NATO UNCLASSIFIED 29 June 2015 DOCUMENT C-M(2015)0048-AS1 IBAN REPORT ON THE AUDIT OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF ALLIED COMMAND OPERATIONS FOR 2013 ACTION SHEET On 26 June 2015, under the silence procedure, the Council noted the IBAN report IBA-AR(2014)20 attached to C-M(2015)0048 and agreed the recommendations contained in the RPPB report, including its public release. (Signed) Alexander Vershbow Deputy Secretary General NOTE: This Action Sheet is part of, and shall be attached to C-M(2015)0048. NATO UNCLASSIFIED NHQD9364 NATO UNCLASSIFIED 22 June 2015 DOCUMENT C-M(2015)0048 Silence Procedure ends: 26 Jun 2015 16:00 IBAN REPORT ON THE AUDIT OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF ALLIED COMMAND OPERATIONS FOR 2013 Note by the Deputy Secretary General 1. I attach the International Board of Auditors for NATO (IBAN) report on the audit of the financial statements of Allied Command Operations (ACO) for the year ended 31 December 2013. 2. The IBAN issued a qualified opinion on the ACO financial statements for the year 2013 as well as a qualified opinion on compliance for the financial year 2013. The IBAN report, although showing improvements by ACO in many areas, also illustrates that many of the weaknesses identified in previous audit reports have not yet been fully corrected. While some progress has been made, particularly in clearing outstanding observations from previous years, the positive impact expected with the adoption of the NATO Accounting Framework has not yet materialised. 3. The IBAN report has been reviewed by the Resource Policy and Planning Board (RPPB), which has provided its own report with conclusions and recommendations to Council. 4. I consider that no further discussion regarding this report is required. Consequently, unless I hear to the contrary by 16:00 hours on Friday, 26 June 2015, I shall assume that the Council has noted the IBAN report IBA-AR(2014)20 and agreed the recommendations contained in the RPPB report, including its public release. (Signed) Alexander Vershbow 3 annexes Original: English NATO UNCLASSIFIED -1- NHQD8799 NATO UNCLASSIFIED ANNEX 1 C-M(2015)0048 IBAN REPORT ON THE AUDIT OF THE ALLIED COMMAND OPERATIONS (ACO) CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL FOR 2013 Report by the Resource Policy and Planning Board (RPPB) References: (a) IBA-A(2014)222 & IBA-AR(2014)20 (b) BC-D(2015)0033-FINAL Background 1. The present report by the Resource Policy and Planning Board (RPPB) contains the RPPB’s observations and recommendations concerning the International Board of Auditors for NATO (IBAN) report (reference (a)). The report is based on the full review of the audit report provided by the Budget Committee (BC) (reference (b)). 2. The RPPB notes and agrees with the conclusions and recommendations of the BC as laid out in their report (reference (b)), which form the basis of the Board’s discussions. RPPB Conclusions 3. The IBAN has issued a qualification on the 2013 ACO Financial statements as well as a qualified opinion on compliance for the financial year 2013. ACOs continued inability to receive an unqualified opinion and the expectation for improvements was set out as part of the RPPB Report on the audit of the ACO 2012 financial statements (reference (b)). While some progress has been made, particularly in clearing outstanding observations from previous years, the positive impact expected with the adoption of the NATO Accounting Framework has not yet materialized. The current IBAN Report contains 9 observations and recommendations on the financial statements, many dealing with aspects of property, plant and equipment (PP&E) where greater progress was hoped for. 4. ACO needs to provide evidence that comprehensive accounting records for all property have been established and maintained. The lack of such records is impacting its financial statements. To do this ACO will need to work with third parties (particularly NCIA and NSPA) and to extend best practices to theatres of operation. The current IBAN Report on ACO sets out the results of an endemic problem in the NATO organization to account for third party procurement and inventory management involving multiple commands, multiple agencies and multiple inventory systems. Many of these bodies and systems were designed to operate independently with stand-alone capabilities. Difficulties in consolidation and centralization, including those for financial accounting, inventory and reporting, point to the need to better align the various different processes, systems and standards that have been adopted over many years. 5. There is clearly further scope for additional work by ACO in conjunction with the NATO Agencies assisted by the Head of Financial Reporting Policy and the IBAN to ensure the maximum benefits of the new Accounting Framework are realized. This may need to involve the Resource Policy and Planning Board (RPPB) at some point if additional clarifications are required. NATO UNCLASSIFIED 1-1 NATO UNCLASSIFIED ANNEX 1 C-M(2015)0048 6. The IBAN has highlighted difficulties at Headquarters JFC Naples in complying with procurement policy and the estimation of contract technical specifications. While these are pointed out in the report as headquarter specific; ACO needs to ensure through its internal controls that the issues are not wide spread and that in-house expertise is augmented when complex contracts are involved so as to provide bidders with accurate contract technical specifications. 7. ACO has made progress in settling observations from previous year’s audits, with 4 of 6 observations settled. While one of the remaining observations dealing with Foreign Military Sales will be reviewed by the Head of Financial Reporting Policies as it impacts entities NATO wide, the remaining observation involves further work with the Agencies to put in place a timeline for the finalization of processes to mitigate procurement risk for operations. This observation, outstanding since 2011, needs to be given greater management attention as it involves ongoing and future operations. 8. The ACO Financial Controller has reviewed the financial statements in accordance with agreed policies and does not have any issues which he wishes to highlight for consideration by the RPPB before it concludes its recommendations to Council. 9. The RPPB concludes that the subject audit report does not contain information which, according to the NATO Policy on Public Disclosure of NATO Information, shall be withheld from public disclosure, and in line with the agreed policy in PO(2015)0052, recommends that Council agree to the public disclosure of the 2013 ACO Financial Statements and of the subject IBAN report. RPPB recommendations 10. The Resource Policy and Planning Board (RPPB) recommends that Council: (a) note the present report along with IBA-AR(2014)20; (b) endorse the conclusions outlined in paragraphs 3 through 9; (c) note that the resource committees intend to continue to monitor the status of outstanding audit observations; (d) in line with the agreed policy in PO(2015)0052, agree to the public disclosure of the ACO 2013 Financial Statements and the associated IBAN report (IBA- AR(2014)20). ---000--- NATO UNCLASSIFIED 1-2 NATO UNCLASSIFIED ANNEX 2 C-M(2015)0048 Summary Note for Council by the International Board of Auditors for NATO (Board) on the audit of the Consolidated Financial Statements of the Allied Command Operations (ACO) for the year ended 31 December 2013 The Board audited the Allied Command Operations (ACO) Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2013. The total budgetary spend (commitments plus actuals) for ACO against Budget Committee (BC) funded budgets in 2013 amounted to EUR 1,201.8 million, compared with EUR 1,242.6 million in 2012. In addition to the execution of the MBC budgets, ACO also incurred EUR 73.4 million (2012, EUR 81.4 million) of other expenditure (reimbursable, trust funds, etc.) and EUR 1.16 million (2012, EUR 4.95 million) of NATO Security Investment Programme (NSIP) project expenditure. The Board issued a qualified opinion on the 2013 Financial Statements and on compliance for the year ended 31 December 2013. During the audit, the Board made 9 observations and provided recommendations. These findings are in the Letter of Observations and Recommendations (Annex 3). The main findings are listed below. Observation 1 impacts the audit opinion. 1. Property, plant and equipment (PP&E) and inventory are materially misstated 2. Incorrect application of inventory valuation methods 3. ACO is relying on work that is outsourced to NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), but it does not review NSPA’s performance 4. Legal agreement with NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) for provisions of services at International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is missing 5. Confirmation of year-end assets and liabilities outstanding between NATO entities should be performed 6. Some materials delivered to Afghanistan were not used and became obsolete 7. The process of writing-off equipment in theatre needs to be enhanced 8. Non-compliance with the new Representation Allowance rules 9. Incorrect contract technical specifications and non compliance with the International Competitive Bidding requirements at Headquarters Joint Force Command (HQ JFC) Naples The Board also followed up on the status of observations from its previous year’s audit. These findings and status are summarised in the follow-up section of the Letter of Observations and Recommendations (Annex 3). 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