EN C 417/114 Official Journal of the European Union 11 12 2019 THE COURTŐS STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE PROVIDED TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL Ń INDEPENDENT AUDITORŐS REPORT OPINION 3 20 8 We have audited: (a) the accounts of the Office, which comprise the financial statements (148) and the reports on the implementation of the budget (149) for the financial year ended 31 December 2018; and (b) the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying those accounts as required by Article 287 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) Reliability of the accounts Opinion on the reliability of the accounts 3 20 9 In our opinion, the accounts of the Office for the year ended 31 December 2018 present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Office 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 Legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts Revenue Opinion on the legality and regularity of revenue underlying the accounts 3 20 10 In our opinion, revenue underlying the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2018 is legal and regular in all material respects Payments Basis for a qualified opinion on the legality and regularity of the payments underlying the accounts 3 20 11 In its audit reports for the financial years 2016 and 2017, the Court had concluded that contracts on the provision of interim workers in Greece, travel services to the Office and rent for the OfficeŐs premises in Lesbos are irregular Payments made in 2018 under these contracts amounted to 3 405 970 euros (4 % of total 2018 payments) Qualified opinion on the legality and regularity of payments underlying the accounts 3 20 12 In our opinion, except for the effects explained in the ÔBasis for a qualified opinion on the legality and regularity of paymentsŐ paragraph, payments underlying the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2018 are legal and regular in all material respects Other matter 3 20 13 As from the end of 2017, the human resources situation at the Office had deteriorated exponentially In 2018, EASO made recruitment rules more transparent By the end of 2018, EASO had 219 staff members 89 offer letters were sent out and 60 contracts were signed However, the actual net increase of staff at EASO was marginal in 2018 and there were still 78 vacancies to be filled by the end of year Of particular concern is the lack of managers in the administration department By the end of 2018, four out of five management posts were either vacant or saw the persons occupying it suspended from their duties One management post was filled on an ad interim basis Overall, this situation entails a significant risk to the continuation of the OfficeŐs operations at the current scale and the Office should make additional efforts to fill the vacant posts, in collaboration with the Commission and Member States 3 20 14 The absence of comprehensive arrangements concerning the accommodation of asylum support teams and other EASO forces in the Member States (e g as regards privileges and immunities for EASOŐs own staff, Member StatesŐ experts and contracted experts) creates a significant operational, financial and reputational risk The Office, together with the Commission, should continue seeking effective arrangements with Member Sates concerning the accommodation of asylum support teams and other EASO forces (148) The financial statements comprise the balance sheet, the statement of financial performance, the cash flow statement, the statement of changes in net assets and a summary of significant accounting policies and other explanatory notes (149) The reports on implementation of the budget aggregate all budgetary operations and the explanatory notes 
SK C 417/114 Úradný vestník Európskej únie 11 12 2019 VYHLÁSENIE DVORA AUDÍTOROV O VIEROHODNOSTI PREDKLADANÉ EURÓPSKEMU PARLAMENTU A RADE – SPRÁVA NEZÁVISLÉHO AUDÍTORA STANOVISKO 3.20.8. Kontrolovali sme: a) účtovnú závierku úradu, ktorá pozostáva z finančných výkazov (148) a výkazov o plnení rozpočtu (149) za rozpočtový rok končiaci sa 31. decembra 2018, a b) zákonnosť a správnosť príslušných transakcií v súlade s článkom 287 Zmluvy o fungovaní Európskej únie (ZFEÚ).