Rapport annuel d'activités 2006 DG BUDGET

Transcription

1 Rapport annuel d'activités 2006 DG BUDGET 31 mars 2007 Commission européenne, B-1049 Bruxelles - Belgique. Téléphone: (32-2) Téléphone: ligne directe (32-2) Télécopieur: (32-2)

2 INDEX Part 1. Policy results... 3 Section 1.1. Summary for the Policy Area of DG Budget...3 Section 1.2. Results for each ABB Activity ABB Activité - Exécution budgétaire, contrôle et décharge ABB Activité - Comptabilité ABB Activité - Promotion de la bonne gestion financière ABB Activité - Cadre financier et procédure budgétaire Corporate issues...17 Part 2. Management and internal control systems Section 2.1. Inherent nature and characteristics of policy environment and beneficiaries...20 Section 2.2. Management and control systems The control environment People and values Planning and programming Monitoring and Reporting Internal communication...23 Section 2.3. Supervision and monitoring of internal control systems and audit follow-up Follow-up on 2005 AAR reservations Audits Audits of previous years...26 Section 2.4. Key indicators supporting reasonable assurance...26 Section 2.5. Conclusions on the management and internal control system...27 Part 3. Reservations Section 3.1. Materiality criteria...28 Section Reservations...29 Section 3.3. Overall conclusion on the combined impact of the reservations on the declaration...29 Part 4. Déclaration de l ordonnateur délégué

3 Part 1. Policy results Section 1.1. Summary for the Policy Area of DG Budget Main important achievements The main important achievements set and reached in 2006 by DG Budget were the following: The adoption of a new financial framework for A new Interinstitutional Agreement (IIA) on budgetary discipline and sound financial management for the period was signed in May The IIA establishes rules and mechanisms for the management of the financial framework over a 7-year period and for the setting-up of annual budgets, starting with the 2007 budget adopted on 14 December It was followed-up by a package of programme proposals for setting out details of funds for each programme and legal acts necessary for their implementation. The revision of the financial regulation and of its implementing rules: the revised Financial Regulation was unanimously adopted by the Council on 13th December 2006, after a successful conciliation procedure with the European Parliament. The new Financial Regulation will be fully applicable as from 1 st May 2007, after the adoption by the Commission of the linked Implementing Rules. Moreover, the Commission adopted on 7 July 2006 a revision of the Implementing rules which could be adopted under the current Financial Regulation. A positive discharge vote on the 2004 Budget, and a positive audit verdict on EU accounts drawn up for the first time under the new accounting system. The European Parliament voted in April 2006 by a large majority to grant the Commission discharge for the general budget 2004, giving its broad support for the Commission s efforts and achievements in modernising and fine-tuning its budgetary practices. The role of the European Parliament and of the European Court of Auditors, is crucial in giving momentum to the Commission s Action Plan towards an Integrated Internal Control Framework. In its 2005 annual report, the European Court of Auditors' granted a positive statement of assurance for the reliability of the EU accounts, with some observations. The Court also gave its opinion on the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions (i.e. commitments and payments to and from the EU coffers), with a positive declaration for revenue, commitments and payments on administrative expenditure, and parts of the preaccession and agricultural expenditure. The consolidation of changes brought about by the switch to the new accrual accounting framework. The first set of accrual-based accounts were prepared in 2006, for the Financial Year Consolidated Accounts included for the first time all the agencies, except for two bodies not in receipt of subsidies from the Community budget. Their impact The new financial framework modernises the European Union's spending and puts the focus on economic progress. The new Interinstitutional Agreement for the period lays the foundations for the implementation of the new programmes from the beginning of It guarantees that the Union will have at its disposal the funds necessary to secure the development of an enlarged Europe and that new Member States will become 3

4 full participants of all EU policies. It also includes a new chapter on sound financial management and a number of solid institutional commitments towards more effective budget implementation. The new IIA thus provides for increased flexibility in future budgets in order to better react to a rapidly changing world (almost 3 bln EUR over the period) or major disasters occurring in the EU or a candidate country (7 bln EUR over the period); it establishes basic rules for the new European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EUR 3,5 bln); and announces a comprehensive review of the EU budget in 2008/9. Better regulation and balance between controls and risks and simplification of financial management. The new financial rules ensure a better balance between the controls required and the financial risks at stake, while maintaining a high level of protection of the financial interests of the Union and without modifying the basic architecture of the 2003 financial reform. In particular, the new rules will simplify the procedural and documentation requirements for contracts and grants funded by the EU budget, especially for those of low value, in order to make them proportionate to the risks involved and to the costs for the final beneficiary. The modes of management have been clarified and simplified. This will help boost the delivery of the EU programmes under the Financial Framework and reduce the administrative burden and cost for the services and other implemeneting bodies as well as that of the economic operators, benefiaries, NGOs, SMEs etc. At the same time, transparency of the EU spending will be considerably improved: as from 2008 (2009 for agricultural funds) the names of beneficiaries of funds deriving from the EU budget will have to be disclosed in all management modes, i.e. direct centralised (research and other internal policies), indirect centralised (education and culture), shared with Member States (agriculture and structural funds), decentralised and joint management (external aid). The setting-up of a central database of organisations excluded from EU funding by the Commission, and common to all institutions and entities involved in the implementation of the budget which will become operational at the latest as from 1/1/2009, will help preventing fraud and corruption in EU spending. The institutional support gained for the ambitious Integrated Internal Control Framework plan adds momentum to tackle remaining shortcomings in the execution of the European budget. Once again the European Parliament has granted discharge to the Commission for the execution of the budget (2004). By doing so, the European Parliament has acknowledged that the budget has been correctly executed and that the accounts reflect the revenue and expenditure of the Communities for the year and their financial position at the year-end. The European Parliament has also acknowledged the importance and given its support to the Integrated Internal Control Framework proposed by the Commission early The European Court of Auditors' in its 2005 annual report grants a positive statement of assurance for the reliability of the EU accounts, with some observations. The Court also gave its opinion on the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions (i.e. commitments, and payments to and from the EU coffers), with a positive declaration for revenue, commitments and payments on administrative expenditure and parts of the pre-accession and agricultural expenditure. While the Court stated that it was not able to give an unqualified assurance for the remaining areas of EU spending, the enhanced recognition secured by the other institutions adds momentum to tackle the remaining shortcomings in the execution of the Community budget. The consolidation of the new accrual accounting framework has allowed a greater day-to-day control over European Community finances and better financial information. The ABAC system provided better accounting and financial information to the DGs, enabling them to improve the financial management of projects. Through the implementation of the Legal Entity File, the Commission is now able to identify all beneficiaries of EU funds under direct management on the one hand and debtors of the Institution on the other. The Consolidated Financial Statements now provide more relevant information to the users of accounts. Moreover, a reasonably clean audit opinion has enhanced the credibility of the Commission's management of the budget in the eyes of the Member states, as evidenced in the September Conference on "Modernising accounting in the public Sector", as well as in the eyes of the press, which has been noticeably more favourable. 4

5 Section 1.2. Results for each ABB Activity ABB Activité - Exécution budgétaire, contrôle et décharge Cette activité recouvre l'ordonnancement, le suivi et le contrôle des ressources propres communautaires qui financent le budget de l'union. Elle comprend également les activités de suivi et de rapport sur l'exécution du budget. Sont finalement reprises dans cette partie les relations avec les autorités de contrôle budgétaire externe (Cour des Comptes) et de décharge (Commission du Contrôle Budgétaire du Parlement Européen). Décharge et déclaration d assurance Reprend les objectifs spécifiques : - 5. Veiller au strict suivi des recommandations de l autorité de décharge - 6. Objectif Stratégie DAS positive Le Parlement européen a une nouvelle fois décidé, le 27 avril 2006, par un vote largement majoritaire (523 votes pour), de donner décharge à la Commission pour le budget général Ce faisant, il a reconnu que le budget a été correctement exécuté et que les comptes sont le reflet des recettes et des dépenses des Communautés pour l'exercice concerné, et de leur situation financière en fin d'exercice. Par ailleurs, la plupart des documents ont été fournis à l'autorité de décharge dans les délais et celle-ci, ainsi que l'apc, se sont montrés satisfaits du travail effectué. Dans son rapport annuel rendu public fin octobre 2006, la Cour des comptes européenne a ainsi délivré une déclaration d'assurance positive sur les systèmes utilisés pour contrôler 49% des crédits. La Commission a également adopté le 17 janvier 2006 un plan d'action ambitieux afin de mettre en œuvre le cadre de contrôle interne intégré 1. Le plan d'action détaille les attentes et limites des acteurs concernés et devrait permettre à la Cour des Comptes de disposer d'une assurance plus adéquate pour sa déclaration. Exécution budgétaire Reprend les objectifs spécifiques : - 1. Suivi de l exécution des projets pilotes et des actions préparatoires 2. Assurer que l exécution budgétaire respecte les principes de bonne utilisation des ressources In 2006, DG Budget reinforced the monitoring of budgetary implementation. It kept the Budgetary Authority regularly informed on budget implementation on individual budget items twice a month in the first part of the year, and as from September 2006, on a weekly basis. A Budget Implementation Plan 2006 was submitted together with the PDB 2007 (17 May) and a monitoring report on this implementation plan, together with its revision, were finalised in September/October. In addition, DG Budget also designed for the first time a Budget Forecast Alert process to improve implementation of spending programs and the related forecasts to reduce the risk of a budget surplus by year-end. A first edition was prepared in the first semester and was followed up by a second one in October. The Court of Auditors and the Budgetary Authority have several times manifested their appreciation regarding the quality of the monitoring of budgetary implementation. Indicators that were set to assess work delivered for budgetary execution were satisfactorily met. All credit management operations were integrated within less than 5 days of the notification see under "contrôle interne et gestion des risques" 5

6 transfers were dealt with within the deadlines 2. The procedure to carry over appropriations from 2005 to 2006 was completed on schedule. The amount of commitment appropriations carried over was 187 million (of which 178 million was implemented) and payment appropriations - excluding automatic carry over 202 million (of which 159 million was implemented). As far as old and dormant outstanding commitments (so-called "abnormal RAL") are concerned, a summary of actions taken by Commission departments in 2005 was submitted to the Budget Authority on 17 May as part of PDB 2007 documents. The 2006 exercise was launched in July and DGs will report on progress achieved during 2006 in early DG Budget published all its traditional reports in time, with the exception of the Financial Report (due for September 2006), whose production was somewhat delayed due to translation and distribution difficulties. Those reports have an inter-institutional cover as in the case of the 2006 Allocation of Expenditure Report (September 2006) and the Report on Budgetary and Financial Management (March 2006). The Annual Evaluation Review was produced in a new format with more focus on reporting on results in order to better serve the information needs of decision makers, for example in the context of the budgetary process. Moreover, a study was carried out on how evaluations in the Commission deal with cost-effectiveness and the first phase of a new IT tool (Evaluation Information Management System, "EIMS") for collecting and storing evaluation information from across the DGs became operational. Conformément aux objectifs fixés, la Commission a fourni à l Autorité Budgétaire une information sur les Projets Pilotes et sur les Actions Préparatoires à trois occasions. Un premier rapport préparé en février a identifié les ordonnateurs responsables pour l'exécution de ces actions et esquissé leurs plans d'exécution. Un deuxième rapport est venu accompagner l'avant-projet de Budget comme prévu par le Règlement Financier. Un troisième rapport a été joint en septembre, dans le cadre du virement global. Enfin, dans le cadre de la lettre d exécutabilité, la Commission a commenté en novembre les actions prévues par le Parlement dans sa première lecture du budget L'ensemble de ces documents a permis de mieux définir les possibilités d'exécution en dialogue avec les représentants de la Commission des Budgets du Parlement européen. Gestion et contrôle des ressources propres Reprend les objectifs spécifiques: - 3. Gérer de manière efficiente les ressources propres des Communautés - 4. Contrôler la gestion des ressources propres faite par les Etats membres Member States monthly own resources contributions, as well as the budgetary compensations paid to new Member States, were managed correctly and in due respect of the delays laid down by Community legislation. The European Court of Auditors confirmed its positive appreciation of the management of its own resources in its 2005 Annual Report. 33 infringement cases were treated by DG Budget. The Court of Justice gave its ruling in six cases and in five cases it was in favour of the Commission. In four cases relating to management of Traditional Own Resources by Germany and Belgium, the impact is estimated to be over 30 million. In one case the Dutch position was followed without material impact for current management 3. The Court of First Instance confirmed the Commission's position in two cases which were initiated by a Member State in relation to an ongoing infringement case VAT recovery files were treated and reimbursement claims for 2005 were sent to all 19 Member States applying the system of reimbursement for VAT exoneration. Information sessions were given and the VAT handbook was revised. The cleaning of VAT accounts progressed well and 2 one transfer was refused by the Budget Authority (concerning CEPOL, May 2006), and one transfer was only partially accepted (Omnibus transfer, November 2006) 3 In ruling C-312/04 regarding the way the Netherlands followed up some individual undischarged TIR carnets accepted before 1994, the Court rejected the case brought by the Commission on 'burden of proof' grounds, whilst nonetheless indicating that the Netherlands could have acted more rapidly in sending the payments notices. This case refers to a legislative environment that is no longer applicable: the time limits are harmonised at EU level for both undischarged T1 and TIR movements. 6

7 a budget line was introduced to regularise irrecoverable amounts. Open recovery orders from before 2001 were regularised either by Member States' payments or by cancellation. Payments were also received for most of the outstanding amounts for period In total 162 demands of Member States for write-off of Traditional Own Resources were processed, representing about 32,2 million. In 35% of the cases (10 million ), Member States were considered diligent, whereas in 30% of the cases (4.6 million ), the request was (partially) denied and demand letters were issued. 29 control missions in traditional own resources (including two monitoring visits to Romania and Bulgaria) were held according to schedule. Two control missions in traditional own resources were postponed to 2007 to comply with the Join Audit Approaches principles 4. As regards VAT own resources, the 10 control missions that were programmed were all successfully carried out on time. As far as reservations put by DG Budget on Member States' management of own resources are concerned, the number of GNI reservations fell from 63 (in 2005) to 50 (in 2006). However the number of VAT reservations rose slightly from 111 (in 2005) to 116 (in 2006), reflecting the placing of reserves on a new Member State for the first time, namely Slovakia. Among the 15 "old" Member States the underlying trend is downwards. In the case of GNI, the revised GNI inventories expected for the end of 2006 will certainly give rise to a number of new reservations once the Commission has completed its analysis. Finally DG Budget organized a seminar in Tallinn early in October as a follow-up to the 5th report on the VAT resource 5. The results of this seminar will contribute to the next such report, to be drafted in ABB Activité - Comptabilité Cette activité consiste en premier lieu à assurer la comptabilité budgétaire et générale de la Commission et du Fonds Européen de Développement, à gérer la trésorerie et les relations avec les banques, à exécuter les paiements ainsi qu'à assurer le recouvrement des créances. Il s'agit également d'établir le reporting budgétaire mensuel, trimestriel et annuel, à l'attention de l'autorité budgétaire et de la Cour des Comptes et des Communautés européennes et d'établir et maintenir le cadre comptable : règles et procédures comptables et plan comptable. Modernisation comptable Reprend les objectifs spécifiques : - 1. Poursuivre la mise en place de la modernisation de la comptabilité - 2. Assurer le bon fonctionnement, le support et la sécurité des systèmes centraux d information financière -7. Valider les systèmes locaux Les objectifs du projet ABAC pour 2006 ont été accomplis: clôture 2006, ouverture d'abac délégations, démarrage du projet ABAC Agences et amélioration et stabilisation du système. Le projet ABAC délégations s'est déroulé suivant le calendrier prévu et ABAC a été ouvert aux délégations, sans problèmes majeurs, le 9 Janvier Les développements informatiques indispensables pour la clôture et l'établissement des comptes annuels de la Commission ont été finalisés en temps utile. Le projet ABAC agences a démarré et a permis que cinq agences utilisent le système ABAC pour leur gestion financière et comptable. Un calendrier fixant les délais de migration des autres agences et de deux Institutions en a été adopté. Le Comité des Régions et le Comité Economique et Social, ainsi qu'une agence, ont démarré en ABAC le 1er janvier La Cour a reconnu l'effort réalisé par la Commission pour la mise en place du nouveau cadre et système comptable et elle a très bien accueilli les premiers comptes annuels établis sur base des nouvelles règles comptables. La réserve portant sur l'exhaustivité des débiteurs divers a été levée 4 The Joint Audit Approach provides for common planning of audits so that there is no overlap: in one instance the audit to be performed by the Member state needed to be extended and the other coincided with a Court of Auditor's mission 5 Published every three years according to Article 12 of Council Regulation N 1553/89 7

8 grâce à l'introduction du nouveau cadre comptable et la comptabilisation de préfinancements. Recognising the progress made over the last years in modernising the EC's accounting, the Court did not underline this year that the accounting system was not conceived so as to guarantee the total inventory of the patrimonial situation of the EC. The Court also gave a reasonably clean positive opinion on the 2005 accounts, while however still pointing out the lack of reliable accounts from one DG, and errors found in the other DGs' accounts for prefinancing and cost claims. Après avoir été sécurisés en 2005, tous les accès de la DG Budget au système SAP n'ont pas pu être individuellement paramétrés en 2006 compte tenu d'autres priorités plus urgentes mais ils seront mis à jour en La Cour des Comptes a émis dans son rapport annuel 2006 une opinion positive sur le travail effectué par l'équipe de validation ainsi que sur la documentation des travaux. La DG Budget a ainsi rendu en janvier et février l'ensemble des rapports finaux de validation des systèmes comptables locaux de 14 Directions Générales et services, comme prévu. Un rapport global sur la validation des systèmes locaux couvrant l'ensemble des services de la Commission a par ailleurs été soumis au Comptable et transmis aux services le 28 février Un rapport sur la méthodologie des changements apportés aux systèmes locaux a également été communiqué par le Comptable à l'ensemble des services de la Commission le 19 mai Il a fait l'objet de plusieurs présentations aux réunions du Réseau des Unités Financières entre juin et décembre 2006 et cette nouvelle procédure est entrée en application le 1 er juin Enfin, le rapport sur la valeur ajoutée des systèmes locaux a été accepté par le Comptable le 29 juin Le travail sur la fusion des Datawarehouses Budgétaire et Comptable en un Datawarehouse Financier Unique a atteint les 3/4 des objectifs fixés pour Vu la trop grande complexité technique qu'exigeait l'incorporation en 2006 des informations d'abac Workflow dans le Datawarehouse Unique, la production du rapport d'analyse pour le carry-forward à partir du nouveau Datawarehouse a été reportée en Le rapport actuel donne cependant déjà satisfaction aux Directions Générales. Gestion, exécution et reporting légal, budget des Communautés Reprend les objectifs spécifiques : -3. Gérer la comptabilité de la Commission 4. Renforcement de la qualité comptable Les opérations d exécution et de rapprochement des paiements se sont déroulées de manière régulière. En 2006 la trésorerie a exécuté 1,5 millions de paiements, pour un montant total de 106,6 milliards, dont pour un montant de 77,7 milliards à partir de comptes maintenus auprès des Trésors des Etats membres et des banques centrales, et 1,47 millions pour un montant de 28,9 milliards à partir de comptes ouverts auprès de banques commerciales. Au moins un «payment run» par jour a été exécuté. La DG Budget a par ailleurs traité en 2006, 331 modifications de décisions relatives aux régies d'avances ou régisseurs d'avances et 280 demandes d'autorisation d'exécution de paiement dans les délégations. Le "vade-mecum" des régisseurs d'avances a été mis à jour et la formation des régisseurs d'avances a été assurée. Pendant l'année 2006, la plupart des régisseurs d'avances ont signé la "Charte de missions et responsabilités des régisseurs d'avances", adoptée par la Commission fin 2005, qui vise à identifier les missions qui leurs sont confiées, leurs droits, devoirs et responsabilités. Au cours de l exercice 2006 un total de nouvelles demandes d'enregistrement «Entité Légale» et de nouvelles demandes d'enregistrement «Compte Bancaire» ont été traitées alors que d enregistrements «Entité Légale» et d enregistrements «Compte Bancaire» existants ont fait l objet d une mise à jour. The some 950 offsetting operations launched in 2006, for the General Budget and the EDF, have ensured the collection of 195 millions and the closure of around recovery orders. The efforts to enter into agreements with Member States, agreements that imply the formal or informal 8

9 commitment of the debtor to pay their debts on time so as to avoid an offsetting operation, have continued and have been extended to other material debtors. At the end of 2006 DG Budget exercised a close monitoring of the payments due to 53 material debtors, 18 of which are Member States. In the second half of 2006 contacts were undertaken with some of these material debtors to ensure the timely payment of 35 million, which otherwise would have been offset. These agreements have reduced the need to use the offsetting operation (i.e. the offsetting of Member States claims has gone down from 110 millions in 2005 to 53 millions in 2006). Taking this into consideration the 2006 performance maintains the positive trend noted since 2003, when offsetting was first used. De nombreux contrôles ont été faits dans le cadre de la clôture comptable 2006 afin d'identifier des erreurs ou incohérences sur les données introduites par les DGs. Ceci a permis d'améliorer la qualité des états financiers. En préparation de cette clôture, les contrôles à effectuer par les DGs avaient été communiqués et expliqués à plusieurs reprises et de la documentation envoyée en cours d'année sur ces contrôles, sur le cycle de la dépense, ainsi que sur les données du cut-off avait été envoyée. Des réunions bilatérales avec une vingtaine des DGs ont eu lieu le dernier trimestre 2006 afin d'analyser leurs données comptables, identifier des incohérences éventuelles et attirer l'attention sur des points sensibles. Un effort important devra être consenti en La mise en place d'un environnement de contrôle comptable est la voie à suivre. Le challenge est d'assurer de manière régulière et collective un contrôle effectif et efficace des informations comptables. Pour aider les Ordonnateurs, un projet "qualité" a été mis en place. Le service comptable mettra à disposition des DGs en 2007 de nouveaux outils et guidelines et les accompagnera dans la mise en place de ces derniers. Comptabilité du FED Reprend l objectif spécifique : - 6. Assurer et moderniser la comptabilité du FED The final accounts from EDF have been approved by the Commission and sent to the Institutions respecting the reglementary deadlines. For the first time, the annual accounts have been drafted under full accrual accounting principles. The Court of Auditors has given a positive assurance without any reservations, unlike in previous years. According to the 2005 Annual Management Plan, the EDF accounting processes should have been migrated to the ABAC Information Technology platform in However, the planned timetable could not be kept and the implementation was initially postponed until The date of the migration of the EDF into ABAC has now been postponed from January 2007 until January 2008 following a request made by AIDCO on June 2006 to allow the DG sufficient time to make CRIS (AIDCO's local system) compatible with ABAC. This subsequent delay was accepted also taking into account AIDCO s difficulties with switching to the new system and the organisational difficulties linked to the deployment of a new system in all the ACP delegations. Recouvrement de créances Reprend l objectif spécifique : - 5. Recouvrer les créances de manière efficiente La DG Budget a pu en 2006, comme elle s'y était engagée, ramener l'encours à moins de ordres de recouvrements. A la fin de l'exercice, environ ordres de recouvrements pour 158 millions étaient ouverts, relatifs à des recettes affectées ou recettes diverses et à l'exclusion des ressources propres et des amendes concurrence. En ce qui concerne les amendes concurrence, les 180 ordres de recouvrement ouverts au pour un total de millions étaient couverts par des paiements provisoires de millions et par des garanties financières de millions alors qu'un montant de 651 millions n'était pas encore arrivé à échéance. En 2006, la Commission a encaissé définitivement 745 millions à titre d'amendes concurrence et 58 millions à titre d'astreinte à charge d'un Etat membre. 9

10 Les intérêts de retard sont calculés et réclamés de façon systématique après le dépassement de la date d'échéance. En 2006, la Commission a encaissé 113 millions d'intérêts de retard, dont 101 millions pour amendes concurrence, 9 millions pour ressources propres et 1 million pour les créances diverses. Le traitement du backlog de dossiers de petits montants a également été effectué. Les délais de validation ont été respectés. En 2006, environ ordres de recouvrement ont été validés et près de recettes ont été réconciliées et comptabilisées en moins de trois jours après la réception de l'information. A la fin de 2006, des recettes pour environ 0,3 million qui ne pouvaient être réconciliées, ont été régularisées comme recettes diverses tel que prévu par la réglementation financière. Un guide du recouvrement forcé des créances de la Commission a été finalisé, conjointement avec le Service Juridique, et distribué aux services. Les Etats membres ont été sensibilisés aux questions de mise en œuvre opérationnelle de la décision valant titre exécutoire. Sur les 19 décisions valant titre exécutoire communiquées aux Etats membres, 16 ont été reçues dans un délai de 1 à 3 mois, tandis que 3 décisions font l'objet de rappels sous menace d'une procédure d'infraction. L'exécution des tâches de recouvrement par le comptable n'a pas fait l'objet d'observations par la Cour des Comptes. Comptes annuels Reprend l objectif spécifique : - 8. Assurer l'établissement des comptes annuels 2005 de la Commission et préparer la clôture 2006 Les comptes annuels définitifs de la Commission et Consolidés ont été transmis officiellement à la Cour des Comptes, au Parlement et au Conseil dans les délais prescrits, tout comme le reporting budgétaire mensuel et trimestriel. Les états financiers ont été préparés sur base du nouveau cadre comptable. La DG Budget se félicite de la déclaration d'assurance positive de la Cour des comptes concernant les comptes 2005 des CE, qui sont les premiers à être établis conformément au nouveau système comptable. Améliorer la procédure de changement d exercice Reprend l objectif spécifique : - 9. Avancer la date d'ouverture du budget et des règles internes L'effort important de sensibilisation de l ensemble des directions générales et services que la DG Budget a effectué en 2005 a porté ses fruits et le nombre d'interventions dans le système comptable a beaucoup diminué. Nous avons commencé la procédure du changement d'exercice au début du mois de juillet 2006 et lancé la consultation interservices permettant d'actualiser les ordonnateurs de toutes les lignes budgétaires au début du mois de septembre. Comme l'année dernière, la DG Budget a été en mesure d'ouvrir le 20 décembre 2006 les crédits votés pour 2007 et le 9 janvier 2007 les crédits reportés de 2006, en y intégrant les quelques 600 modifications de la nomenclature budgétaire y associées. Toutefois, certaines lignes touchées par le premier budget rectificatif ne sont provisoirement pas disponibles dans le système comptable, ceci dans l'attente de la finalisation des opérations de réimputation. Des développements informatiques sont envisagés en 2007 afin de résoudre cette difficulté. Pour la première fois, le travail des directions générales et services n'a pas été interrompu en début d'année et les services ont pu utiliser le système comptable dès l'ouverture des bureaux de la Commission le 3 janvier

11 ABB Activité - Promotion de la bonne gestion financière Cette activité recouvre l'assistance et le conseil aux directions générales en matière de bonne gestion financière, ainsi que la mise en place des nouvelles réglementations financières. Cette assistance s'appuie sur la formation, la documentation, la fourniture de conseils sur l'interprétation de la réglementation financière, l'harmonisation des contrats ainsi que sur le développement et la maintenance des divers systèmes d'information financière en place à la Commission. Elle comprend également la définition de normes minimales et de systèmes de contrôle interne, ainsi que le support et la coordination entre les services en matière de contrôle interne et gestion des risques. Cadre réglementaire Reprend l objectif spécifique : - 1. Mener à bien les négociations et parachever les propositiosn de révision du cadre réglementaire qui permette aux DGs d'exécuter le budget de façon plus efficiente DG Budget presented to the College in May 2006 a revised proposal for a Financial Regulation which was unanimously adopted by the Council on 13th December 2006, after a successful conciliation procedure with the European Parliament. Essential elements of the Commission's proposal were retained and the revised regulatory framework, once into force in May 2007 for most of its provisions, will strike a better balance between controls and risks whilst achieving significant simplification and transparency of financial management. The news rules indeed significantly cut excessive paperwork particularly for small scale beneficiaries. Beneficiaries of funds deriving from the EU budget will have to be disclosed in all management modes under which the EC Budget is implemented, i.e. direct centralised (research and other internal policies), indirect centralised (education and culture), shared with Member States (agriculture and structural funds), decentralised and joint management (external aid). Finally, the setting up of a central database of organisations excluded from EU funding by the Commission, and common to all institutions and entities involved in the implementation of the EC Budget, will help preventing fraud and corruption in EU spending and ensure a better protection of the EC financial interests. On 4 July 2006 the College adopted a revision of the Implementing rules of the Financial Regulation whose amended provisions were not linked to the revision of the FR. It also adopted a draft text amending the implementing rules for the provisions linked to the revision of the Financial Regulation, which should enter fully into application by May Both texts are inspired by the philosophy underlying the revision of the FR. Commission's Internal rules for the 2006 budget were adopted in January 2006 and revised in November. DG Budget also prepared a revision of the Financial Regulation applicable to the 9th European Development Fund, approved by the College in November 2006 and which is about to be formally adopted by the Council. The DG Budget contribution to effective financial governance was enhanced by the adoption by the Commission of the new guidelines for the creation and functioning of the executive agencies, the creation by the Commission of the executive agency for TENs and the revamping of the EAC executive agency. Finally, DG BUDG provided assistance to other Services of the Commission involved in the negotiations of their basic acts for , many of which were adopted by the end of DG BUDG also helped other DGs to implement the 2006 budget in conformity with the financial regulations, in particular by assisting them in the elaboration of working programmes and financial decisions and anticipated the preparation of the implementation of the EC 2007 Budget in order to 11

12 address the problems resulting from the delays in the adoption of the future basic acts under the new financial framework. Assurer une assistance efficiente aux DGs dans la mise en œuvre et la supervision de leur gestion financière Reprend l objectif spécifique : - 4. Assurer une assistance efficiente aux DGs dans la mise en œuvre et la supervision de leur gestion financière To support services in the implementation of the European Union finances, DG Budget produced many appreciated guidance documents in 2006, keeping with the deadlines it had set itself and to the satisfaction of the services. Documents notably include: - the publication of interpretative notes on procurement and grants, completed by an update of the relevant training sessions; - a revised vademecum for tenders published on 22 August to accompany the entry into force of the revision of the implementing rules; - a new model grant agreement based exclusively on flat rates amounts and scale of units contributions, published in June; and an information fiche on flat rate amounts and scale of units contributions in September; - a new interpretive note on subcontracting and joint offers, published at the end of June; - grant models and contract models were updated in December following the entry into force of the Autonomous Revision of the Implementation Rules. It has to be noted that the ABAC Contract enhancements in 2006 focused on the integration of the RELEX/Delegations, whereas the major functional and technical review of ABAC Contracts was rescheduled for the As far as the E-access tool is concerned, its development, initially planned for 2006, is currently on-hold following OPOCE's decision not to pursue the project. DG Budget is consulting on the issue together with other lead services. In addition to the specific actions taken under the action plan towards an integrated internal control framework 6, DG Budget continued to run the ex post control network to share good practices between the control units within the DGs. Key issues discussed in 2006 included the design of sampling strategies to obtain reasonable assurance, the follow-up of controls and approaches to the application of sanctions. Contrôle interne et gestion des risques Reprend les objectifs spécifiques : - 2. Assist DGs in gaining further experience with risk management and stimulate concrete proposals to strengthen the methodology and related tools, including on issues common to several services - 3. Proposer des améliorations au cadre de contrôle interne de la Commission et des services La Commission a adopté le 17 janvier 2006 un plan d'action ambitieux afin de mettre en œuvre un cadre de contrôle interne intégré. Le plan d'action détaille les attentes et limites des acteurs concernés et devrait fournir à la Cour des Comptes des éléments nécessaires afin d'augmenter l'assurance qu'elle peut tirer des systèmes de contrôle mis en œuvre par la Commission. Du large éventail de mesures élaborées dans ce plan, certaines ont déjà été mises en œuvre en 2006 par la DG Budget: ainsi la proposition de nouveau principe budgétaire en vue d'un contrôle interne efficace a été proposée dans le règlement financier avant que, suite aux délibérations du Conseil, le principe soit finalement incorporé dans le principe de bonne gestion financière. Des "internal control templates" ont été développés afin de faciliter la présentation des stratégies et des résultats de contrôle par les différents services: ce template est incorporé à partir de 2006 dans les instructions permanentes pour la préparation des rapports annuels d'activité. Une méthodologie a été 6 see under "contrôle interne et gestion des risques" 12

13 développée pour définir la notion de risque tolérable et, suivant la décision du Conseil de ne pas l'inclure dans le règlement financier, la DG Budget est en train d'analyser comment la mettre en œuvre de manière purement interne au sein des services de la Commission. La généralisation du système de déclaration par les bénéficiaires de fonds communautaires a été étudiée et dans le cadre de la politique de la recherche, des critères communs pour les audits sont en voie de finalisation. Les échanges d'informations en matière de contrôle et d'audit entre les différents niveaux de contrôle à la Commission, et avec les institutions supérieures de contrôle des finances publiques dans les Etats Membres ont été renforcés. Enfin des méthodologies destinées à évaluer le coût de contrôle des domaines de la gestion partagée et de la gestion centrale directe ont été développées et la collecte des données lancée. Building on the adoption of common vocabulary and basic principles on risk management in October 2005, an updated and simplified risk management guide taking into account DGs feedback following the Annual Management Plan 2006 risk management exercise was issued in July In addition to the guide, more specific advice for risk management in certain key areas was provided in 2006, for example on risk management for procurement and grants. DG Budget also prepated a pilot exercise to deal with cross-cutting risks and led the peer review of high priority risks following communication of these by the DGs. The overview on internal control was prepared in April 2006, on schedule. Five meetings of the Commission Evaluation Network were organised in order to coordinate evaluation activities across the Commission services. Moreover, several working groups and seminars were organised in the context of this Network on special themes such as evaluation of regulatory instruments, evaluation of internal service provision within the institutions, and on how to carry out quality assessments of evaluations. The Network also served to coordinate presentations on the Commission's evaluation activities at the European Evaluation Society's international conference. A meeting with the evaluation correspondents in the Community agencies was organised in order to disseminate good practice on evaluation. To further improve the monitoring of and reporting on evaluation, a separate report on evaluation capacity in the Commission was produced for the first time. Budgetary and financial helpdesk, information and training Reprend l objectif spécifique : - 5. Provide Commission staff with information advice and skills they need to manage the budget effectively and in conformity with the applicable rules over the course of 2006 In the course of 2006, the Central Financial Service Helpdesk dealt with over 1100 questions from finance units of the Commission, other Institutions and Agencies on the correct application of the financial rules. According to the results of our customer satisfaction survey, over 90% of our clients think that the Helpdesk provides a good service (25% very good). Our intranet website of financial information, BudgWeb, received 2.7m hits in the course of the year. Our survey suggests that over 90% of users are satisfied with the site (10% think it is very good), 57% of users find BudgWeb user-friendly; 69% accurate & up-to-date; 75% comprehensive. 85% of html pages are bilingual additional translations were received and published before year end. A "newcomer's corner" was published to help financial novices. A monthly quiz was in operation throughout the year participants days of financial training were delivered in 2006, including 13 information sessions on the new Implementing Rules, covering demand. 96% of evaluations rated the courses as "good" or "very good" (47%) in 2006, compared with 94% and 42% in Courses delivered for the first time in 2006 received 97% "good" and "very good" (40%) ratings, exceeding the objectives set. 41 tailor-made training sessions or workshops were delivered. 4 Central Financial Service newsflashes on financial issues were sent out and were deemed very useful according to our customer satisfaction survey (82% of recipients think these were useful, 62% very useful). 13

14 ABB Activité - Cadre financier et procédure budgétaire Cette activité recouvre en premier lieu la définition du cadre normatif dans lequel s'inscrivent la préparation, l'exécution et le contrôle du budget. Elle recouvre aussi l'élaboration de l'encadrement financier pluriannuel ainsi que la préparation du budget annuel et le suivi de la procédure budgétaire, y compris les travaux dans le domaine de l'évaluation des programmes communautaires. Perspectives financières ( ) Reprend l objectif spécifique : 3. Contribuer à l adoption d un cadre financier post-2006 DG Budget deployed intense efforts to ensure an InterInstitutional Agreement (IIA) on the financial frameworks could be reached in time for the 2007 budgetary discussion, as planned. Success was met when the European Parliament, Council and Commission reached agreement on 4 April after no less than four Trilogues. In this context, careful attention and significant resources were dedicated to the drafting and dissemination of specific information material in line with DG Budget's communication strategy for The final IIA was signed on 17 May 2006 and published in the OJ C 139 of DG Budget also concentrated on making sure that the legislative package with revised financial statements could be adopted by the Commission on 24 May It produced in particular proposed breakdown of reference amounts in codecided legal bases and indicative amounts for noncodecided legal bases compatible with the expenditure ceilings in the financial framework DG Budget settled to ensure that everything was done from its side so that most legal bases were adopted or soon to be adopted by December Related programmes could therefore be implemented as from 1st January 2007 to the exception of a few programmes. In addition to this, a proposal for an act repealing Council Regulation n 2040/2000 on budgetary discipline (agricultural guideline) as well as legislative acts modifying existing own resources decision were prepared and are now under examination in Council. Préparation de l'élargissement Reprend l objectif spécifique : 5. Préparer l adhésion de nouveaux Etats membres The agreements with Bulgaria and Romania for implementing the Privileges and Immunities Protocol were signed before their membership, i.e. on 27 April for Romania and on 8 December for Bulgaria. Both countries agreed to grant direct exoneration of VAT and other indirect taxes to EU institutions in all purchase situations. To promote the preparedness of Bulgaria and Romania for the financing system with own resources payments, one-day workshops were organized in these countries. Special attention was given to the payment facilities regarding the different categories of own resources, the different reporting obligations, and, to the own resources account to be kept for the payments. DG Budget also carried out monitoring missions in Romania and Bulgaria to prepare DG Budget's input for the Commission s May monitoring reports. Both countries submitted and updated an action plan with a timetable to complete administrative preparations. Furthermore, Romania started a new twinning light project to meet DG Budget s recommendations to complete administrative preparations and Bulgaria restarted the tender procedure as initially no suitable twinning partners applied. Both candidate countries were offered "live" training in the use of web-based own resources database, OWNRES. A simulated VAT statement for the year 2005 was received from Bulgaria and is currently being analysed. A similar exercise will be conducted for Romania as soon as the simulated statement is received early in

15 As far as other candidate countries are concerned, an explanatory screening for chapter 33 (Budgetary and Financial Provisions) for Croatia and Turkey took place on 6 September Bilateral meetings where also held with Croatia and Turkey respectively on 27 September and 4 October in the context of the preparation of reports to be submitted to Council in spring 2007 indicating whether or not candidate countries are sufficiently prepared to start negotiations on this chapter. Concerning Public Internal Financial Control matters, a substantial number of requests from the group of candidate countries, CARDS and ENP countries were received and processed. Fact-finding missions were carried out to Azerbaijan (June), Moldova (September), Serbia (September), Turkey (June and October), Ukraine (October), Croatia (November) and FYROM (December), while monitoring (follow-up) missions were carried out to Bulgaria (June and October) and Romania (December). In March 2006, the third (and last) annual CHU workshop was held in Slovenia. A further Administrative Co-operation Agreement (ACA) was signed between DG Budget and the Minister of Finance of FYROM. Other ACAs are currently being prepared to be signed with the remaining CARDS countries. There are 11 ENP countries, five of which have approved Action Plans that contain issues relating to PIFC and External Audit. Actions Plans with the remaining ENP are still being negotiated. La procédure budgétaire 2007 Reprend les objectifs spécifiques : - 1. Assurer l établissement de l avant-projet de Budget 2006 dans les délais 2. Mettre l accent sur la qualité dans la procédure et les informations budgétaires The preparation of the 2007 Preliminary Draft Budget (PDB) was achieved successfully despite the uncertainties created by the absence of an agreed multiannual Financial Framework for the period at the preparation stage. The PDB was adopted by the Commission on 3 May All documents were made available to the budget authority in due time. Three Amending Letters were also proposed on the 2007 PDB in the course of the year. They relate to the update of the revenue estimates, the adjustment of the initial PDB to the final agreement on the multi-annual financial framework and the traditional autumn update of the agricultural expenditure estimates. As regards the 2006 budget, six Preliminary Draft Amending Budgets were proposed including: mobilisation of the EU Solidarity Fund; budgeting the surplus resulting from the implementation of the budget year 2005; adaptations for three decentralised agencies and for the European Data Protection Officer; revision of the forecast of traditional own resources; financial support in favour of the Turkish Cypriot Community, the reinforcement of appropriations for the Year of Equal Opportunities for All in 2007 and certain administrative expenditures; adjusting payment appropriations to take account the state of implementation for Structural Funds and agricultural expenditure. Improved quality in the budget procedure was sought through improving the content of the Activity Statements accompanying the Preliminary draft budget. They aim to provide the main elements justifying the request for appropriations and elaborate on objectives pursued by EU expenditure. Though the Council and, to a lesser extent, the European Parliament make increasingly use of the Activity Statements during the budgetary procedure, the objective was only partially achieved. The Council indeed noted progress but considered the Activity Statements overall still of an insufficient quality to be satisfactorily used for the budgetary debate. A rationalisation of the structure of the Activity statements, better guidelines and coaching are planned for The achievement of the improvement is not fully in hands of DG Budget, as it relies on inputs from other Commission departments. 15

16 Qualité financière et budgétaire des propositions de la Commission Couvre l objectif spécifique : - 4. Contribuer à améliorer la qualité financière et budgétaire des propositions de la Commissions Une participation active dans des consultations interservices relatives à des dossiers individuels a permis à la Commission de prendre des décisions plus coûts-efficaces ou permettant de répondre efficacement à des situations d'urgence. Quelques exemples: - une meilleure appréciation de l'impact budgétaire dans certaines propositions comme celles relatives à la création d'un OCM unique, la réforme des fruits et légumes, les mesures de marché "grippe aviaire", la réforme lin et chanvre, celle relative aux cultures énergétiques et la modification des OCM céréales (maïs); - une meilleure prise en compte du lien entre l'utilisation du budget communautaire et les résultats attendus pour la réforme des fruits et légumes, la réforme de l'aide pour l'agriculture des îles en mer d'egée, ainsi que dans le cadre des nouvelles actions de mise en œuvre du fonds de cohésion et du développement; - une plus grande cohérence entre la gestion des fonds structurels et les actions dans le domaine du développement rural, rendu nécessaire par la nouvelle structure des rubriques pour la période ; - l'établissement, en partenariat avec les Directions Générales gérant les fonds structurels, des règles pratiques à suivre pour faciliter les demandes de révisions en fin de période de la programmation ; - plusieurs dossiers immobiliers concernant des Délégations dans des pays tiers, et notamment les parties financières d'un projet significatif d'acquisition à Tokyo; - établissement des 'Maisons' d'europe' (bureaux de représentation communs avec le Parlement européen); - la réponse budgétaire aux situations de crise (Palestine, Iraq, Liban, Afrique, ) et les renforcements à travers le mécanisme de la réserve d'aide d'urgence. In 2006, the Financial Central Service also examined more than 2000 interservices consultations dealing with different aspects of the implementation of the EC Budget and also replied to help desk questions and many informal consultations from services. Its input and assistance were particularly relevant for the drafting of modified proposals of basic acts laying down the rules for EC funding programmes for the period , such as the TEN draft Regulation or the Draft texts for Public Health and Consumer programmes. Assistance was also offered to services facing delays in the adoption of the basic act by the legislative authority, to help them prepare the implementation of the new generation of EC programmes and to ensure a smooth implementation of the 2007 budget. Finally, around fifty responses to interservice consultations commented on the quality of the preceding ex ante evaluation or on the evaluation arrangements included in the proposal. 16

17 Corporate issues Ressources Ressources humaines Nombre de personnes affectées à la DG par grade (tableau des effectifs) Nombre de personnes ayant fait l objet d une mobilité à l intérieur de la DG ou service au cours de l année (par grade) Arrivées (par grade) Départs (par grade) Taux de postes Durée moyenne vacants (moyenne de vacance des annuelle) postes (mois) AD 161 AST 263 AD 20 AST 25 AD 19 AST 30 AD 24 AST 40 8,45% 4,5 Exécution du budget Volume du budget géré par la DG en Mio (crédits de paiement pour l exercice 2006) Volume des crédits de paiement inscrits au budget ayant fait l objet d un ordre de paiement en Mio Nombre de paiements effectués en 2006 Délai moyen de paiement Volume du RAL en Mio Nombre de contrôles expost effectués en 2006 Volume des sommes recouvrées en mio , ,85 Au niveau du tableau des effectifs, la DG BUDGET a poursuivi en 2006, comme depuis 3 ans, sa politique de renforcement des capacités de conception, analyse et synthèse et seuls des postes de catégorie AD avaient été demandés lors de l établissement de l APB. La politique se poursuivra en 2007 avec la fusion dans le tableau des effectifs des ex-catégories B*, C* et D* en AST. Le taux de postes vacants, en moyenne annuelle, a augmenté, d'environ 3%, tout en restant sous la barre des 10%. Cette augmentation est liée à l'obligation de remplir le quota d'engagement EUR10 alors que le nombre de lauréats était dans l'ensemble plus faible que prévu. Par ailleurs, on a constaté une diminution de près de 21% des agents temporaires, de type 2b, sur postes permanents. La durée moyenne de vacance des postes a légèrement augmenté (1,5 mois). Ceci est dû aux vacances d emplois d encadrement (4 directeurs et 5 chefs d unité), dont les procédures sont relativement longues et dont certaines ont dû être recommencées pour des raisons indépendantes de la DG BUDGET, ainsi qu'au blocage du recrutement, pour les EUR15, pendant le dernier semestre Cette situation devrait néanmoins s améliorer avec la mise à disposition de nouvelles listes de réserve de lauréats des concours ainsi que la liste des certifiables. Le quota des recrutements de lauréats de concours EUR10, en 2006 a été atteint pour la catégorie 'AD' (dont deux chefs d'unité) et largement dépassé pour la catégorie 'AST. La mobilité interne a été maintenue à son niveau de 2005 tandis que le solde net (arrivées-départs) est négatif. Ce mouvement s'explique par un renouvellement de 80% des Directeurs et 39% de chefs d'unité, une réorganisation suite à la nomination du DGA comme Comptable du FED mais aussi par une difficulté accrue à recruter (procédures plus longues, candidatures plus faibles, objectifs imposés, blocages). 17

18 La mise en œuvre de la politique d égalité des chances a porté ses fruits, dans le courant de l année En effet, le taux de représentation des femmes en catégorie AD est passé de 21,3 % en 2005 à 23 % en 2006 grâce à un taux de recrutement et de nomination de femmes dans cette catégorie de 38 %. Par ailleurs, même si des efforts restent à faire, l'objectif de nomination de femmes dans l'encadrement intermédiaire a été atteint en 2006 avec un taux de 33,3 %. En termes de mobilité, malgré un solde net généralement négatif, il y a plus de femmes AD qui ont intégré la DG que de collègues féminines qui l'ont quittée. On note par ailleurs qu'en catégorie AD la mobilité interne a été moins suivie par les femmes (30% contre 70% pour les hommes). Comme l'année passée, les ressources externes ont permis de compenser le personnel absent (congés parental, travail à temps partiel, ) mais aussi de palier aux vacances d'emplois, plus nombreuses et plus longues en moyenne. Par ailleurs, toutes les demandes de congés parentaux ou temps partiel ont été acceptées à la DG BUDGET en Dans le domaine de la formation, la Commission avait fixé un objectif quantifié moyen de 7,5 jours de formation par personne (sans tenir compte des formations 'sur le tas', représentant 2,5 jours de formation). Au niveau de la DG Budget, une moyenne de 7,7 jours de formation par fonctionnaire ou agent temporaire a été enregistrée, ce qui représente pas moins de jours de formation au total (41% de formations générales; 38% de formations linguistiques et 11% de formations informatiques). En 2006 la DG BUDGET a soutenu un programme systématique pour offrir à l encadrement et aux fonctionnaires de catégorie AD à plus haut potentiel l opportunité de suivre des formations brèves dans les écoles de management les plus renommées du continent. Neuf fonctionnaires ont été inscrits en 2006, en plus des 2 inscriptions offertes par la DG ADMIN. La politique de gestion des congés appliquée à la DG BUDGET repose sur le principe que les reports d une année à l autre au-delà de 12 jours doivent être l exception et justifiés par une raison de service incontestable. Ainsi, le nombre des jours de congés au-delà de 12 a diminué de 15 % entre 2005 et La gestion financière des crédits administratifs de la direction générale du Budget est restée excellente en 2006 L'exécution en crédits d'engagement s est élevée à 98,54%. Le taux d'exécution des crédits de paiement s'est élevé à 49.5% et le taux d'annulation de crédits de l année précédente à 10,2%. La DG a traité courriers entrants (6% de diminution par rapport à 2005) et courriers sortants (9.66% en moins par rapport à 2005), dont 3297 dossiers Consultations Interservices en attribution (46.71% de la totalité des consultations lancées). La DG BUDGET a lancé 34 consultations interservices en Début janvier 2007, 98 % des courriers enregistrés de 2006 ont été classés par les services de la DG BUDGET. En 2006, le nombre d'huissiers a été réduit, suite au non-remplacement de personnel ayant quitté la DG. Concomitamment, le circuit de distribution du courrier a été rationalisé pour la distribution et de la collecte du courrier, par l'installation de points de chute dans les secrétariats des unités. Support contrôle interne La fonction de support en matière de contrôle interne a contribué tout au long de 2006 à renforcer la mise en œuvre des systèmes de contrôle interne. Un inventaire des différents types de supervision effectués pas les Chefs d'unité a été effectué en Tout comme l année précédente la fonction de support de contrôle interne a également contribué et coordonné l exercice d'analyse de risque. L'exercice a été effectué en parallèle avec la finalisation des objectifs ABB, permettant de la sorte d'adapter si nécessaire les actions projetées pour 2007 et de dégager les risques critiques de la DG. L'unité R2 a fourni son support aux différents services tout au long de l'exercice. 18

19 Audit Interne During 2006 Internal Audit carried out 5 audits, out of which 2 are in their finalisation stage, and delivered 3 Advices at the request of the Director General. At the request of the services, Internal Audit provided advice in the preparation of answers, comments and action plans to Audit Reports received from IAS. Regarding DG Budget Internal Audit recommendations, 96% of the recommendations issued in the year were accepted by the auditees. Furthermore, Internal Audit performed a follow-up audit of all recommendations issued, from which it results that, all in all, 70% of them were implemented at the end of December Information et communication L'année 2006 a été marquée par le lancement du nouveau site web sur le budget de l'ue et sa gestion plus dynamique que par le passé, par la création de nouvelles publications (sur le budget 2006 et 2007, sur la modernisation comptable, sur le fonctionnement du budget), par un travail médiatique intense autour de la dernière phase de négociation du cadre financier , et par la mise sur pied d'une stratégie de communication percutante pour défendre le bilan de gestion de la Commission dans les médias de certains pays au moment de la publication du rapport annuel 2005 de la Cour des comptes européennes. Un travail de soutien a été presté pour diffuser le message de la Commission sur l'initiative européenne de transparence. Des efforts importants de rationalisation des relations avec l'opoce ont été entrepris pour garantir une coopération optimale, avec notamment le démarrage de discussions quant à un SLA (Service Level Agreement). 19

20 Part 2. Management and internal control systems Section 2.1. Inherent nature and characteristics of policy environment and beneficiaries The five main thrusts of the activities of the Budget Directorate-General are the securing of resources needed to implement the European Union's policies; the management of the budgetary regulatory framework; the implementation of the budget in compliance with the rules; the preparation of the annual accounts of the institutions; and the contributing to sound financial management in Commission departments. Beyond its own operational responsibilities, it is a horizontal department operating as a service provider, providing support, advice and tools to all other DGs within the Commission. The DG has around 450 staff members (over and above which a certain number of intra-muros IT consultants are present on the premises) and is structured around five Directorates based in Brussels: Expenditure ; Own resources, evaluation and financial framework ; Budget implementation (responsible for drawing up the Union's financial statements (the Commission's accounts and the consolidated accounts of the European institutions). Central Financial Service, providing support to the different services in the field of financial management, budget implementation and internal control; Resources: horizontal Directorate providing support in the field of information and communication, coordination and management of the resources, financial information systems, IT infrastructure and users support. The Internal Audit Capability reports directly to the Director General, as well as the assistant in charge of general coordination and ABM/SPP planning. The unit responsible for the relations with the Parliament, the Court of Auditors and Member States, reports directly to the Deputy Director General. Expenditure related to DG Budget consists exclusively of administrative expenditure aimed at ensuring the functioning of the DG. To optimise the use of human resources, it has been decided to manage appropriations centrally and to maintain the centralised financial circuit, in line with Model 4 ("Centralised") in the White Paper. DG Budget has a formal role concerning the management of reserves, appropriations which may be unblocked under specific conditions by the Budget Authority. DG Budget s role is to ensure that these conditions are met before making appropriations available. IT environment Most of the activities of DG Budget are system driven and thus rely heavily on the IT systems in place. Since 1999 the Commission's central financial management and accounting system, Sincom2, was used for the execution and recording of all commitments, payments and income relating to the Commission's budget. Since the beginning of 2005 Sincom2 was replaced by ABAC. ABAC comprises principally an "off-the-shelf" central accounting package ("SAP"), the official accounting system used by the Accountant of the Commission and a linked system "ABAC Workflow", developed by the Commission and used by Directorates General to create and approve 20

21 their financial transactions. ABAC also includes a reporting tool ("data warehouse") and a link with the SWIFT package which takes care of the communications with the banks. In order to comply with the disposals of Financial Regulation which entered into force on 1 January 20037, accrual accounting has been put in place on 1 January As from that day, the Commission moved the EU budget from cash-based to accrual-based accounts. Full integration of all accounting systems and their modernisation is expected to cover a longer period. The other main IT system used and managed by DG Budget is Badge-Bud. Badge-Bud is an interinstitutional system used for the budgetary exercise. Section 2.2. Management and control systems This section explains in more detail how the Directorate General s management and control systems have been developed and adapted in response to the underlying conditions and how risks are dealt with The control environment The internal control coordinator function has been appointed to the Head of the Resource Unit since November 2005, which is also responsible for the monitoring of the audit follow-up. A new Head of the resource Unit took over on October 16 th, The Assistant is in charge of the Annual Management Plan-programming and its follow-up and of relations with the Commissioner. The main reference documents are the following ones (non-exhaustive list): results of IAC and IAS audits; results of the follow-up of recommendations from IAC and IAS, self assessment by management on the effectiveness of control objectives of the internal control standards, performed by management in December 2006/January 2007; assessment by the internal control coordinator on the baseline requirements; risk assessment exercise performed end 2006; notes issued by the Director General and ICC (biannual meetings with the Commissioner, ethics and integrity, sensitive posts, etc); information from the human resources team (number of persons with job descriptions and objectives, training issues, reminders for the set-up of hand-over files, etc); annual management plan; inventory of the main procedures of the DG People and values Internal Control framework standard ethics and integrity is held to high level for management and staff with DG Budget. In this context and for some years now DG BUDGET has put in place awareness raising initiatives for all new recruits (49 in 2006) and contract agents (53 in 2006). Three introductory sessions were held in 2006 that address, among others, the issue of ethics and integrity. In addition during the year ethics and integrity, together with issues on reporting improprieties and internal control weaknesses are recalled to the personnel by means of notes of the Director General and/or messages on our intranet. The management style of the Directorate General is rather informal and encourages direct exchanges between officials of different units and directorates, regardless of their category/grade, in order to tap from all available sources of expertise without excessive administrative burden. 7 Articles 133, 134 and 181.2, last sub-paragraph, of Regulation (EC, Euratom) N 1605/2002 of as amended by the Council regulation (EC, Euratom) n 1995/2006 of 13 December

22 Hierarchical contacts are also kept rather informal and senior and middle management is available to discuss and prepare appropriate reactions to situations which arise through an open door policy. Overall it can be considered that competent and dedicated staff represents a major strength in DG Budget s organisation. The Directorate General therefore encourages internal mobility (within the Directorate General) in order to retain key competences and integrate persons that are already accustomed to the structure and culture of the DG. In 2006 the rate of internal mobility remained stable Planning and programming As it was the case in previous years, the AMP 2007 was established by the end of 2006, going through top-down and bottom-up phases involving all levels of the hierarchy. As usual it has been published on the local intranet. The self assessment exercise concluded that the AMP process is clear and understood. Management meetings are one of the most important management tools (for planning, coordination, and supervision) in the Directorate General. They are organized on a weekly basis at the level of Director General, Directorate and usually unit. Conclusions at DG level are formalized and published on the local intranet. Once a month, a part of the management meeting at Director General level takes a different format and becomes a resources management meeting where audit, informatics and resources issues are treated more in depth. During the resources management meetings the follow up of the Annual Management Plan (AMP) objectives is performed by the Assistant s team. The state of achievement and the quality of the implementation of the AMP objectives also undergoes a mid term fundamental review chaired by the Director General and held with the entire management Monitoring and Reporting Risk Management and Control strategies Together with the setting of the ABB objectives for the 2007 AMP, DG Budget performed a global risk assessment for all its activities by the end of November The results of the analysis were presented early December to senior management and the critical risks to be tackled as well as the related action plans were agreed upon. Action plans addressing the highest risks were submitted for approval to the Director General mid-february 2007 and they will be subject of a regular follow-up. When assessing the risk level, managers took into account mitigating controls. In line with SEC (2005)1327, BUDG/CFS/D3 organised a Commission-wide pilot exercise on crosscutting risks in 4Q This exercise identified a number of potential cross-cutting risks, of which the most significant were analysed in a series of peer-reviews. It is foreseen that the results will be presented in the ABM steering group. The action plans issued after the identification of the highest risks related to the 2006 Annual Management Plan were followed-up on a regular basis. Out of the high risks identified, only those related to ABAC EDF (refer in point 2.3.1) arose and resulted in the postponement of the set objectives. In addition to this annual exercise, managers are encouraged to assess potential risks whenever major changes occur. A potential high financial risk relating to the number of indirect SAP licences was identified, which was immediately addressed and resolved in No other specific major non identified risk arose in

23 Performance Management and reporting The results of the self assessment performed by management on the internal control standards as at 31 December 2006 made clear that compliance is achieved for all the baseline requirements, except for two which were considered not applicable. As recalled above management meetings are one of the most important management tools for coordination and supervision. During the resources management meetings the follow up of the Annual Management Plan (AMP) objectives is performed by the Assistant s team. Every quarter a scoreboard with important performance indicators is also discussed during a resources management meeting. It covers performances of human resources, recovery orders, payments, compensations, third party files, training and support provided by the CFS, and controls on own resources. Financial management Due to the reduced size of the budget envelope, the repetitive and limited type of expenditure, DG Budget has adopted a centralized model for the management of its administrative expenditure, whereby only the Director General and, within certain limits, the Head of Unit Budgetary and Human Resources may authorize expenditure. In general, the Heads of Unit at the origin of the expenditure (contract, invoice payment) give their agreement from a technical point of view, the so-called conforme aux faits and the Directors act as Operational Verifying Agents. An official from unit Budgetary and Human Resources checks the financial aspects (availability of appropriations, proposed budget item, conformity with legal commitment and recording of the transaction in the accounting system) and gives the bon à payer. The Director General or the Head of Unit Budgetary and Human Resources sign both budgetary and legal commitments and payments. The management of these appropriations implies a certain number of calls for tenders and a fair number of contracts and payments (368 payments were made in 2006) Internal communication The main achievement of 2006 in terms of internal communication was the design and approval of a plan to recast internal communication practices, based on an extensive survey carried out in the first quarter of the year. The plan focuses mainly on a complete overhaul of the internal website, to transform it into a more operational working tool for the DG; on the launch of internal conferences for staff of DG Budget, on the search of ways to reduce the flow of unnecessary s, and on practical improvements to the internal newsletter. Work on the recast of the website was launched before the end of the year, and suggestions for the improvement of the newsletter were already implemented. The Director General meets at least twice a year directly with the Commissioner to discuss progress on the action plans related to the AAR reserves, results of the IAC audits and any other relevant management matter, including specific issues considered as being sufficiently important to OLAF. One meeting has taken place in July 2006, as well as a second one beginning of

24 Section 2.3. Supervision and monitoring of internal control systems and audit follow-up In order to ensure a follow-up of observations and recommendations integrated with the other faces of internal control, the ICC is since November 2005 the central contact point for auditors, and he also co-ordinates the measures taken by DG Budget services to implement the accepted audit recommendations. The internal audit capability is fully operational since The IAC has concretely finalised 6 audit reports and formulated ad-hoc advice. It is to be mentioned that a new head of unit was appointed on October 1 st Follow-up on 2005 AAR reservations Accrual accounting for the European Development Fund This reservation was first made in the 2004 AAR and was maintained in 2005 due to doubts surrounding the ability of AIDCO's local IT system, OLAS, to produce a first set of fully accrual compliant financial statements. As a result, additional data quality control mechanisms were put in place during the year end closure period. These have been found effective with the Court of Auditors giving the 2005 financial statements a positive Declaration of Assurance (DAS). In addition, it had been foreseen that the EDF accounting processes would migrate to the ABAC Information Technology platform in This timetable could not be kept. Following AIDCO's request for more time to make it's new local system, CRIS, ABAC-compatible and also taking into account AIDCO s difficulties with switching to the new system and the organisational difficulties (notably providing adequate training) linked to the deployment of a new system in all the ACP delegations the implementation was postponed until January 2008AIDCO is now expected to send concrete plans to implement the agreed timetable. Despite this delay in the migration timetable, the reserve for the FED accounting can be lifted, considering the quality control mechanisms already put in place, the consequent positive DAS of the Court and AIDCO's recent confirmation to DG BUDGET on 12 February 2007 that further dispositions had been taken to ensure that the closure of accounts will be reliable, even if still requiring manual interventions. Accrual accounting for the Community Budget This reservation was included in the 2005 AAR at a time when the Commission did not have the first set of provisional accounts using accrual accounting. It also took account of the considerable challenges faced by the Commission services in applying new accounting rules and the difficulties encountered in the validation process of local systems whereby three local systems (AIDCO, EAC and RELEX Delegations' expenditure), were not validated as of Since then progress has been made in applying the new accounting rules for establishing the annual accounts and the financial statements. The first definitive results from the new system were tested and documented when the Commission's accounting officer was able to prepare the provisional accounts on the due date of 31 March Some DG s were subsequently requested to make corrections for the final accounts in order to improve the accounting quality of the financial statements. 24

25 The Court of Auditors has given a reasonably clean positive opinion on the 2005 accounts, while still pointing out the lack of reliable accounts from EAC and the errors found in other DGs' accounts for pre-financing and cost claims. As regards the three local systems mentioned above, they are scheduled to be validated during In AIDCO, all the necessary IT developments to the local IT system (CRIS BUDG) were carried out by the end of 2006 and the system went into production in January A significant amount of work has taken place in EAC in order to make its local system ABAC compliant and the benefits should become apparent over the coming months. With regard to RELEX Delegations' expenditure, a new ABAC module has been developed by DG BUDGET. This will render such expenditure accrual compliant and it is already in production. The global methodology for the year-end transactions (cut-off) was made available in the third quarter of DGs prepared the individual methodology and cut-off bookings for the opening balance sheet. Reviews and coherence checks were performed by the accounting services in order to ensure the quality of data. System security and access rights As mentioned in the 2005 AAR there remained two actions to be completed in 2006 concerning security: - completion of the revision of the SAP accesses in DG Budget (e.g. budgetary rapporteurs) - the recasting of security in ABAC Workflow. Given the fact that these accesses do not comprise very sensitive aspects and materiality of a potential reserve is vastly reduced also because a rigorous monitoring system was in place in 2005 and no major errors were found, the reserve that appeared in the AAR 2004 on system security and access rights was lifted. Revision of accesses in C2 and Directorate A in DG Budget still have to be completed. The exact deadline for further progress will depend on the additional workload generated by further agencies as well as that for the Committees Audits 2006 In 2006, DG Budget received final reports of audits from IAC: Reconciliation, Indicators of the "tableau de bord", Local Accounting Systems. Reconciliation and clearing of accounts. The report was issued at the end of May 2006 and 14 recommendations were issued. These mainly focus on the need to establish or complete procedures (timeliness, continuity of operations, definition of precise steps, supervision arrangements), to set up a more harmonised and consistent approach between the units involved to the activities audited, to analyse the type of controls used to monitor possible issues, to set up an adequate reporting system for DG BUDG management and to improve supervision. Two recommendations have been fully implemented, five have been partially implemented and seven remain open and are expected to be dealt with during 2007 in accordance with the Action Plan. Indicators of the "tableau de bord". The report was issued in July 2006 and four recommendations were issued. Three issues remain open, relating to: a) Feedback to middle management, b) Targets for the indicators and c) Reassessment of the "tableau de bord" indicators, for which actions are underway. 25

26 Validation of local systems. Five recommendations were issued in the June 2006 report, of which two were completed and three remain open. The ones open relate to the documentation of working procedures, the need for better monitoring tools and formalising actions of supervision and finally measures for improving the effectiveness of working methodologies and the documentation of working files. The action plans are in the process of being implemented according to deadlines Audits of previous years On top of the previously mentioned audit recommendations are set out below those that are still ongoing following audits of the IAC and the IAS in 2004 and 2005: Detailed overview: IAC audits Recoveries. The open recommendations aim at reinforcing the control and reporting on recovery orders and depend on the development of the necessary IT tools in the context of ABAC-DUNNING under SAP. They will be addressed by April 2007 (planned for October 2006) with the completion of the second phase of ABAC-DUNNING. EDF. One recommendation remains to be implemented. This relates to the establishment of reporting capabilities which will be implemented with the launch of the ABAC accounting system for the EDF (foreseen in 2008). Project Management. Two recommendations remain open. They concern the establishment of a procedure for project management and the supervision on the application of the procedure. Treasury. The open recommendation relates to a management issue involving the verification of the respect of the tender procedure followed for the opening of a deposit bank account of the JRC and to take appropriate action in relation to its disclosure in the Commissions accounts. IAS audits Joint IAS and IAC-ENTR audit of financial management on the IRC network. The issued recommendation (very important) suggests that DG BUDGET should investigate the feasibility of creating a Legal Entity File (LEF) for each co-contractor of a consortium and not only its coordinator, as well as to introduce guidelines to create a LEF for every co-contractor in the whole Commission. A study has already been completed by an external consultant under the supervision of DG BUDGET. The conclusions of the study were transmitted and have been presented orally to representatives of RTD DGs. DG BUDGET is analysing with these DGs the different alternatives and agreed to enter co-contractors in LEF, provided Research DGs contribute to the cost. RTD DGs have accepted to intervene in cost but their formal agreement is still awaited. Section 2.4. Key indicators supporting reasonable assurance The self assessment exercise performed on the effectiveness of the control objectives show that results were satisfactory but indicated that improvements are needed in certain areas. 26

27 Continuity of service clearly emerged as an issue for some units of DG BUDGET from the risk assessment and the effectiveness self assessment exercise. The development of the accounting system and of the related IT tools has led to a complex system that few key persons know in depth. If these key persons were to leave or change function the attainment of objectives of the Annual Management Plan could be affected. This is especially true for IT developments and administration where, moreover, the DG is highly dependent on external staff. This is also the case, albeit to a lesser degree, for the accounting activities. However, DG BUDGET has taken proactive measures to tackle these risks. Firstly it strives to ensure that all key staff with unique knowledge be made replaceable with a systematic shadow-person being trained. Secondly, longer term Contract Agents opportunities are offered to external consultants. Finally it promotes internal mobility in order to keep key competences in house. As far as supervision is concerned, an inventory was made in 2006, relating to the types of supervision used in DG Budget. The IAC s audit on Internal control standards is at the final stages and the final report is expected by March Seven exceptions reports were issued in They concern financial management (e.g. signature of a specific contract apart from the contractual period covered by the framework contract) and accesses in ABAC (e.g. accountant's validation of transfers before having the update of the delegation). Section 2.5. Conclusions on the management and internal control system As 2006 was again a very challenging year for DG Budget, management and the internal control system proved to be important means for keeping the environment and the challenges under control. Based on all information at my disposal and the above analysis, I can state that DG Budget has an effective, robust and reliable internal control system at its disposal. Processes are under control and sufficiently monitored for taking pro-active and correcting measures in due time. As an internal control system has to be continuously strengthened to keep its effectiveness at an acceptable level, DG Budget will in 2007: Continue to encourage internal mobility (within the Directorate General) in order to retain key competences and integrate persons that are already accustomed to the structure and culture of the DG; Pay special attention to the recommendations given by the IAC in their audits, and particularly in the audit on internal control to be finalised in the next days, An audit in respect of the statement of assurance for the financial year 2006 (DAS 2006) concerning Own resources and Fines and penalties associated with the application of Internal control standards, and particularly the standards regarding supervision, recording exceptions and risk management, is expected by the Court of auditors in

28 Part 3. Reservations Section 3.1. Materiality criteria The activities of DG Budget can lead to three types of reservations: 1. Materiality criteria related to the budget executed by DG Budget itself. As the budget managed directly by DG Budget is rather limited, the main criteria are based on results of ex ante controls, exception reporting, and work done by the IAC as well as feedback during the self-assessment of internal control. Taking into account the low total amount of credits executed, reservations will be made if the risk of error on legality and regularity of the underlying transactions is greater than EUR Besides this management of own credits, DG Budget also covers: horizontal financial activities such as treasury, guarantees such as those related to competition fines and VAT reimbursement. As these transactions are not directly linked to expenses, reservations will be made if fraud during the processing of these transactions in DG Budget has been observed the gathering of own resources isn t neither subject to the same rules. The reservations in this domain will be more of a systemic nature (see further) and the results of the yearly audits of the European Court of Auditors will be taken into account in this context. the NO DG profit centre used for amounts that cannot be assigned to any specific DG. It includes, among others, the employee benefit provision and in particular staff pensions of the European Commission. These accounts are dealt with when closing the yearly accounts and eventual problems reported in that context are of a more technical nature. 2. Materiality criteria related to systemic responsibilities for DG Budget. DG Budget has the responsibility at Commission level for: securing of resources needed to implement the European Union's policies; the management of the budgetary regulatory framework; the implementation of the budget in compliance with the rules; the preparation of the annual accounts of the institutions; and the contributing to sound financial management in Commission departments. Beyond its own operational responsibilities, it is a horizontal department operating as a service provider and thus also bears responsibility for the development and quality of the relevant processes. DG Budget would make a reservation if the review of the relevant processes, including those related to the Accountants responsibilities, identifies important weaknesses in the implementation of the underlying systems and tools or, in case of major changes, if the evidence on the outcome of the change was not yet available. 3. Materiality criteria related to reputation issues. It concerns issues that could cause lasting damage to the Commission s image due, for example, to financial fraud inside DG Budget or serious breaches on provisions of the Treaty, due to DG BUDGET's activities. 28

29 Section Reservations None. Section 3.3. Overall conclusion on the combined impact of the reservations on the declaration As no major weaknesses were identified related to the financial management of appropriations inside DG Budget, no reservations are made in this context in the declaration. 29

30 Part 4. Déclaration de l ordonnateur délégué Je soussigné Luis Romero Requena ; Directeur général de la DG Budget, en ma qualité d'ordonnateur délégué, Déclare par la présente que les informations contenues dans le présent rapport sont sincères et véritables. Affirme avoir une assurance raisonnable que les ressources allouées aux activités décrites dans le présent rapport ont été utilisées aux fins prévues et conformément au principe de bonne gestion financière et que les procédures de contrôle mises en place donnent les garanties nécessaires quant à la légalité et la régularité des opérations sous-jacentes. Cette assurance raisonnable se fonde sur mon propre jugement et sur les éléments d information à ma disposition, comme, par exemple, les résultats de l'auto-évaluation, des contrôles ex post, des travaux d unité d audit interne, des observations du Service d'audit interne ainsi que des enseignements retirés des rapports de la Cour des comptes relatifs aux exercices antérieurs à celui de cette déclaration. Confirme en outre n avoir connaissance d aucun fait non signalé pouvant nuire aux intérêts de l institution. Signé Luis Romero Requena 30