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Audit of the 2017 state financial statements of the Swiss Confederation
The Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO) has completed its audit of the 2017 state financial statements of the Confederation. It presented its report to the parliamentary finance commissions.
The SFAO recommends that Parliament approves the 2017 state financial statements of the Confederation. The Confederation's supreme financial supervisory body expresses two reservations, however.
The SFAO's first reservation relates to the legality of the provision of CHF 2 billion which puts a burden on the 2017 financing statement. According to Article 7 of the Federal Act of 7 October 2005 on the Federal Financial Budget, the financing statement shows a balance on the basis of expenditure and revenue. Established on a cash basis, the statement could therefore not include a provision.
The second reserve of the SFAO is justified by significant accounting errors. However, the Confederation has not lost any money. These errors are in fact of an accounting nature and do not call into question the quality of the accounts of the Federal Administration. Nonetheless, the Federal Administration will have to strengthen its controls over the closing accounts.
In the past, the SFAO already expressed a reservation on the 2014 state financial statements of the Confederation due to weaknesses in its internal control system. This reservation has since been lifted, thanks to the important efforts of the Federal Finance Administration and the federal offices.
Information:
Eric-Serge Jeannet, Vice Director of the SFAO, Tel. 058 463 11 11
The audit opinion of the report for audit mandate 18045 is published in French and German on the SFAO’s website (www.sfao.admin.ch).
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