EN C 417/182 Official Journal of the European Union 11 12 2019 Reliability of the accounts Opinion on the reliability of the accounts 3 35 6 In our opinion, the accounts of the Board for the year ended 31 December 2018 present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Board at 31 December 2018, the results of its operations, its cash flows, and the changes in net assets for the year then ended, in accordance with its Financial Regulation and with accounting rules adopted by the CommissionŐs accounting officer These are based on internationally accepted accounting standards for the public sector Emphasis of matter 3 35 7 Administrative appeals or judicial proceedings related to Fund contributions between some credit institutions and national resolution authorities and the Board as well as legal actions brought before the Court of Justice relating to decisions on the adoption of resolution schemes were not subject to our audit Their possible impact on the BoardŐs financial statements for the financial year ended 31 December 2018 (in particular on contingent liabilities, provisions and liabilities) is subject to a specific annual audit, as stipulated under Article 92(4) of the SRM Regulation Legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts Revenue Opinion on the legality and regularity of revenue underlying the accounts 3 35 8 In our opinion, revenue underlying the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2018 is legal and regular in all material respects Other matter 3 35 9 Without calling into question its opinions expressed above, the Court would like to emphasise that Fund contributions are calculated on the basis of information provided by credit institutions (and some investment firms) to the Board Our audit of the BoardŐs revenue was based on this information but did not verify its reliability Given that the SRM Regulation does not provide for a comprehensive and consistent control framework to ensure the reliability of the information, no checks are carried out at the level of the credit institutions However, the SRB performs consistency and analytical checks of the information Furthermore, the Court notes that the methodology to calculate contributions laid down in the legal framework is very complex, resulting in a risk to accuracy Moreover, the Board cannot release details on the risk-assessed contribution calculations per credit institution as they are interlinked and include confidential information about other credit institutions This affects the transparency of these calculations Payments Opinion on the legality and regularity of payments underlying the accounts 3 35 10 In our opinion, payments underlying the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2018 are legal and regular in all material respects 3 35 11 The observations which follow do not call the CourtŐs opinion into question OBSERVATIONS ON BUDGETARY MANAGEMENT 3 35 12 The SRB uses non-differentiated appropriations for its administrative budget, which does not allow a fair reflection of the multiannual nature of some contracts and may also lead to an overestimation of annual budgetary needs The SRB should consider introducing differentiated budget appropriations to improve budget planning, implementation and reporting OBSERVATIONS ON THE LEGALITY AND REGULARITY OF TRANSACTIONS 3 35 13 The SRB used an exceptional negotiated procurement procedure without prior publication of a contract notice and signed directly with the previous contractor a framework contract related to Information Technologies for a volume of 10 000 000 euros Payments made under the contract in 2018 amounted to 440 020 euros The SRB justified the use of the simplified procurement procedure by technical (captivity) and financial (investments already made to purchase the software) reasons The SRB should avoid any dependency on the contractor which would not allow it in the future to choose alternative solutions in a competitive manner, thereby ensuring best value for money 
1. SK C 417/182 Úradný vestník Európskej únie 11 12 2019 Spoľahlivosť účtovnej závierky Stanovisko k spoľahlivosti účtovnej závierky 3.35.6. 1.