Report on the annual accounts of the European Research Council Executive Agency for the financial year 2015, together with the Agency’s reply
Date: 2016-09-13
Institutions: European Court of Auditors
Subjects: administration of the Institutions, auditing, budgetary control, executive agency, financial control, research








C_2016449EN.01015701.xml










1.12.2016   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 449/157





REPORT
on the annual accounts of the European Research Council Executive Agency for the financial year 2015, together with the Agency’s reply
(2016/C 449/29)

INTRODUCTION









1.


The European Research Council Executive Agency (hereinafter ‘the Agency’, aka ‘ERCEA’), which is located in Brussels, was created by Commission Decision 2008/37/EC (1). The Agency was established for a period beginning on 1 January 2008 and ending on 31 December 2017 with the aim of managing the ‘Ideas’ specific programme under the 7th Framework Programme for Research.












2.


The table presents key figures for the Agency (2).

Table


Key figures for the agency








 


2014


2015




Budget (million euro)


36,3 


39,6 




Total staff as at 31 December (1)



388


417












INFORMATION IN SUPPORT OF THE STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE









3.


The audit approach taken by the Court comprises analytical audit procedures, direct testing of transactions and an assessment of key controls of the Agency’s supervisory and control systems. This is supplemented by evidence provided by the work of other auditors (where relevant) and an analysis of management representations.










STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE









4.


Pursuant to the provisions of Article 287 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Court has audited:






(a)


the annual accounts of the Agency, which comprise the financial statements (3) and the reports on the implementation of the budget (4) for the financial year ended 31 December 2015; and










(b)


the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying those accounts.










The management’s responsibility










5.


The management is responsible for the preparation and fair presentation of the annual accounts of the Agency and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions (5):






(a)


The management’s responsibilities in respect of the Agency’s annual accounts include designing, implementing and maintaining an internal control system relevant to the preparation and fair presentation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error; selecting and applying appropriate accounting policies on the basis of the accounting rules adopted by the Commission’s accounting officer (6); making accounting estimates that are reasonable in the circumstances. The Steering Committee approves the annual accounts of the Agency after its accounting officer has prepared them on the basis of all available information and established a note to accompany the accounts in which he declares, inter alia, that he has reasonable assurance that they present a true and fair view of the financial position of the Agency in all material respects.










(b)


The management’s responsibilities in respect of the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions and compliance with the principle of sound financial management consist of designing, implementing and maintaining an effective and efficient internal control system comprising adequate supervision and appropriate measures to prevent irregularities and fraud and, if necessary, legal proceedings to recover funds wrongly paid or used.










The auditor’s responsibility










6.


The Court’s responsibility is, on the basis of its audit, to provide the European Parliament and the Council (7) with a statement of assurance as to the reliability of the annual accounts and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions. The Court conducts 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 the Court to plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance as to whether the annual accounts of the Agency are free from material misstatement and the transactions underlying them are legal and regular.












7.


The audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the accounts and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions. The procedures selected depend on the auditor’s judgement, which is based on an assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the accounts and material non-compliance by the underlying transactions with the requirements in the legal framework of the European Union, whether due to fraud or error. In assessing these risks, the auditor considers any internal controls relevant to the preparation and fair presentation of the accounts, as well as the supervisory and control systems that are implemented to ensure the legality and regularity of underlying transactions, and designs audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances. The audit also entails evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies, the reasonableness of accounting estimates and the overall presentation of the accounts.












8.


The Court considers that the audit evidence obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for its statement of assurance.





Opinion on the reliability of the accounts









9.


In the Court’s opinion, the Agency’s annual accounts present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as at 31 December 2015 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial Regulation and the accounting rules adopted by the Commission’s accounting officer.





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









10.


In the Court’s opinion, the transactions underlying the annual accounts for the year ended 31 December 2015 are legal and regular in all material respects.














11.


The comments which follow do not call the Court’s opinions into question.





COMMENTS ON BUDGETARY MANAGEMENT









12.


Carry-overs of committed appropriations for Title III (operational expenditure) were high at 1 457 920 euro, i.e. 43,14 % (2014: 1 126 275 euro, i.e. 38,50 %). They mainly relate to the multi-annual nature of IT contracts (504 473 euro) and the ex post audits of grant schemes (687 522,50 euro) that were initiated in 2015 but had not been concluded by the year-end.





FOLLOW-UP OF PREVIOUS YEARS’ COMMENTS









13.


An overview of the corrective actions taken in response to the Court’s comments from previous years is provided in the Annex.





This Report was adopted by Chamber IV, headed by Mr Baudilio TOMÉ MUGURUZA, Member of the Court of Auditors, in Luxembourg at its meeting of 13 September 2016.


For the Court of Auditors

Vítor Manuel da SILVA CALDEIRA

President





(1)  OJ L 9, 12.1.2008, p. 15.

(2)  More information on the Agency’s competences and activities is available on its website: www.erc.europa.eu

(1)  Staff includes officials, temporary and contract staff and seconded national experts.

Source: data provided by the Agency.

(3)  These include the balance sheet and the statement of financial performance, the cash flow table, the statement of changes in net assets and a summary of the significant accounting policies and other explanatory notes.

(4)  These comprise the budgetary outturn account and the annex to the budgetary outturn account.

(5)  Articles 38 to 42 of the Financial Regulation of the Agency.

(6)  The accounting rules adopted by the Commission’s accounting officer are derived from the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) issued by the International Federation of Accountants or, where relevant, the International Accounting Standards (IAS)/International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) issued by the International Accounting Standards Board.

(7)  Articles 87 to 92 of the Financial Regulation of the Agency


ANNEX
Follow-up of previous years’ comments







Year


Court's comment


Status of corrective action
(Completed/Ongoing/Outstanding/N/A)




2014


Procedures with regard to tangible and intangible assets need to be further strengthened in order to ensure their proper safeguarding and the preparation of timely, accurate and complete information in this area. The Assets Register needs to be kept up-to-date in respect of the location of its assets, inventory procedures need to be formalised and the Agency’s guidelines on the capitalisation of internally developed intangible assets need to include sufficient detail to ensure it uses a consistent approach.


Completed







THE AGENCY’S REPLY






12.


‘The Agency has taken note of the Court’s report and considers that the comment regarding the “carry-overs of committed appropriations for Title III” does not give rise to corrective actions, as they are justified based on their nature.’