Budget
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
Local authorities’ accounts are regulated by orders issued by the Ministry of Finance, and in particular the “Accounting Instruction” (instruction comptable). SIEL-Territoire d’énergie Loire uses the accounting rules used by municipalities, “Instruction M14”.
SIEL-Territoire d’énergie Loire manages its budget in exactly the same way as any local authority.
This means the following are separate :
– The authorising officer for revenue and expenditure (ordonnateur des dépenses et des recettes) (the President, depending on the budget passed by the Syndicate Committee).
– The Accountant (comptable), who is an officer of the Trésor Public (Ministry of Finance), who is in charge of collecting receivables and paying suppliers.
VOTING ON THE BUDGET
The Syndicate Committee debates the budget orientations to be taken before each budget is passed.
After this debate, the Syndicate Committee passes an initial budget known as the Budget Primitif (BP), applicable from 1 January of the financial year. The document drawn up on this occasion authorises the Syndicate to commit to expenditure up to the maximum amounts in the budget.
During the financial year, modifications may be made to this document. These must also be passed by the Assembly.
Before 30 June of each year, the Administrative Account (Compte Administratif) for the previous financial year is presented, representing the balance sheet and results of the Syndicate’s accounting activities over the past financial year. This document must comply with that of the Treasurer, which is called the Management Account (Compte de Gestion). It also allows for adjustments to the forecasts made at the beginning of the year to take account of any actual developments in the situation.
In general, at the same session a Supplementary Budget (Budget Supplémentaire) will be passed. This serves to deal with the results of the previous year, among other things, covering them (if they are negative) or redirecting them to other expenditure (if they are positive). The sums committed and carried over from the previous financial year are also recorded.
All the official documents can be consulted at the Syndicate’s head office.
