Public Account 2018

According to the provisions of the National Constitution, Article 75, point 8, the National Congress has the power to approve the Public Accounts, which are entered by the National Executive Branch, and which are under the jurisdiction of the National Accounting Office, pursuant to Article 91 of Law # 24,156 of Financial Administration and Control Systems of the National Public Sector and its amendments.

The Public Accounts provide relevant, reliable and timely information which constitutes a basic tool for the analysis and evaluation of the governmental management during the given period and reveals the public patrimony.

Thus, the National Executive Branch presents these Public Accounts for fiscal year 2018 to the National Congress, which have been prepared according to the requirements of Law # 24,156 and its modifications and supplementary regulations, on the basis of the registrations and the data provided by the Central Administration, Decentralized Bodies, Social Security Institutions, National Universities, Government Business Enterprises, Trust Funds and Public Entities.

In order to elaborate the Financial Statements, the National Accounting Office, among other tasks, consolidates and integrates the accounting information which, after being controlled, authorized, processed and registered by the Primary Registration Units of the Entities and Jurisdictions of the National Administration – under their corresponding internal and external control bodies – is included in the Integrated System of Financial Information (S.I.D.I.F.), keeping the documentation as a backup of said process, under point c) of the regulations of article 6 of said law.

The National Accounting Office, using the information in the system and the additional data requested, undertakes the analysis and steps necessary to guarantee the cohesion of the figures disclosed, applying the principle of operative decentralization and control procedures – internal and external – for each party responsible for the transaction.

In relation to the same, it is to mention that said National Accounting Office elaborates the Balance Sheet of the Central Administration from the automatic registrations taken from the budget transactions reported to the S.I.D.I.F. by the Bodies part of it; and integrates the Net Equity of the rest of the entities part of the National Public Sector, as the same report to said Accounting Office.

In relation to the contents of these Accounts, they have been elaborated under article 95 of Law 24,156.

The first chapter includes the Main Methodological and Conceptual Issues, with a detail of the main actions undertaken by the components of the Financial Administration System during the fiscal year.

After that, there are Comments on the Budget Execution for year 2018 and there is an analysis of the relevant articles referred to the budgetary and financial issues of Law 27,341, Budget of Resources and Expenses of the National Administration for fiscal year 2018 according to the information reported by the responsible units, with the purpose of providing the elements of analysis necessary for the reader to understand the events.

Also, there is a Budget-Accounting Contrast which details the differences between the current result of the Saving-Investment-Financing Account (A.I.F.) of the Central Administration and the Statement of Current Resources and Expenses, so that the cohesion between both results can be evaluated.

Then, the Statements of Budget Execution of the National Administration are presented, which include the Saving-Investment-Financing Account (A.I.F.) of the National Administration with its elaboration methodology, the expenses and resources budgets, transfers among institutions, sources and financial applications, and the detail of the charges and teaching hours consumed at the closing of the fiscal year.

There follows information related to the Analysis of the Contributions to the Treasury and the Revenue from Outstanding Amounts, which includes the Contributions made to the Treasury during fiscal year 2018 by several Central Administration and Decentralized Bodies, the execution of outstanding amounts of fiscal year 2017 or earlier during fiscal year 2018 and a detail of the Collected not Accrued of the Financial Administrative Services of the Central Administration, Decentralized Bodies and Social Security Institutions for this fiscal year.

After that, there follows the Statement of the Treasury of the Central Administration with its methodological report and the Statement of the Situation of the Public Debt of the Central Administration, according to the information elaborated by the Finance Department of the Ministry of Economy and Public Finance.

Then, the Saving-Investment-Financing Account of the Non-Financial National Public Sector summarizes the consolidated financial management of said area and shows the operative, economic and financial result referred to each Institutional Level.

After this, the Saving-Investment-Financing Accounts of Decentralized Bodies, Social Security Institutions, National Universities, Companies and Government Business Enterprises, Trust Funds and Public Entities are included, together with the comments on the budget execution of the four latter.

To close this first chapter, the Financial Statements of the Central Administration are presented, elaborated under the specific conceptual framework of the National Public Sector, under Resolution 25/95 of the Finance Department.

Said Statements are composed of the Balance Sheet, the Statement of Current Resources and Expenses, the Statement of Origin and Application of Funds and the Statement of Changes in Net Position, with their Notes to the Financial Statements and the Annexes related to the Property, Plant and Equipment and Net Equity of the entities of the National Public Sector and Contributions to International Bodies.

The second chapter is dedicated to the Evaluation of the Governmental Management Results according to the information prepared by the National Budget Office, in compliance with the regulations of articles 43 and 95, Law 24,156 and amendments, and includes the Physical – Financial Follow-up System, the Results by Program and Projects by Institutional Order.

Additionally, under the process of implementation of the Result oriented Budget, there is a specific section related to the performance of the Result indicators identified in several budget programs, thus enhancing the public value chain.

Moreover, under the methodology adopted in previous years, in order to provide a higher level of availability and understanding of the Public Accounts, a Budget Execution Special Section has been included, with the information on budget execution of resources and expenses by institutional level, that is, Central Administration, Decentralized Bodies and Social Security Institutions.

Also, there are charts of the financial movements presented by executing units of foreign loans grouped by financial administrative services which are budgetary dependant.

In this case, a chapter was added which shows the inconsistencies to the budget execution in several annexes. It shows several bodies or UEPEX which, after repeated claims been presented, closed their execution of the fiscal year not in compliance with the current regulations.

On the other hand, the Public Debt Special Section, completely elaborated by the Secretariat of Finance of the Ministry of Economy and Public Finance, includes a detailed analysis of the Statement of the Situation of the Public Debt, related to Joint Resolution S.H. 293/04 and S.F. 127/04, and its amendment S.H. 464/07 and S.F. 97/07.

Nevertheless the aforementioned, and in order to assess aspects which could eventually enhance the Public Accounts, the National Accounting Office has been holding a series of meetings with representatives of Control Bodies, and in the future, with National Legislators, so as to analyse the current contents of the statements which are part of said document, so that it becomes the appropriate data framework enabling the analysis of the budget, accounting and financial management of the National Administration, within a framework of high transparency and a way to facilitate its assessment, control and parliamentary treatment.