PURPOSE: presentation of the EU Court of Auditors report on the annual accounts of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) for the financial year 2012, together with the Institutes replies.
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 Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).
In the Courts opinion, the Institutes annual accounts present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as at 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 Regulation and the accounting rules adopted by the Commissions accounting officer.
However, it considers that the transactions underlying the annual accounts of the Institute for the financial year ended 31 December 2012 are partly legal and regular in all material respects. It delivers a qualified opinion in this respect as regards the following operations: grants, final payments and pre-financings (transactions) for an amount of EUR 11.3 million and EUR 48.6 million relating respectively to the activities in 2010 and 2011. The Court notes that about 80% of grant expenditure claimed by KICs is covered by certificates issued by independent audit firms contracted by the KICs and their partners. However, it notes that the quality of the audit certificates is inadequate in many instances.
The Court could not obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence on the legality and regularity of the audited grant transactions related to 2010 activities.
The report confirms that the Institutes 2012 budget amounted to EUR 95.30 million in commitment appropriations and EUR 77.09 million in payments.
The report also makes a series of observations on the budgetary and financial management of the Institute, accompanied by the latters response. The main observations may be summarised as follows:
Courts comments:
Institutes replies:
Lastly, the Court of Auditors report contains a summary of the Institutes activities in 2012. This is focused on the following: