality and regularity of payments underlying the accounts paragraph, the payments underlying the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2012 are materially affected by error.

5 September 2013 Vítor Manuel da SILVA CALDEIRA President European Court of Auditors 12, rue Alcide De Gasperi, 1615 Luxembourg, LUXEMBOURG

(1) Pursuant to Articles 2, 3, 4,125(4) and 134 of the Financial Regulation applicable to the tenth EDF this Statement of Assurance does not extend to the part of the EDFs resources that are managed by the EIB and for which it is responsible.

(2) The accounting rules and methods adopted by the EDF accounting officer are drawn up on the basis of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) or by default, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as respectively issued by the International Federation of Accountants and the International Accounting Standards Board.