Report on the annual accounts of the European Institute for Gender Equality for the financial year 2010, together with the Institute’s reply
Date: 2011-09-06
Institutions: European Court of Auditors
Subjects: EU office or agency, administration of the Institutions, auditing, budgetary control, financial control, powers of the institutions (EU)








C_2011366EN.01017301.xml










15.12.2011   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 366/173





REPORT
on the annual accounts of the European Institute for Gender Equality for the financial year 2010, together with the Institute’s reply
2011/C 366/31

INTRODUCTION







1.


The European Institute for Gender Equality (hereinafter ‘the Institute’), which is located in Vilnius, was established by Regulation (EC) No 1922/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1). The Institute’s task is to collect, analyse and disseminate information as regards gender equality, develop, analyse, evaluate and disseminate methodological tools in order to support the integration of gender equality into all Union policies and the resulting national policies (2). The Institute became fully autonomous in 2010.










2.


The Institute’s 2010 budget amounted to 6,5 million euro. The number of staff employed by the Institute at the end of the year was 29.





STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE







3.


Pursuant to the provisions of Article 287(1), second subparagraph, of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Court has audited the annual accounts (3) of the Institute, which comprise the ‘financial statements’ (4) and the ‘reports on the implementation of the budget’ (5) for the financial year ended 31 December 2010, and the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying those accounts.










4.


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 (6).





The Director’s responsibility







5.


As authorising officer, the Director implements the revenue and expenditure of the budget in accordance with the financial rules of the Institute, under his own responsibility and within the limits of the authorised appropriations (7). The Director is responsible for putting in place (8) the organisational structure and the internal management and control systems and procedures relevant for drawing up final accounts (9) that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and for ensuring that the transactions underlying those accounts are legal and regular.





The Court’s responsibility







6.


The Court’s responsibility is to provide, on the basis of its audit, a statement of assurance as to the reliability of the annual accounts of the Institute and the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying them.










7.


The Court conducted its audit in accordance with the IFAC and ISSAI (10) International Auditing Standards and Codes of Ethics. Those standards require the Court to comply with ethical requirements and to plan and perform the audit so as to obtain reasonable assurance as to whether the accounts are free of material misstatement and whether the underlying transactions are legal and regular.










8.


The Court’s audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence of the amounts and disclosures in the accounts and of the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying them. The procedures selected, including its assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the accounts or of illegal or irregular transactions, whether due to fraud or error, depend on its audit judgement. In making those risk assessments, internal controls relevant to the entity’s preparation and presentation of accounts are considered in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances. The Court’s audit also includes evaluating the appropriateness of the accounting policies used and the reasonableness of the accounting estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the accounts.










9.


The Court believes that the audit evidence obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for the opinions set out below.






Opinion on the reliability of the accounts








10.


In the Court’s opinion, the Institute’s Annual Accounts (11) fairly present, in all material respects, its financial position as of 31 December 2010 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial Regulation.






Opinion on the legality and the regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts








11.


In the Court’s opinion, the transactions underlying the annual accounts of the Institute for the financial year ended 31 December 2010 are, in all material respects, legal and regular.





This Report was adopted by Chamber IV, headed by Mr Igors LUDBORŽS, Member of the Court of Auditors, in Luxembourg at its meeting of 6 September 2011.


For the Court of Auditors

Vítor Manuel da SILVA CALDEIRA

President





(1)  OJ L 403, 30.12.2006, p. 9.

(2)  The Annex summarises the Institute’s competences and activities. It is presented for information purposes.

(3)  These accounts are accompanied by a report on the budgetary and financial management during the year which gives inter alia an account of the rate of implementation of the appropriations, with summary information on the transfers of appropriations among the various budget items.

(4)  The financial statements include the balance sheet and the economic outturn account, the cash-flow table, the statement of changes in capital and the annex to the financial statements, which includes a description of the main accounting policies and other explanatory information.

(5)  The budget implementation reports comprise the budget outturn account and its annex.

(6)  OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.

(7)  Article 33 of Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002 (OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 72).

(8)  Article 38 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002.

(9)  The rules concerning the presentation of the accounts and accounting by the Agencies are laid down in Chapter 1 of Title VII of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002, as last amended by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 652/2008 (OJ L 181, 10.7.2008, p. 23) and are integrated as such in the Financial Regulation of the Institute.

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

(11)  The Final Annual Accounts were drawn up on 16 June 2011 and received by the Court on 4 July 2011. The Final Annual Accounts can be found on the following website: http://eca.europa.eu or http://www.eige.europa.eu/


ANNEX

European Institute for Gender Equality (Vilnius)


Competences and activities








Areas of Union competence deriving from the Treaty


(Articles 2 and 3 of the Treaty of the European Union)



The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail.
It shall combat social exclusion and discrimination, and shall promote social justice and protection, equality between women and men, solidarity between generations and protection of the rights of the child.





Competences of the Institute


(Regulation (EC) No 1922/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council)




Objectives

To contribute to and strengthen the promotion of gender equality including gender mainstreaming in all Union policies and the resulting national policies, and the fight against discrimination based on sex, and to raise EU citizens’ awareness of gender equality.

Tasks







—


Collect, analyse and disseminate relevant objective, comparable and reliable information as regards gender equality, including results from research and best practice,










—


develop methods to improve the objectivity, comparability and reliability of data at European level by establishing criteria that will improve the consistency of information and take into account gender issues when collecting data,










—


develop, analyse, evaluate and disseminate methodological tools in order to support the integration of gender equality into all Union policies and the resulting national policies and to support gender mainstreaming in all Union institutions and bodies,










—


carry out surveys on the situation in Europe as regards gender equality,










—


set up and coordinate a European Network on Gender Equality,










—


organise ad-hoc meetings of experts to support the Institute’s research work, encourage the exchange of information among researchers and promote the inclusion of a gender perspective in their research,










—


in order to raise EU citizens’ awareness of gender equality, organise, with relevant stakeholders, conferences, campaigns, meetings at EU-level, and present the findings and conclusions to the Commission,










—


disseminate information regarding positive examples of non-stereotypical roles for women and men in every walk of life, present its findings and initiatives designed to publicise and build on such success stories,










—


develop dialogue and cooperation with non-governmental and equal opportunities organisations, universities and experts, research centres, social partners and related bodies actively seeking to achieve equality at national and European level,










—


set up documentation resources accessible to the public,










—


make information on gender mainstreaming available to public and private organisations, and










—


provide information to the Union institutions on gender equality and gender mainstreaming as well as to accession and candidate countries.









Governance




1 —   Management Board


Composition:

18 representatives appointed by the Council, on a proposal from each Member State and one member representing the Commission, appointed by the Commission. The members appointed by the Council shall represent 18 Members States in the order of the rotating Presidencies.

Tasks:

To adopt the annual and mid-term work programmes, the budget, the annual report and the internal rules of the Institute and rules of procedure of the Management Board.

2 —   Experts’ Forum composition

Members from competent bodies specialised in gender equality issues, one representative designated by each Member State, two members representing other relevant organisations specialised in gender equality issues designated by the European Parliament, three members designated by the Commission.

Tasks:

To support the Director in ensuring the excellence and independence of activities of the Institute, to exchange information and pool knowledge in relation to gender equality issues, and to ensure close cooperation between the Institute and competent bodies in the Member States.
3 —   The Director is appointed by the Management Board on the basis of a list of candidates proposed by the Commission.

Tasks:

Responsible for performance of the tasks referred to in Regulation (EC) No 1922/2006, preparing and implementing the Institute’s annual and medium-term programmes of activities; preparing the meetings of the Management Board and the Experts’ Forum; preparing and publishing the annual report; all staff-related matters, matters of day-to-day administration; and the implementation of effective monitoring and evaluation procedures relating to the performance of the Institute.

4 —   External audit

The Court of Auditors.

5 —   Discharge authority

The European Parliament on a recommendation from the Council.





Resources made available to the Institute in 2010




Final budget

6,5 million euro of which the Union subsidy is 100 %.

Staff as at 31 December 2010

25 foreseen in the establishment plan, of which occupied: 23,
6 other staff (contract agents, seconded national experts).

Total staff: 29
undertaking the following tasks:






—


Operational: 18










—


Administrative: 8










—


Mixed: 3









Products and services in 2010




Institutional set up of the Institute

Finalising administrative and financial independence and creating conditions for full functioning of EIGE.
Completion of the establishment plan 2010
Training events for staff: 11
Number of meetings: 10

Focal areas: Support for research and policy work, gender mainstreaming, awareness raising and networking

Number of studies launched: 8
Number of contributions to Presidency countries: 2
Number of meetings: 3

Research reports

Number of meetings: 2

Non-research materials

Gender mainstreaming factsheets: 3

Key conferences and events

Europe-wide logo competition: 1
Internal communication strategy seminar: 1
Experts’ meetings and working groups: 11

Cooperation with Member States and other institutions

Member States: 2
European Commission: 2
European Parliament: 1
Eurostat: 1
External stakeholders: 12
Sister agencies: 2
Meetings, working groups and roundtables: 12 in total





Source: Information supplied by the Institute.







THE INSTITUTE’S REPLY






1.


The Institute has taken note of the Court’s report.