PURPOSE: presentation of the EU Court of
Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the European Centre
for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP) for the
financial year 2012, together with the Centre’s
reply.
CONTENT: in accordance with the tasks conferred on the
Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European
Union, the Court presents to the European Parliament and to the
Council, in the context of the discharge procedure, a Statement of
Assurance as to the reliability of the annual accounts of each
institution, body or agency of the EU, and the legality and
regularity of the transactions underlying them, on the basis of an
independent external audit.
This audit concerned, amongst others, the annual
accounts of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational
Training (CEDEFOP).
In the Court’s opinion, the Centre’s
Annual Accounts fairly present, in all material respects, its
financial position as of 31 December 2012 and the results of
its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in
accordance with the provisions of its financial rules and the
accounting rules adopted by the Commission’s accounting
officer.
The Court also considers that the transactions
underlying the annual accounts of the Centre for the financial
year ended 31 December 2012 are, in all material respects, legal
and regular.
The report confirms that the resources made available
for the Agency in 2012 amounted to EUR 19.22 million.
The report also makes a series of observations on the
budgetary and financial management of the Centre, accompanied by
the latter’s response. The main observations may be summarised
as follows:
The Court’s comments:
- internal controls: the Centre awards grants on an
annual basis to a network of national partners. Grant expenditure
in 2012 amounted to nearly EUR 700 000, or 4 % of total operating
expenditure. The Centre’s ex ante verifications of grants
consist of a comprehensive desk-analysis of cost claims submitted
by grant beneficiaries, as well as a review of certificates
obtained from external auditors which were contracted by the
beneficiaries or of certificates from independent public officers.
However, the Centre does not usually verify the staff costs claimed
by beneficiaries on the basis of original supporting documentation.
Related ex post verifications were last carried out in 2009. As a
result, ex ante verifications provide only limited
assurance;
- budgetary management: budget implementation rates were
high at 100 %. While carry-overs of committed appropriations were
also high, this mainly resulted from reasons beyond the
Centre’s control, such as delays in the repair works carried
out by the Greek authorities on the Centre’s
premises;
- recruitment: the Court stresses the issues as regards
the recruitment procedure of the Centre’s
Director.
The Centre’s replies:
- internal controls: to address the Court’s
concerns, as of this year, Cedefop will introduce, in addition to
the audit certificates, detailed checks of personnel costs and time
sheets for randomly selected cases of the grant
payments;
- recruitment: the Centre points out that even though it
provides assistance to the pre-selection committee it has no
control over the procedure and the decisions of the pre-selection
committee or Commission.
Lastly, the Court of Auditors’ report contains a
summary of the Centre’s activities in 2012. This is
focused on the following:
- policy analysis and reporting: Cedefop’s report
Trends in VET policy in Europe 2010-12: was published. It provided
up-to-date information on VET systems, along with news on
initiatives and policy developments in the Member
States;
- common European tools, qualifications and learning
outcomes: Cedefop coordinated the EQF (European Qualifications
Framework) Advisory Group jointly with the European Commission and
(co) drafted 23 background papers that informed policy
debates;
- Europass website: has been increasingly used by
Europe’s young people. Since its launch, almost 60 million
visits have been recorded (2012: 15 million; and users have
generated 25 million CVs online (2012: 8.3 million);
- adult learning and transitions: the study Adult
learning in the workplace: skill development to promote innovation
in enterprises was issued for a workshop on this issue. To
contribute to the European year of active ageing, Cedefop organised
a workshop on sustaining employability through learning within DG
EAC’s conference ‘One Step Up in later
life’;
- skills analysis: Cedefop presented its latest EU skill
demand and supply forecast for 2010-2020 in the briefing note
Europe’s skill challenge;
- organisational impact: key performance indicators show
high organisational impact: citations in 169 EU and 68
international policy documents, some drawing substantially on
Cedefop’s work; contributions to 26 EU policy documents, 158
Presidency and other EU- level events; etc.