Annual Accounts (IPARD III)

Annual Accounts (IPARD III)

PURPOSE

This document describes the actions related to transmission of the Annual Accounts for IPARD (Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA III) in Rural Development) procedure in SFC2021.

Member States have the obligation to submit their Annual Accounts to EC before the 15th of February (included) of each year YYYY for the financial year YYY+1 (Annual Audit Activity Report and Audit Opinion can be submitted until the 15^th of March YYY+1).

REGULATIONS

The legal base establishing the transmission of the Annual Accounts and Management Declarations is Article 61 of the Financial Framework Partnership Agreement and in particular paragraph 2(a), and Articles 47 and 48(2) of the Sectoral Agreement.

ROLES

Roles involved in the Annual Accounts IPARD are:

FUNDS

Workflow

This section shows the lifecycle to create and manage the Annual Accounts.

Click here to see the Annual Accounts workflow diagram in high resolution.

Create the Annual Accounts

1. To create the Annual Accounts, go to the Execution menu and select the Annual Accounts option:

2. In the search screen click on the Create button to create a new Annual Accounts:

You are redirected to the Annual Accounts Creation Wizard:

3. Enter or select the following information:

(1) Select the Paying Agency.

The Paying Agency list contains all paying agencies which were valid during the Financial year (i.e. for the full period or only part of it) of the country Node of the registered User and for which a required IPARD Annual Accounts is missing for at least one opened Encoding period. When there is already an Annual Accounts version for a Paying Agency, then this Paying Agency will only appear in the list when the User's Node is the owner node of that Annual Accounts version.

(2) Select the Financial period.

The list displays only the Financial periods for which the Encoding period is currently opened and for which a required IPARD Annual Accounts version is missing for the selected Paying Agency.

The Financial periods and Encoding periods are managed in the SFC database:

By default: For Financial year YYYY: Financial period=01/01/YYYY to 31/12/YYYY; Encoding period=01/01 /YYYY+1 to 31/10/YYYY.

Example: For Financial year 2024: Financial period=01/01/2024 to 31/12/2024; Encoding period=01/01/2025 to 31/10/2025.

(3) The version and the Financial period are automatically prefilled by the system at the creation of a new Annual Accounts, depending on the opened Declaration period(s) and depending on the Annual Accounts already created.

(4) Enter the National reference if applicable.

(5) Enter the Comments if necessary.

(6) Click on Create.

The status of the Annual Accounts is Open.

Record/Edit the Annual Accounts

General

This section includes the header data to identify the main characteristics of the Annual Accounts.

Version Information

1. Click on the Edit button to enter or modify the National reference and/or the Comments:

The Edit details pop-up window appears:

2. Enter or modify the following information if needed:

(1) Enter or modify the National reference.

(2) Enter or modify the Comments.

(3) Click on Save to save the information.

Officials in Charge

• Click on the Add button to add a new official in charge.

• Clicking on the Edit icon of a row will allow you to modify the information of this official.

• Clicking on the Delete icon of a row will allow you to delete the official in charge selected.

1. Click on the Add button to add a new Official in Charge:

The Edit details pop-up window appears:

2. Enter or select the following information:

(1) Enter the Name.

(2) Enter the Email.

The format of the Email address will be validated by the system and should be unique.

(3) Enter the Phone number.

(4) Select the Language.

(5) Enter the Valid from and Valid until dates.

The Valid until date should be greater than the Valid from date.

(6) Click on Save to save the information.

History

This section shows all the actions that have been taken on the Annual Accounts since it was created, for example:

Documents

The following documents will be foreseen:

(1) Document can be sent at any time

(2) Document will be automatically sent when the Object is sent

(3) Document automatically created by the system

(4) Document required in the system before a next action can be executed

Upload & Send Documents

Multiple documents can be uploaded in the Annual Accounts.

• Clicking on the Add button will open a pop-up window allowing you to add a new document type with attachments.

• Selecting a document row and clicking on the View icon will allow you to view the document information.

• Selecting a document row and clicking on the Edit icon will allow you to modify the document information. If a document of type 'Other Member State Document' must be sent, you can select the edit icon in order to send the document.

• Selecting a document row and clicking on the Delete icon will allow you to delete the document and all attachements.

1. Click on the Add button to add a new document:

The Edit document details pop-up window appears:

2. Enter or select the following information:

(1) Enter a Document Title for your Document.

(2) Select a Document Type.

(3) Enter a Document Date.

The system automatically fills the field with todays date, but this can be modified.

(4) Enter a Local reference.

(5) Click on the Add button to add a new attachment:

• You can add multiple attachments related to the same part of the annual accounts by clicking on the Add button (e.g. separate files for the annual declaration of EAGF and EAFRD under the annual declaration file type).

• You can remove unwanted attachments by selecting the attachment and clicking on the Remove button.

The Attached files window becomes editable:

3. Enter or select the following information:

(1) Enter a Title for your attachment.

(2) Select the Type of the document.

It is possible to select from these 4 types: Annex, Cover Letter, Main or Translation.

(3) Select the Language of the document.

(4) Click on Browse to select the file that you want to add as an attachment.

(5) After the attachments are uploaded click on Save.

Send an unsent non-integral document

1. Once the document and attachment(s) have been uploaded click on the Edit icon in the row containing the unsent document:

2. Click on Confirm to send the document to the Commission. For completing this action, the User will be redirected to the EU Login signature page:

Delete an unsent document

1. In the row of a previously uploaded unsent document click on the Delete icont to delete the document and associated attachments:

A confirmation window appears:

2. Click on OK to confirm deletion. Click on Cancel to return to the document section.

Observations

1. Click on the Add button to add an observation:

The Add new observation screen appears:

2. Enter the following:

(1) Enter an observation.

(2) Click on Add to save the information.

Form D2 - Annual Declaration

1. Click on the Edit button to enter the values:

The Edit details pop-up window appears:

2. Enter the following:

(1) Enter the values in the fields.

Amounts are in euros and are stored with 2 decimals.

(2) Click on Save to save the information.

Validate the Annual Accounts

Click on the Validate button to validate the Annual Accounts:

The system validates the following information:

An example of a validation window:

You can check the list of validation results at any time throughout the Annual Accounts:

To see the last validation results:

(1) Click on one of the 4 categories: All results, Passed, Warning, Error.

(2) The list of latest validation results for the chosen category is displayed.

After all errors have been resolved the status of the Annual Accounts becomes Validated.

Prepare the Annual Accounts for send to EC

1. Click on the Prepare for send to EC button to prepare to send the Annual Accounts to the Commission:

The system will ask you to confirm the send action:

2. Click on Confirm to confirm.

The status of the Annual Accounts is set to Preparing for send to EC.

Send the Annual Accounts

1. Click on the Send button to send the Annual Accounts to the Commission or to the upper Node:

The system will ask you to confirm the send action:

2. Click on Confirm to confirm. For completing this action, the User will be redirected to the EU Login signature page to sign the submission of the Annual Accounts

On success, the Annual Accounts version has been sent to the Commission or to the upper Node. When sent, the status is set to Sent.

Request for Revised Annual Accounts by MS

Follow the steps to request for revised Annual Accounts by MS:

1. Select the following:

(1) Select the icon with 3 vertical dots.

(2) Click on the Request revision button to request revision from the lower Node.

The system will ask you to confirm the request for revision:

1. Enter the following:

(1) Enter the Reason in the text box provided.

(2) Click on Confirm to save the information.

On success, the status of the Programme will be changed to status Revision requested by MS and the sender is notified of the action and its reason.

Delete the Annual Accounts

Follow the steps to remove the Annual Accounts from the system:

2. Select the following:

(1) Select the icon with 3 vertical dots.

(2) Click on the Delete button to remove the Annual Accounts from the system.

The system will ask you to confirm the delete action:

3. Click on Confirm to confirm or click on Cancel to return to the Annual Accounts.

Create a New Version of the Annual Accounts

1. Click on the Create button to create a new version of the Annual Accounts:

The system will ask you to confirm the creation of a new version:

2. Click on Confirm to confirm. Click on Cancel to return to the Annual Accounts.

On success, a new version of the Annual Accounts has been created as a copy of the last version, with a version number identical to the previous and a working version number incremented by one. Its status is set to Open.