Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilDangos y teitl llawn

TITLE XIII ANNUAL ACCOUNTS AND OTHER FINANCIAL REPORTING

CHAPTER 1 Annual accounts

Section 1 Accounting framework

Article 241 Structure of the accounts

The annual accounts of the Union shall be prepared for each financial year which shall run from 1 January to 31 December. Those accounts shall comprise the following:

(a)

the consolidated financial statements, which present, in accordance with the accounting rules referred to in Article 80, the consolidation of the financial information contained in the financial statements of Union institutions, of Union bodies referred to in Article 70 and of other bodies meeting the accounting consolidation criteria;

(b)

the aggregated budget implementation reports which present the information contained in the budget implementation reports of Union institutions.

Article 242 Supporting documents

Each entry in the accounts shall be based on appropriate supporting documents in accordance with Article 75.

Article 243 Financial statements

1. The financial statements shall be presented in millions of euro and in accordance with the accounting rules referred to in Article 80 and shall be comprised of:

(a) the balance sheet which presents all assets and liabilities and the financial situation prevailing on 31 December of the preceding financial year;

(b) the statement of financial performance, which presents the economic result for the preceding financial year;

(c) the cash-flow statement showing amounts collected and disbursed during the financial year and the final treasury position;

(d) the statement of changes in net assets presenting an overview of the movements during the financial year in reserves and accumulated results.

2. The notes to the financial statements shall supplement and comment on the information presented in the statements referred to in paragraph 1 and shall supply all the additional information prescribed by the accounting rules referred to in Article 80 and the internationally accepted accounting practice where such information is relevant to the activities of the Union. The notes shall contain at least the following information:

(a) accounting principles, rules and methods;

(b) explanatory notes supplying additional information not contained in the body of the financial statements, which is necessary for a fair presentation of the accounts.

3. The accounting officer shall, after the close of the financial year and up to the date of transmission of the general accounts, make any adjustments which, without involving disbursement or collection in respect of that year, are necessary for a true and fair view of those accounts.

Section 2 Budget implementation reports

Article 244 Budget implementation reports

1. The budget implementation reports shall be presented in millions of euro and shall be comparable year by year. They shall consist of:

(a) reports which aggregate all budgetary operations for the financial year in terms of revenue and expenditure;

(b) the budget result, which is calculated on the basis of the annual budgetary balance referred to in Decision 2014/335/EU, Euratom;

(c) explanatory notes, which shall supplement and comment on the information given in the reports.

2. The structure of the budget implementation reports shall be the same as that of the budget itself.

3. The budget implementation reports shall contain:

(a) information on revenue, in particular changes in the revenue estimates, the revenue outturn and entitlements established;

(b) information showing changes in the total commitment and payment appropriations available;

(c) information showing the use made of the total commitment and payment appropriations available;

(d) information showing commitments outstanding, those carried over from the preceding financial year and those made during the financial year.

4. As regards information on revenue, a statement shall be attached to the budget implementation report showing, for each Member State, the breakdown of amounts of own resources still to be recovered at the end of the financial year and covered by a recovery order.

Section 3 Annual accounts timetable

Article 245 Provisional accounts

1. The accounting officers of the Union institutions other than the Commission and the bodies referred to in Article 241 shall, by 1 March of the following financial year, send their provisional accounts to the accounting officer of the Commission and to the Court of Auditors.

2. The accounting officers of the Union institutions other than the Commission and the bodies referred to in Article 241 shall, by 1 March of the following financial year, send the required accounting information for consolidation purposes to the accounting officer of the Commission, in the manner and format laid down by the latter.

3. The accounting officer of the Commission shall consolidate the provisional accounts referred to in paragraph 2 with the provisional accounts of the Commission and shall, by 31 March of the following financial year, send the provisional accounts of the Commission and the consolidated provisional accounts of the Union to the Court of Auditors by electronic means.

Article 246 Approval of the final consolidated accounts

1. The Court of Auditors shall, by 1 June, make its observations on the provisional accounts of the Union institutions other than the Commission, and of each of the bodies referred to in Article 241, and, by 15 June, make its observations on the provisional accounts of the Commission and the consolidated provisional accounts of the Union.

2. The accounting officers of the Union institutions other than the Commission and of the bodies referred to in Article 241 shall, by 15 June, send the required accounting information to the accounting officer of the Commission, in the manner and format laid down by the latter, with a view to drawing up the final consolidated accounts.

The Union institutions other than the Commission, and each of the bodies referred to in Article 241, shall, by 1 July, send their final accounts to the European Parliament, to the Council, to the Court of Auditors and to the accounting officer of the Commission.

3. The accounting officer of each Union institution and of each body referred to in Article 241 shall send to the Court of Auditors, with a copy to the accounting officer of the Commission, at the same date as the transmission of his or her final accounts, a representation letter covering those final accounts.

The final accounts shall be accompanied by a note drawn up by the accounting officer, in which the latter declares that the final accounts were prepared in accordance with this Title and with the applicable accounting principles, rules and methods set out in the notes to the financial statements.

4. The accounting officer of the Commission shall draw up the final consolidated accounts on the basis of the information presented pursuant to paragraph 2 of this Article by the Union institutions other than the Commission, and by the bodies referred to in Article 241.

The final consolidated accounts shall be accompanied by a note drawn up by the accounting officer of the Commission, in which the latter declares that the final consolidated accounts were prepared in accordance with this Title and with the applicable accounting principles, rules and methods set out in the notes to the financial statements.

5. After approving the final consolidated accounts and its own final accounts, the Commission shall, by 31 July, send them by electronic means to the European Parliament, to the Council and to the Court of Auditors.

By the same date, the accounting officer of the Commission shall transmit a representation letter covering the final consolidated accounts to the Court of Auditors.

6. The final consolidated accounts shall be published by 15 November in the Official Journal of the European Union together with the statement of assurance given by the Court of Auditors in accordance with Article 287 TFEU and Article 106a of the Euratom Treaty.

CHAPTER 2 Integrated financial and accountability reporting

Article 247 Integrated financial and accountability reporting

1. By 31 July of the following financial year the Commission shall communicate to the European Parliament and to the Council an integrated set of financial and accountability reports which includes:

(a) the final consolidated accounts as referred to in Article 246;

(b) the annual management and performance report providing for a clear and concise summary of the internal control and financial management achievements referred to in the annual activity reports of each authorising officer by delegation and including information on key governance arrangements in the Commission as well as:

(i)

an estimation of the level of error in Union expenditure based on a consistent methodology and an estimate of future corrections;

(ii)

information on the preventive and corrective actions covering the budget, which shall present the financial impact of the actions taken to protect the budget from expenditure in breach of law;

(iii)

information on the implementation of the Commission’s anti-fraud strategy;

(c) a long-term forecast of future inflows and outflows covering the next five years, based on the applicable multiannual financial frameworks and Decision 2014/335/EU, Euratom;

(d) the annual internal audit report as referred to in Article 118(4);

(e) the evaluation on the Union’s finances based on the results achieved, as referred to in Article 318 TFEU, assessing in particular the progress towards the achievement of policy objectives taking into account the performance indicators referred to in Article 33 of this Regulation;

(f) the report on the follow-up to the discharge as referred to in Article 261(3).

2. The integrated financial and accountability reporting referred to in paragraph 1 shall present each report in a separate and clearly identifiable manner. Each individual report shall be made available to the European Parliament, to the Council and to the Court of Auditors by 30 June, with the exception of the final consolidated accounts.

CHAPTER 3 Budgetary and other financial reporting

Article 248 Monthly reporting on budget implementation

In addition to the annual statements and reports provided for in Articles 243 and 244, the accounting officer of the Commission shall send once a month to the European Parliament and to the Council figures, aggregated at chapter level at least, as well as separately broken down by chapter, article and item, on budget implementation, both for revenue and for expenditure covering all available appropriations. Those figures shall also provide details of the use of appropriations carried over.

The figures shall be made available within 10 working days of the end of each month via the Commission’s website.

Article 249 Annual report on budgetary and financial management

1. Each Union institution and each body referred to in Article 241 shall prepare a report on budgetary and financial management for the financial year.

They shall make the report available to the European Parliament, to the Council and to the Court of Auditors, by 31 March of the following financial year.

2. The report referred to in paragraph 1 shall provide summary information on the transfers of appropriations among the various budgetary items.

Article 250 Annual report on financial instruments, budgetary guarantees and financial assistance

The Commission shall report annually to the European Parliament and to the Council on financial instruments, budgetary guarantees, financial assistance and contingent liabilities in accordance with Article 41(4) and (5) and with points (d) and (e) of Article 52(1). That information shall be made available to the Court of Auditors at the same time.

Article 251 Status report on accounting issues

By 15 September of each financial year, the accounting officer of the Commission shall send to the European Parliament and to the Council a report containing information on current risks noted, general trends observed, new accounting issues encountered and progress on accounting matters, including where identified by the Court of Auditors, as well as information on recoveries.

Article 252 Reporting on Union trust funds for external actions

In accordance with Article 41(6), the Commission shall report annually to the European Parliament and to the Council on the activities supported by Union trust funds referred to in Article 234, on their implementation and performance, as well as on their accounts.

The Board of the Union trust fund concerned shall approve the annual report of the Union trust fund drawn up by the authorising officer. It shall also approve the final accounts drawn up by the accounting officer. The final accounts shall be presented by the Board to the European Parliament and Council in the context of the discharge procedure for the Commission.

Article 253 Publication of information on recipients

The Commission shall publish information on recipients in accordance with Article 38.