PRESS RELEASE
22 February 2016
PUBLIC ENTITIES AND POLICIES
The provisions contained in the Constitutional Bylaw on Budget Acts (LOLF) of 1 August 2001
included the introduction of general accounts within central government
’s
accounting system.
This reform was designed to address the inability to
faithfully record central government’s assets,
report all of its obligations and describe its financial relations with other public bodies. The reform
also sought to overhaul central government management practices to align them with those of
countries at the forefront of budget reforms.
Central government maintained its budget accounting approach, while adding general accounts,
which are kept separately according to a specific set of accounting standards and are certified by
the Cour des comptes.
This initial choice facilitated the
implementation of central government’s
general accounts and helped these accounts achieve their primary goal, namely to improve the
information available on central government’s assets and obligations
.
But because the general accounts have been underused, they have so far had little impact on
administrative management practices. A new step needs to be taken so that central government
can benefit from its investments in this accounting reform.
A modernised accounting system whose benefits have yet to be properly harnessed
Keeping general accounts has helped to significantly improve knowledge of central government’s assets
and liabilities, unlock synergies between managers and accountants and speed up organisational reform
and the deployment of risk management methods within central government departments. All in all, the
benefits of the general accounts are undeniable, and there is a consensus that the general accounts have
contributed to making centra
l government’s financial position more transparent and modernising central
government’s financial services,
including in international comparisons.
However, the benefits of the general accounts still fall short of the resources devoted by government to
drawing up these accounts. Account-keeping requires substantial resources.
Furthermore, a number of
substantive concerns persist over the reliability and auditability of the financial statements.
In addition,
in comparison with central government’s budget accounts and national accounts, the general
accounts are insufficiently recognised and remain underused.
The picture of central government’s
financial position provided by the general accounts is not systematically used by Government, sufficiently
analysed by Parliament, or fully taken on-
board by central government’s creditors and credit rating
agencies.
Because they have been underused, the general accounts have had little impact on administrative
management practices. Their contribution to budget reliability and fairness, cost control and more efficient
spending has also fallen short of expectations.
An approach that needs to be revitalised in order to improve public management
While at this stage any cost/benefit assessment of central government
’s
general accounts will obviously
point to an imbalance, a new phase is beginning during which central government must seek to take
better advantage of the investments made since 2001. To do that, it must endeavour to lower the costs of
keeping the general accounts while expanding the use made of them.
With this in mind, the Cour des comptes makes two sets of recommendations.
First, the authorities must seek to improve the
process used to draw up central government’s general
accounts so that the efforts demanded of ministerial departments are more proportionate to the benefits of
improving accounting reliability and overhauling management.
At the same time, work on modernising central
government
’s financial services
must be continued by supporting the general introduction of billing units so
that accounting transactions can be processed more swiftly and efficiently, by developing streamlined and
enhanced procedures for integrating data in Chorus and by continuing adjustments to IT systems.
The second set of recommendations seeks to ensure that the general accounts are used more extensively in
the future. This will be achieved by providing ministry managers and accountants with data covering their
respective spheres of responsibility and by developing a bona fide cost accounting system wherever
warranted by reassigning some or all of the resources currently allotted to the cost analysis accounting
method.
As regards external use of the general accounts, the Cour des comptes calls for changes to government
communications on the financial position of central government to more effectively harness the information
made available by the general accounts and complement the insights provided by other sets of accounts.
CONTACTS PRESSE :
Ted Marx
Directeur de la communication
T
01 42 98 55 62
tmarx@ccomptes.fr
Denis Gettliffe
Responsable des relations presse
T
01 42 98 55 77
dgettliffe@ccomptes.fr
@Courdescomptes
ccomptes