Report on the financial statements of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Dublin Foundation) for the financial year ended 31 December 1998, together with the Foundation's replies
Date: 1999-12-22
Institutions: European Court of Auditors
Subjects: Eurofound, financial control, financial year, management audit, report

C 372/38

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

22.12.1999

on the financial statements of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and
Working Conditions (Dublin Foundation) for the financial year ended 31 December 1998, together
with the Foundation(cid:146)s replies

REPORT

(1999/C 372/07)

CONTENTS

Paragraph
reference

OPINION OF THE COURT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1-4

MAIN OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE BUDGET OF THE
EUROPEAN FOUNDATION FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF LIVING AND WORKING CONDITIONS
(DUBLIN FOUNDATION) FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 1998. . . . . . . . . . . .

Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Implementation of the Financial Regulation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Imprest account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Balance sheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sundry expenditure to be charged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Translation section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5-10

5-6
5
6

7
7

8

Missions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

9-10

Tables 1 and 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Foundation(cid:146)s replies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Page

39

39

39
39
39

39
39

39

39

41

43

22.12.1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 372/39

OPINION OF THE COURT

1. This report is addressed to the Council and the European Par-
liament in accordance with Article 16 of Regulation (EEC) No
1365/75 (1), as amended by Article 1(4) of Regulation (EEC) No
1947/93 (2).

2. The Court has examined the financial statements of the
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Work-
ing Conditions for the financial year ended 31 December 1998.
In accordance with Article 1(16) of Council Regulation (EEC) No
1949/93 (3) amending Regulation (EEC) No 1417/76 (4), the bud-
get was implemented under the responsibility of the Administra-
tive Board. This responsibility included the drawing up and pre-
sentation of the financial statements (5) in accordance with the
internal financial provisions provided for under Article 1(52), (54)
and (55) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1949/93 amending
Regulation (EEC) No 1417/76. The Court of Auditors is required
under Article 248 of the Treaty establishing the European Com-
munity to examine these accounts.

3. The Court undertook its audit in accordance with its audit
policies and standards. These have been adapted from generally
accepted international auditing standards to reflect the specific
characteristics of the Community context. Accordingly, the Court
carried out such tests of the accounting records and other proce-
dures as it deemed necessary in the circumstances. Through the
audit, the Court obtained a reasonable basis for the opinion
expressed below.

4. This examination has allowed the Court to obtain reasonable
assurance that the accounts for financial year ended 31 December
1998 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are, taken
as a whole, legal and regular.

MAIN OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING THE IMPLEMENTATION
OF THE BUDGET OF THE EUROPEAN FOUNDATION FOR THE
IMPROVEMENT OF LIVING AND WORKING CONDITIONS
(DUBLIN FOUNDATION) FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR ENDED 31
DECEMBER 1998

Administration

Implementation of the Financial Regulation

5. The present version of the (cid:145)implementation of the Financial
Regulation(cid:146) dates from 1976 and is in need of revision to reflect

(1) OJ L 139, 30.5.1975, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 181, 23.7.1993, p. 13.
(3) OJ L 181, 23.7.1993, p. 26.
(4) OJ L 164, 24.6.1976, p. 1.
(5) As required under Article 16 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1365/75
as amended by Regulation (EEC) No 1947/93, the accounts for all the
Foundation(cid:146)s revenue and expenditure in respect of the financial year
1998 were drawn up on 26 March 1999 and forwarded to the Com-
mission, the Foundation(cid:146)s Management Board and the Court of Audi-
tors. These accounts were received by the Court on 21 May 1999, a
summarised version of these financial statements is presented in the
tables attached to this report.

current practice and developments in accounting. The Founda-
tion should update the implementing provisions to take account
of recent developments in the use of information technology and
the introduction of the euro. The implementing provisions also
need to address: entries in the inventory, regulations concerning
an Advisory Committee on Procurements and Contracts (ACPC),
delegation of powers and management of the imprest accounts.

Imprest account

6. Expenditure through the imprest account amounted to 37 %
of total expenditure, salaries excluded. To assist management and
control of the imprest account, additional explanatory informa-
tion could be provided by the imprest holder. As soon as the new
SI 2 budgetary system is installed, only a small number of transac-
tions should be processed via the imprest account.

Balance sheet

Sundry expenditure to be charged

7. The balance on the sundry expenditure account as at 31
December 1998 amounted to ECU 38 875. This comprises two
parts: an amount of ECU 37 611 brought forward in the balance
sheet for the financial year 1997, and ECU 1 264 relating to 1998.
The balance brought forward relates to amounts paid in 1997
when there were insufficient funds in the budget line. The amounts
were charged to a suspense account in the balance sheet to be
regularised in 1998: that is to be approved by the Financial Con-
troller and charged against the correct budget line. The amounts
were not regularised in 1998. The amount relating to 1998 refers
to similar payments made during this year. The total amount on
this balance sheet item should be regularised in 1999.

Translation section

8. With regard to the development of the Translation Centre for
bodies of the European Union in Luxembourg, the situation of
the translation section in the Foundation should be reviewed.

Missions

9. To assist the management of mission expenses, mission sta-
tistics should be prepared in a way which makes it possible to
allocate the cost per head, and per unit.

C 372/40

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Official Journal of the European Communities

22.12.1999

10. Mission expenses of experts should, as a rule, be paid to their
institution. If they are paid to the expert, original travel tickets and

boarding cards should be stamped (cid:145)paid by the European Founda-
tion ...(cid:146) before being copied as annex to the expenses form.

This report was adopted by the Court of Auditors in Luxembourg at its meeting of 9 September 1999.

For the Court of Auditors

Jan O. KARLSSON

President

22.12.1999

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 372/41

Table 1

Balance sheet as at 31 December 1998 and 1997

(ECU 1 000)

Assets

1998

1997

Liabilities

1998

1997

Fixed assets
Buildings
Equipment and furniture

7 106
1 777

7 106
1 705

Fixed capital
Own capital
Balance for the financial year
Balance from previous financial years

8 927
(cid:150) 2 148

8 838
(cid:150) 24
(cid:150) 2 328

Subtotal

8 883

8 811

Subtotal

6 779

6 486

Stocks

44

27

Current assets
Amounts recoverable from EU bodies
Miscellaneous advances
Recoverable VAT
Sundry accounts receivable

Cash accounts
Bank (cid:151) demand accounts
Imprest account

2 155
5
276
37

Subtotal

2 473

2 353
12

2 365

Subtotal

14
1
281
36

332

2 809
168

2 977

Suspense account
Sundry expenditure to be charged

39

37

Current liabilities
Automatic carry-overs of appropriations
EU bodies account
Social liabilities
VAT
Sundry accounts receivable
Payments in progress

Suspense account
Sums to be reused

3 220
2 155

276
37
1 098

6 786

239

239

3 364
14
43
281
36
1 743

5 481

217

217

Subtotal

Subtotal

Source: Prepared by the Court of Auditors on the basis of data from the Foundation.

Total assets

13 804

12 184

Total liabilities

13 804

12 184

C 372/42

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Official Journal of the European Communities

22.12.1999

Revenue and expenditure account for the financial years 1998 and 1997

Table 2

(ECU 1 000)

1998

1997

Revenue

Subsidy received from the Commission
Miscellaneous revenue
Revenue from services rendered against payment

Expenditure

Staff expenditure (cid:151) Title I of the budget
Payments
Appropriations carried over

Operating expenditure (cid:151) Title III of the budget
Payments
Appropriations carried over

Out-turn for the financial year

Balance carried over from previous financial years
Amount received from the Commission

Buildings, equipment and miscellaneous administrative expenditure (cid:151) Title II of the
budget
Payments
Appropriations carried over

11 262
156
30

Total revenue

11 448

13 451
146
49

13 646

6 617
7

898
145

2 954
3 212

13 833

(cid:150) 187

159
4

(cid:150) 24

6 676
78

797
223

2 893
2 919

(cid:150) 2 138

(cid:150) 2 352
2 352

60
(cid:150) 70

Total expenditure

13 586

Appropriations carried over from the previous financial year which lapse
Exchange rate differences

Source: Prepared by the Court of Auditors on the basis of data from the Foundation.

Balance for the financial year

(cid:150) 2 148

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 372/43

DUBLIN FOUNDATION(cid:146)S REPLIES

Implementation of the Financial Regulation

Translation section

5. Arrangements have been made for the up-dating of the imple-
menting rules for the Financial Regulation. The revised version
will incorporate the issues addressed by the Court.

8. A review of the language and translation services of the Foun-
dation is in hand.

Imprest account

6. Additional explanatory information will in the future be pro-
vided in relation to expenditure from the imprest account.

Missions

Balance sheet

Sundry expenditure to be charged

9. The Foundation will re-examine its method of preparing mis-
sion statistics in order to determine how best to address the rec-
ommendation of the Court, having regard to the limited staff
resources available.

7. The amounts in the balance sheet for the year 1998 referred
to by the Court have now been regularised. The Foundation has
taken appropriate measures to prevent a recurrence of this prob-
lem.

10. Travel tickets and boarding cards are now stamped (cid:145)paid by
the European Foundation(cid:146).