PURPOSE: to present the report by the Court of Auditors on the 2008 annual accounts of the Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT).
CONTENT: in the Court’s opinion, the Centre’s Annual Accounts present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as of 31 December 2008 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended. The transactions underlying the annual accounts of the Centre are, in all material respects, legal and regular.
The Court of Auditor’s report includes a detailed section on the Agency’s expenditure and an analysis of the expenditure, as well as the Agency’s replies.
· The Court’s analysis of the accounts: in its report, the Court makes a series of comments notably as regards the budgetary and financial management. For the year 2008, the budgetary surplus was EUR 11.5 million, increasing the accumulated budgetary surplus to EUR 26.7 million, of which EUR 15.3 million is necessary to cover the still ongoing dispute with the Commission regarding the employer’s pension contributions for staff. The Centre should take the necessary measures to address the continuous increase in its surplus. The Court underlines the recurrent staffing issues. The 2008 establishment plan provided for 233 posts, 33 more than the 2007 establishment plan. However, in December 2008 only 189 posts (81%) had been filled with officials and temporary staff. This situation indicates weaknesses in the planning of recruitment procedures.
· The Centre’s replies: the Centre states that it is making every effort to improve the lack of precision in the forecasts for translation requests received from its clients. In mid-2009, the Centre therefore asked its clients to revise their forecasts for 2009, in order to precise the current budget. More importantly, the Centre is currently carrying out a cost analysis in order to improve its price structure. In 2009, after the adoption of the amending budget, the Centre will reimburse the budget surplus of EUR 11.45 million to its clients. Over the years and in 2008 in particular, the lack of office space did not permit to recruit in accordance with the establishment plan. In 2009, the Centre rented supplementary premises to accommodate additional staff. In addition, a new recruitment system has been introduced to make the recruitment procedure more efficient.