Report on the annual accounts of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights for the financial year 2015, together with the Agency’s reply
Date: 2016-09-13
Institutions: European Court of Auditors
Subjects: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, administration of the Institutions, auditing, budgetary control, financial control








C_2016449EN.01020301.xml










1.12.2016   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 449/203





REPORT
on the annual accounts of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights for the financial year 2015, together with the Agency’s reply
(2016/C 449/38)

INTRODUCTION









1.


The European Union Fundamental Rights Agency (hereinafter ‘the Agency’, aka ‘FRA’), which is located in Vienna, was established by Council Regulation (EC) No 168/2007 (1). The objective of the Agency is to provide the relevant authorities of the Union and its Member States with assistance and expertise when implementing Union law relating to fundamental rights.












2.


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

Table


Key figures for the Agency








 


2014


2015




Budget (million euro)


21,5 


21,6 




Total staff as at 31 December (1)



110


107












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 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 Director 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. In preparing this report and Statement of Assurance, the Court considered the audit work of the independent external auditor performed on the Agency’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 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.


The level of carry-overs of committed appropriations remained high for Title III at 5 723 282 euro, i.e.70 % (2014: 5 848 956 euro, i.e. 75 %). This results mainly from the nature of activities of the Agency which involve procuring studies that span over many months, often beyond 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 53, 22.2.2007, p. 1.

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


2014 budget appropriations were fully committed. However, the level of committed appropriations carried over to 2015 was high for Title II (administrative expenditure) at 551 466  euro, i.e. 25 % (2013: 579 429  euro, i.e. 27 %) and for Title III (operating expenditure) at 5 848 956  euro, i.e. 75 % (2013: 5 625 444  euro, i.e. 69 %).


N/A




2014


The amounts carried over under title II mainly relate to the planned purchase of IT goods and services for which payments were only due in 2015. The carry-overs under Title III mainly reflect the multi-annual nature of the Agency’s operational projects, where payments are made according to planned schedules.


N/A




2014


In 2005 new EU Staff Regulations entered into force, including provisions that future remuneration of officials recruited before 1 May 2004 should not be less than under the previous EU Staff Regulations. The Court’s audit revealed that this was not complied with and, in the case of 10 of the 26 officials employed at that time, this led to a total underpayment of 45 892  euro for the period 2005 to 2014. The Agency will make the supplementary salary payments in due course.


Completed







THE AGENCY’S REPLY






13.


The Agency plans the carry-overs for the following year and closely monitors their evolution. The level of cancellations (less than 2 %) is an indicator of the precise planning and management of the carry-overs. The Agency’s consumption of its EU subsidy over the last few years has been in excess of 99 %.