REPORT ON THE BUDGETARY AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT OF THE EXCUTIVE AGENCY FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES (EASME)

Transcription

1 ear 2014 EUROPEAN COMMISSION Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized REPORT ON THE BUDGETARY AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT OF THE EXCUTIVE AGENCY FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES (EASME) Financial Year

2 Table of Contents I. LEGISTLATIVE FRAMEWORK OF THE AGENCY Legal background Tasks delegated by the Commission Administrative autonomy... 4 II. FINACIAL MANAGEMENT AND INTERNAL CONTROL SYSTEMS Accounting Financial procedures Internal control system... 5 III. BUDGET MANAGEMENT Budgetary structure and principles Budget execution overview Revenue Staff expenditure Infrastructure and operating expenditure Programme support expenditure ANNEXES - BUDGETARY TABLES ANNEX 1a - COMPARISON OF BUDGET AND ACTUALS ANNEX 1b - REVENUES ANNEX 1c BUDGETARY EXECUTION FUND SOURCE C ANNEX 1d BUDGETARY EXECUTION FUND SOURCE C

3 I. LEGISTLATIVE FRAMEWORK OF THE AGENCY 1. Legal background The Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized 1 is entrusted with the management of parts of the following Union programmes: the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (Horizon 2020) ; the Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and small and medium-sized Enterprises (COSME) ; the Programme for the Environment and Climate Action (LIFE) ; the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF); the legacy of the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme limited to the following parts: "Intelligent Energy Europe Programme (IEE II)", the "Eco-innovation initiative", the "Enterprise Europe Network", "Your Europe Business Portal", the "European IPR Helpdesk" and the "IPorta Project". 2. Tasks delegated by the Commission Executive Agencies are established by the Commission in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 58/ with the purpose of delegating certain tasks relating to the management of Union programmes, including budget implementation. This enables the Commission to focus on its core activities and to dispose of sufficient technical expertise for the management of such programmes with the goal to achieve a more efficient implementation. The Agency's mission statement is as follows: 'We provide high quality support to our beneficiaries, turning EU policy into action. As an executive agency of the European Commission, we manage significant parts of COSME, LIFE, Horizon 2020 and EMFF. We ensure that actions funded by these programmes deliver results and provide the Commission with valuable input for its policy tasks'. EASME operates under full control of the Commission: it reports to the Directors-General of the parent Directorates-General (DGs) and to the Steering Committee, on the performance of the tasks assigned to the Agency. The Agency implements delegated tasks in close cooperation with its seven parent DGs: (1) DG for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, (2) DG for Research Science and Innovation, (3) DG for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, (4) DG for Climate Action, (5) DG for Energy, (6) DG for Environment and (7) DG for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. In addition to the above-mentioned stakeholders, the Agency works closely with other partners such as the Common Support Centre for Horizon 2020, logistic and administrative support services provided by REA and an external contractor for certain tasks under the LIFE programme. 1 Following the establishment of the Intelligent Energy Executive Agency (IEEA) by Commission Decision 2004/20/EC of 23 December 2003 (OJ L 5 of ), the Commission decided to transform the IEEA into the EACI (Commission Decision 2007/372/EC of 31 May 2007 amending Decision 2004/20/EC (OJ L 140 of ). End 2013, the EACI was replaced and succeeded by the EASME (Commission Implementing Decision C(2013/771/EU) of 17 December 2013 establishing the 'Executive Agency for Small and Mediumsized Enterprises' and repealing Decisions 2004/20/EC and 2007/372/EC). The related Act of Delegation (Commission Decision C(2013)9414 delegating powers to the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises with a view to performance of tasks linked to the implementation of Union programmes in the field of energy, environment, climate action, competitiveness and SMEs, research and innovation and ICT, comprising, in particular, implementation of appropriations entered in the general budget of the Union) - hereinafter referred as Act of Delegation - was adopted on 23 December Council Regulation (EC) No 58/2003 of 19 December 2002 laying down the statute for executive agencies to be entrusted with certain tasks in the management of Community programmes (OJ L 11 of ). 3

4 The Agency has its own legal identity and its tasks are specified in the Act of Delegation 3. This means that EASME implements the delegated programmes autonomously with the Director acting as Authorising Officer by Delegation (AOD). EASME, like the other Executive Agencies, implements the EU programme budgets under direct management (Article 58.1a and 62.2 of the general financial regulation). To this end, the Agency mainly awards grants through open calls for proposals while a small, but increasing share of the programmes' budgets is also implemented through procurement contracts. As Authorising Officer by Delegation to implement the general EU budget, the Director of the Agency compiles each year an Annual Activity Report (AAR) and signs a declaration of assurance as regards the Agency s budgetary and financial management. 3. Administrative autonomy The Agency has its own administrative budget for which it receives from the EU an annual subsidy (in 2015: 36,388 million EUR). The administrative budget covers the running costs of the Agency, mainly staff expenditure, office related costs, IT and other services. The EASME's Director is the Authorising Officer (AO) for this budget. He implements it under direct management. The Agency s reporting on its implementation of the administrative budget follows a special reporting procedure resulting in the decision of the European Parliament about the discharge to the Director. Accordingly, the Agency compiles annually its financial statements with the provisional accounts and budget reports and sends them to the Steering Committee in February. By no later than 1 July, the Steering Committee approves the final accounts of the Agency and sends them to the accounting officer of the Commission, to the Court of Auditors, the European Parliament and the Council. The accounts of the Agency are kept in accordance with: Commission Regulation N 1653/2004 of 21 September 2004 on a standard financial regulation for the executive agencies pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) N 58/2003, amended by Commission Regulation (EC) N 651/2008 of 9 July 2008; Regulation (EU, Euratom) N 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25/10/2012 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union and repealing Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) N 1605/2002 (OJ L298 of 26/10/2012) as amended; The 19 accounting rules on accrual accounting adopted by the Accounting Officer of the Commission in December 2004 and last updated in December 2015; The European Commission's 2015 closure consolidation manual. The external auditor of the Agency is the European Court of Auditors who examines the Agency s accounts and financial transactions in the framework of the annual DAS exercise. Since its first year of autonomy, the Agency has received a positive DAS. 3 Commission Decision C(2013)9414 of 23 December

5 II. FINACIAL MANAGEMENT AND INTERNAL CONTROL SYSTEMS 1. Accounting From the first day of its administrative autonomy on 1 January 2006, the Agency had an accounting officer who is appointed by the Steering Committee. To ensure continuity of operations, the Agency has an accounting officer and a deputy accounting officer. The Agency has one bank account which was opened in December 2005 under the same conditions as the Commission. Since the beginning of the administrative autonomy, all payments have been made through the Commission's SWIFT system. The Agency has no petty cash. Already since 1 January 2006, the Agency is using the accounting system SAP, managed and hosted by the Commission. The SAP system is linked to the ABAC system used for budgetary management and processing of financial transactions such as commitments and payments. From this system, reports on financial management and budget execution are assembled with the help of the database software BO (Business Objects). SAP and ABAC alike are managed and hosted by the Commission. In collaboration with DIGIT and DG BUDG, the Agency also uses the ABAC assets system to manage and account for fixed assets. In 2016, the Agency will continue to use the same budgetary management and accounting systems and procedures as in the previous years. 2. Financial procedures All financial operations pertaining to the administrative budget have been based on a decentralised financial circuit with an additional and full central "counterweight" compliant with the Commission s Model 1 and 3. Financial initiation, verification and authorisation of a financial transaction were performed by at least three different persons to observe an adequate level of segregation of duties. The financial verification function was attached to Unit Finance (Department Finance and Administration) and encompasses a central financial ex-ante control of all financial transactions (100% control) and an ex-ante legal control of all legal commitments, i.e. Service Level Agreements and contracts with third parties. 3. Internal control system With a view to establishing an effective and efficient internal control system, the Agency implemented the Commission's internal control standards. For a comprehensive description of the Agency's internal control system please refer to the 2015 annual activity report, part 2 with annex 4. The Agency s internal control system relevant for the implementation of the administrative budget encompasses the monitoring of key control indicators as shown in the table below: 5

6 Key control indicators for the implementation of the administrative budget 2015 Input: Resources devoted to ex-ante and ex-post controls to ensure legality and regularity of underlying transactions: Staff devoted to ex-ante/ex-post control: 2,16 full-time post equivalences on 31st December 2015 (2.5 FTE in 2014) Financial resources: Output: Level and nature of controls carried out None in addition to staff costs. Coverage of 1st level ex-ante control: 100 % (5% error rate; 2% in 2014) Coverage of 2nd level ex-ante control: Coverage of ACPC Not applicable for the financial circuit in place No ACPC in place since 1/7/2014. Replaced by other more specific controls (procurement managed by specialised Cell; Legal Team continuously involved in the process). Coverage of audit/ex-post control Positive DAS of Court of Auditors of the Agency's of the administrative budget: 2014 accounts and implementation of its administrative budget (positive DAS received since the Agency's autonomy in 2006). Results of controls: What the controls allowed to discover/remedy All financial transactions, namely commitments, payments and recovery orders are subject to a 100% central ex-ante control. The negative opinions amounted to 5 % of all transactions (2% in 2014). Ex-post transactional checks of the implementation of the administrative budget are carried out annually by the Court of Auditors in the framework of the DAS. No error was found in payment transactions relative to the 2014 administrative budget, and a positive DAS was received. Seven cases of non-compliance events with regard to the implementation of the administrative budget were observed so far (4 in 2014). One exception report was approved by the authorising officer (3 in 2014). Those cases do not represent a material weakness. No application of contractual penalties necessary since the Agency's autonomy. No complaints received from unsuccessful economic providers. No cases received by the Ombudsman relating to the procurement procedures. No proceedings initiated by contractors or economic providers against the Agency before the Court since the Agency's autonomy. 6

7 III. BUDGET MANAGEMENT 1. Budgetary structure and principles The budgetary accounts are kept in accordance with the Financial Regulation and its rules of application. The budget is the instrument which, for each financial year, forecasts and authorises the revenue and expenditure considered necessary for the implementation of the Agency's Decision. Every year, the Agency estimates its revenue and expenditure for the year and draws up a draft budget which it sends to the Commission. The Commission then sends it to the budgetary authority. On the basis of this draft budget, the Council draws its position which is then the subject of negotiations between the two arms of the budgetary authority. The President of the Parliament declares that the joint draft has been finally adopted, thus making the budget enforceable. The task of executing the budget is the responsibility of the Agency. The budget structure for the Agency consists of administrative appropriations and has only nondifferentiated appropriations, meaning that the commitment and the payment appropriations are of the same amount. Non-differentiated appropriations are used to finance operations of an annual nature (which comply with the principle of annuality). Origin of Appropriations The main source of appropriations is the Agency's budget for the current year. However, there are other types of appropriations resulting from the provisions of the Financial Regulation. They come from previous financial years or outside sources: Initial budget appropriations adopted for the current year can be supplemented with transfers between lines and by amending budgets. Appropriations carried over from previous year or made available again also supplement the current budget. Composition of Appropriations Available Initial budget = appropriations voted in year N-1; Final budget appropriations = initial budget appropriations adopted + amending budget appropriations + transfers + additional appropriations; Additional appropriations = assigned revenue (see above) + appropriations carried over from the previous financial year. Calculation of the Budget Result The revenue entered in the accounts is the amount actually received during the course of the year. For the purposes of calculating the budget result for the year, expenditure comprises payments made against the year's appropriations plus any of the appropriations for that year that are carried over to the following year. Payments made against the year's appropriations means payments that are made by the accounting officer by 31 December of the financial year. The following are added to or deducted from the resulting figure: 7

8 the net balance of cancellations of payment appropriations carried over from previous years and any payments which, because of fluctuations in the euro rate, exceed non-differentiated appropriations carried over from the previous year; and the balance of exchange-rate gains and losses recorded during the year. Payment appropriations carried over include: automatic carryovers and carryovers by decision. The cancellation of unused payment appropriations carried over from the previous year shows the cancellations on appropriations carried over automatically and by decision. Budgetary principles The budget of the Agency has been established in compliance with the principles of unity, budget accuracy, annuality, equilibrium, unit of account, universality, specification, sound financial management and transparency as set out in the Financial Regulation. 2. Budget execution overview The four tables in annexes 1a-d depict the details of the Agency's budget and its evolution and implementation in Details are given on receipts, commitments, payments and carry forward per budget title and chapter. The first 2015 operating budget (hereafter referred to as administrative budget) of the Agency was adopted by the Steering Committee on 5th January 2015 for an amount of MEUR During the year, the Agency made 5 budget transfers. Additionally one budget amendment was adopted by the Steering Committee, which reduced the budget to the amount of MEUR The Agency s administrative budget appropriations for 2015 were committed to 99% by the end of In 2015, the difference between commitments and payments amounts to MEUR (last column of annex 1c). The Agency carried forward this amount to 2016 as it corresponds to legal commitments contracted in 2015 but not yet paid on 31 December 2015 (mainly payments related to rent, experts and external audits). The carry forward (see annex 1d) amounted to MEUR The difference between commitments carried forward from 2014 to 2015 and payments on those commitments totals MEUR 0,3 and will be reimbursed to the Commission in Revenue To cover its administrative costs, the Agency receives a subsidy from the EU budget. This subsidy was paid in two instalments by the parent DGs of the Agency. To this end, the Agency issued the following budgetary recovery orders. Amount (EUR) Reason status on 31/12/ Instalment subsidy 2015 paid Instalment subsidy 2015 paid

9 4. Staff expenditure The breakdown of the administrative budget by type of expenditure (see budget tables in the annex) shows that total staff expenditure accounts for about 62% of total available commitments, i.e. MEUR Throughout the year 2015, salaries were calculated by PMO with which the Agency has a Service Level Agreement (SLA) since On this basis, the Agency processes and authorises the related payments to staff. Training costs are mostly covered by the SLA with DG HR. Human resources on 31 December 2015 Human resources on 31 December PLAN 2015 ACTUAL 2014 ACTUAL In(de)crease 2014 to 2015 Seconded Officials % Temporary Agents % Contract Agents % Total % The Agency continued growing in 2015 and counted 373 staff on 31 December This amounts to 95% of 394 staff foreseen by the establishment plan for 2015 and represents a growth of 32% reached within 12 months comparing to 283 by the end of In total in 2015 EASME recruited 4 Seconded Officials, 25 temporary agents and 103 contract agents, 115 of them were new comers 4 and 17 were already working in EASME before. Two posts of Heads of Units and 2 posts for Heads of Sector were conducted this year jointly with the respective parent DGs (GROW, RTD and ENV/CLIMA). Staff turnover is considered not excessive: 25 colleagues left the Agency during the last year which is 7,62%. Almost all of staff left the Agency to join another EU-institution. The EASME adopted a new screening methodology developed with the lead of DG for Research Science and Innovation (DG RTD) to help to allocate staff to programmes. The following table provides a snapshot of the actual number of staff/fte in place at the end of Programmes Operational Horizontal Total Innovation in SME's 11,8 SME Instrument 68,6 Fast track to innovation 7,8 Energy Secure, clean and efficient energy 25,7 H2020 Energy CIP Legacy 25,7 LEIT (SILC II) 0,6 42,1 240,2 Eco new 13,3 Climate Action 22,2 Raw Materials 6,9 CIP Eco-I Legacy 15,5 COSME 72 14,8 86,8 LIFE 16,7 3,4 20,1 EMFF 21,1 4,8 25,9 TOTAL 307,9 65, EASME staff were recruited either through internal mobility or as the result of participation in the selection procedure for a specific post. As they were already working in EASME they are not considered as absolute newcomers. 9

10 5. Infrastructure and operating expenditure In 2015, MEUR (19% of the total budget) were committed for costs related to office rent and furniture, equipment, supplies and services, including IT. Services were mainly received from Immobilière du Royal Rogier SCS rent of the building, from OIB for management fees relating to the building, from DG DIGIT for IT services, from DG BUDG for ABAC and from PMO for calculating salaries and mission reimbursements to staff. To this end, the Agency signed Service Level Agreements with the Commission services. Except for the service relating to rent of the building from Immobilière du Royal Rogier SCS, supplies and services received from third parties were mainly purchased on the basis of framework contracts that the Commission concluded with external service providers and to which the Agency had joined. 6. Programme support expenditure About 13% (MEUR 4.799) of the administrative budget was consumed for external experts who provide technical assistance during evaluation exercises relative to the diverse EU programmes the Agency manages. Throughout the year 2015, staff mission reimbursements were calculated by PMO with which the Agency has signed the SLA. For ex-post controls at beneficiaries sites, the Agency committed MEUR for an external audit firm. The Agency participates in a framework contract concluded between the Commission and an external audit company. 10

11 ANNEXES - BUDGETARY TABLES

12 ANNEX 1a - COMPARISON OF BUDGET AND ACTUALS for appropriations of the current budget fund source C1 Budget line Description Original budget Budget amendment Transfers (sender)/ receiver Final budget 1111 Temporary Agents - Remunerations ( ) Temporary Agents - Allowances (92.256) Contract Agents - Remuneration ( ) ( ) Contract Agents - Allowances ( ) Support services & trainees (44.000) Recruitment expenses (11.535) Individual entitlements of staff (6.940) Training (98.533) Medical Service (7.948) Mobility & social expenses for the Staff (165) Representation expenses, Events and Internal meetings Title 1 Staff expenditure ( ) ( ) Rental of building and associated expenses ( ) ICT Purchases, Hard - and Softwares & Maintenances ICT Services ( ) ( ) Furniture, Technical Installations and associated expenses ( ) Office Supplies, documentation & correspondence (20.000) (20.000) Charges, insurances & other operating expenses (17.500) (15.000) Title 2 Infrastructure and operating expenditure ( ) Experts and external meetings (40.801) Missions: Programme Management (72.749) External Audits (17.527) Communication, Information and Linguistic services ( ) Seminars & specific Training (54.000) (30.000) Programme related IT expenses (60.000) (30.000) Title 3 Programme support expenditure ( ) (51.109) Total budget ( ) ANNEX 1b - REVENUES Description Budget Receipts at /12/15 Commission Subsidy Other revenue Total revenue

13 Report on the budgetary and financial management of the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized ANNEX 1c BUDGETARY EXECUTION FUND SOURCE C1 Budget line Description Appropriation (1) Committed (2) % Committed (2/1) Paid (3) % Paid (3/1) Balance Commitment (1-2) Balance Payment (2-3) Title: 1 Staff expenditure % % Chapter 11 Remunerations, allowances & charges % % Temporary Agents - Remunerations % % Temporary Agents - Allowances % % Contract Agents - Remuneration % % Contract Agents - Allowances % % Support services & trainees % % Chapter 12 Professional development & social expenditure % % Recruitment expenses % % Individual entitlements of staff % % Training % % Medical Service % % Mobility & social expenses for the Staff % % Representation expenses, Events and Internal meetings % % Title: 2 Infrastructure and operating expenses % % Chapter 21 Building expenditure % % Rental of building and associated expenses % % Chapter 22 ICT expenses % % ICT Purchases, Hard - and Softwares & Maintenances % % ICT Services % % Chapter 23 Movable property and current operating expenditure % % Furniture, Technical Installations and associated expenses % % Office Supplies, documentation & correspondence % % Charges, insurances & other operating expenses % % Title: 3 Programme support expenditure % % Chapter 31 Programme management expenditure % % Experts and external meetings % % Missions: Programme Management % % External Audits % % Communication, Information and Linguistic services % % Seminars & specific Training % Programme related IT expenses % % Total % %

14 Report on the budgetary and financial management of the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized ANNEX 1d BUDGETARY EXECUTION FUND SOURCE C8 Budget line Description Commitments carried forward (1) Payments on commitments carried forward (2) % Paid (2/1) Cancelled Commitment (1-2) Title: 1 Staff expenditure % Chapter 11 Remunerations, allowances & charges % Support services & trainees % Chapter 12 Professional development & social expenditure % Recruitment expenses % Individual entitlements of staff % Training % Medical Service % Mobility & social expenses for the Staff % Representation expenses, Events and Internal meetings % Title: 2 Infrastructure and operating expenses % Chapter 21 Building expenditure % Rental of building and associated expenses % Chapter 22 ICT expenses % ICT Purchases, Hard - and Softwares & Maintenances % ICT Services % Chapter 23 Movable property and current operating expenditure % Furniture, Technical Installations and associated expenses % Office Supplies, documentation & correspondence % Charges, insurances & other operating expenses % Title: 3 Programme support expenditure % Chapter 31 Programme management expenditure % Experts and external meetings % Missions: Programme Management % External Audits % Communication, Information and Linguistic services % Total %