Report on the annual accounts of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority for the financial year 2015, together with the Authority’s reply
Date: 2016-09-13
Institutions: European Court of Auditors
Subjects: EU office or agency, administration of the Institutions, auditing, budgetary control, financial control, insurance, pension scheme








C_2016449EN.01010701.xml










1.12.2016   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 449/107





REPORT
on the annual accounts of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority for the financial year 2015, together with the Authority’s reply
(2016/C 449/20)

INTRODUCTION









1.


The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (hereinafter ‘the Authority’, aka ‘EIOPA’), which is located in Frankfurt, was established by Regulation (EU) No 1094/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1). The Authority’s task is to contribute to the establishment of high-quality common regulatory and supervisory standards and practices, to contribute to the consistent application of legally binding Union acts, to stimulate and facilitate the delegation of tasks and responsibilities among competent authorities, to monitor and assess market developments in the area of its competence and to foster the protection of policyholders, pension scheme members and beneficiaries.












2.


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

Table


Key figures for the authority








 


2014


2015




Budget (million euro)


21,6 


20,2 




Total staff as at 31 December (1)



129


133












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 Authority’s supervisory and control systems. This is supplemented by evidence provided by the work of other auditors 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 Authority, 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 Authority and the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions (5):






(a)


The management’s responsibilities in respect of the Authority’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 Director approves the annual accounts of the Authority 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 Authority 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 Authority 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. In preparing this report and Statement of Assurance, the Court considered the audit work of the independent external auditor performed on the Authority’s accounts as stipulated in Article 208(4) of the EU Financial Regulation (8).












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 Authority’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.


The level of committed appropriations carried over is high for Title III (operational expenditure) at 2,3 million euro, i.e. 45 % (2014: 4,7 million euro or 66 %). These carry-overs are mainly related to specific contracts for operational information and data management (1,9 million euro), whereby contracts amounting to 0,9 million euro were signed late in the year, mainly for services to be provided in 2016.





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 331, 15.12.2010, p. 48.

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

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

Source: data provided by the Authority.

(3)  These include the balance sheet and 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 39 and 50 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1271/2013 (OJ L 328, 7.12.2013, p. 42).

(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)  Article 107 of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1271/2013.

(8)  Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 298, 26.10.2012, p. 1).


ANNEX
Follow-up of previous years’ comments







Year


Court's comment


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




2014


The overall level of committed appropriations was high at 95 %. The level of committed appropriations carried over also remained high at 5,6  million euro, i.e. 26 % (2013: 5,2  million euro, i.e. 28 %), particularly for the operational budget (Title III) at 4,7  million euro, i.e. 66 % (2013: 3,7  million euro or 85 %). Carry-overs are mainly related to specific contracts with a cumulative value of 2,4  million euro signed late in the year, particularly for the ongoing development and maintenance of a database (1,8  million euro) and other IT services to be provided in 2015. Part of the committed appropriations carried over are related to budget transfers made in November and December 2014, when the Authority increased the operational budget (Title III) by 1,1  million euro (19 %) (1) through transfers from the staff budget (Title I) of 858 828  euro (2) and from administrative expenditure (Title II) of 266 360  euro (3). The transfers were intended to compensate for shortfalls in the Authority’s 2015 budget following substantial budget cuts decided by the discharge authorities. These shortfalls would not have allowed the Authority to continue implementing its multiannual IT strategy, which was one of its core operational activities.


Ongoing




2014


Although budget transfers, carry-overs and related commitments are in line with the specific provisions of the EU Financial Regulation and were executed following Management Board decisions, the extent to which 2015 activities will be covered by 2014 appropriations is at odds with the budgetary principle of annuality. There is a need to better align the funds made available in the agency’s annual budgets with the financial needs for the implementation of its multiannual IT strategy.


Ongoing






(1)  2015: 0,6 million euro (16 %).

(2)  2015: 317 737 euro.

(3)  2015: 322 737 euro.



THE AUTHORITY’S REPLY






12.


The relatively high carry-over percentage was mainly due to the execution of EIOPA’s multiannual IT programme supporting the Solvency II implementation. Improvements have been made in the past years which have substantially decreased the carry over levels from 2013 to 2016. The carry-over appropriations will be reduced from 2016 onwards to a satisfactory level with the advanced implementation of EIOPA’s IT programme.