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Cour des Comptes (France)

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TheCour des Comptes( "Court of Accounts" ) isFrance'ssupreme audit institution,under French law anadministrative court.As such, it isindependentfrom thelegislativeandexecutivebranches of the French Government. However, the 1946 and 1958 French constitutions made it the Court's duty to assist the Cabinet and Parliament in regulating government spending. The Court thus combines functions of acourt of exchequer,comptroller general's office, andauditor general's office in common-law countries. It is also aGrand Corps of the French Stateand mainly recruits among the best-ranked students graduating from theEcole nationale d'administration.

Seat of the Cour des Comptes at 13, rue Cambon in Paris

The Court traces its origins back to the Middle Ages and views itself as succeeding theCourt of Auditorsof Paris, permanently established in the early 14th century. It was re-established in 1807 byNapoleon.

Its three duties are to conduct financial audits of accounts, conductgood governanceaudits, and provide information and advice to the FrenchParliamentand Administration. The Court verifies the good form of accounting and the proper handling of public money. Its mandate covers most public institutions and some private institutions, including the central Government,national public corporations,social securityagencies (since 1950), and otherpublic services(since 1976).

History

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Plaque memorializing the former location of the Cour des Comptes in thePalais d'Orsay[fr],now on the building of theMusée d'Orsay
Plaque memorializing the former location of the Cour des Comptes in thePalais-Royal

During theAncien Régime,the Court of Auditors was located in the French monarchy's ancestralPalais de la Cité,between theSainte-Chapelleand theConciergerie.In 1740 it moved to a new building in the same complex, designed byJacques Gabriel,which is no longer extant.

The Cour des Comptes was reorganized byNapoleonthrough the Law of September 16, 1807. In 1842, it eventually moved away from theÎle de la Citéinto thePalais d'Orsay.In May 1871 at the end of theParis Commune,the Palais d'Orsay was entirely destroyed by fire and the Cour des Comptes was temporarily relocated in thePalais-Royal.Its relocation in theaile de Marsanof theLouvre Palacewas considered but only some of its archives were moved there, and in 1897 the Marsan Wing was attributed to what is now theMusée des Arts Décoratifs.Instead, it was decided to build a new office specifically for the Cour des Comptes.[1]

The new building onrue Cambonwas designed by architectConstant Moyaux,and after the latter's death in October 1911 byPaul Guadet[fr],on the site of a former convent whose church survives nearby asNotre-Dame-de-l'Assomption.It was inaugurated in 1912 by PresidentArmand Fallières.The Cour des Comptes remains located there after more than a century.[2]

Composition

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The president (premier président) of the Court of Audit is appointed by Order-in-Council of theCabinet.Once appointed, the president of the Court and division presidents have security of tenure. The Court has its ownOffice of the Prosecutor- with a Chief Prosecutor, Chief Deputy Prosecutor, and two deputy prosecutors - that represents the Government before the Court. The Court is split into seven divisions, each with nearly 30 judges ordinary and deputy judges and headed by a division president. Jurisdiction is split between the seven divisions generally by subject matter, e.g., finance, health and social security, and so forth. The Court's president isPierre Moscovicisince June 2020. He took overDidier Migaudwho himself took over in 2010 following the death ofPhilippe Séguin.Other judicial officers are generally split into three groups by rank:

  • puisne judges (conseillers-maîtres)
    • consider, hear, and adjudicate cases in panels
  • deputy judges (conseillers référendaires)
    • divided into 2 classes; handle case management
  • Auditor-Masters[3](auditeurs)
    • divided into 2 classes; preside over hearings, collect evidence, audit, and report

All judicial officers are graduates from the National Administration Academy (École nationale d'Administration) or recruited from the Office of the Comptroller-General (inspection générale des Finances).

Jurisdiction and duties

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Original jurisdiction

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The French Court of Audit has original jurisdiction to audit and adjudicate accounts made by public, management, and government accountants. The Court also has authority to audit persons acting but not certified as a public accountant. If an account is found to be correct, then the Court issues a quietus to discharge the accountant. If, however, the account is found to be in error, then a debit order is issued against the defaulter. Either order is subject to appeal in the Court or final appeal at the French Supreme Court.

Audits focus on:

  • Government accounting, budgets, and funds
  • Public corporations
  • National and public institutions, social security organizations, subsidiaries and sub-subsidiaries of public corporations
  • Government-funded organizations
  • Publicly funded organizations

Appellate jurisdiction

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A decision from a lower audit court may be appealed at the main Court of Audit within two months of its being handed down. Afterwards, if the parties are still not satisfied, the Council of State will hear the case on final appeal.

The French Court of Audit puts together its auditing program entirely independently and is vested with very broad powers of review and examination. It publishes and submits an annual audit report to the French President and to Parliament. The report provides a detailed account of the government's poor, or possibly fraudulent, practices and criticizes poor governance and use of public funds. The Court also audits authorizing officers (ordonnateurs) and their expenditures.[4]

Audit procedure

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In addition to reporting poor practices, the Court judges the accounting of public financial and budgetary officials, collection agencies, or treasury departments, e.g., treasurers, paymasters-general, tax collectors, certified public accountants, and canfinethem for late reporting. In such cases, the Court fines public accounting officials for the exact amount of any sum of money that, due to an error on their part, they have unduly paid or failed to recover on behalf of the State. A debet (débet), fromLatin"he owes" and not limited in amount, is entered against a defaulting person, and the defaulter becomes the State's debtor. Public and government accountants must therefore have performance liability insurance. Often, however, theMinistry of Financealleviates a defaulter by granting an abatement of his arrears as the full amount is likely too much to ever pay out of pocket. If an account is audited and found not to be in default, then the Court issues a quietus (arrêt de quitusorarrêt de décharge) acquitting and discharging the official and settling the account.[5]

Regional audit courts

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The Court of Audit of France stands above and heads 27 regional inferior financial courts referred to in French asChambres régionales des comptes,or regional audit courts. The Court of Audit acts as the administrative head and court of appeal for the financial stream, hearing appeals from regional courts and issuing rule promulgation orders and administrative directives. Regional audit courts were established in 1982 to help unburden the main Court of Audit of its heavy caseload. Since their creation, they have original jurisdiction for most local, county, and regional accounting matters in continental France and its overseas dependencies. This means they audit accounts as well as public institutions to check for fraud, embezzlement, or misappropriation. In case of budgetary discrepancies, the Court can ask the local prefect to intervene and oversee the handling of public funds until budget problems have been corrected.[6]

Each court is divided into divisions and includes a judge-in-Charge - who is also either a puisne or deputy judge at the main Court of Audit - and two associate judges. Judges have security of tenure and some also serve as Commissioners-in-Council with prosecutorial duties under the Office of the Prosecutor at the Court of Audit of France. The regional courts focus on:

  • budgetary audits and assessment of local public institutions' budget use and management
  • audits of institutions and agencies in a given regional jurisdiction, namely: public institutions (schools, public housing, hospitals) or groups funded or aided by local governments or public institutions (unions or trade associations)
  • efficiency evaluations of account management

Accounts found to be in error are entered into debit and accounts in default or fictitious are referred to the local prefect.

Accounts for towns of fewer than 3,500 inhabitants and receipts totalling less than 750,000 euros are automatically referred to the local county or regional treasurer. A regional audit court's ruling may be appealed in the same court or to the Court of Audit of France.[7]

Individuals

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First Presidents

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List of formerpremiers présidentsof the Cour des Comptes since moving to the current building in 1912

Other notable members or former members

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This is adynamic listand may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help byadding missing itemswithreliable sources.
Wikimedia Commons has media related toCour des Comptes.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^Jean-Michel Leniaud (2021)."Transcription de la vidéo de présentation de l'ouvrage La Cour des comptes au palais d'Orsay - Chronique d'un drame de pierre".Cour des Comptes.
  2. ^"La Cour des Comptes, le palais Cambon".Paris Promeneurs.10 July 2014.
  3. ^These are not just public financial auditors but also court officers, what are generally known as masters, auditors (in Chancery courts), and commissioners, and in charge of case management, document handling and filing, and presiding over pre-trial or post-trial hearings in addition to auditing agencies and offices.
  4. ^Alain Héraud and André Maurin,Institutions judiciaires,4th edn. (Paris: Dalloz, 2002), 82-3.
  5. ^Véronique Le Marchand and Frédéric Touboul, eds.,Mini-guide de la justice(Toulouse, France: Milan, 2003), 48.
  6. ^Le Marchand and Touboul, op. cit., 49.
  7. ^Héraud and Maurin, op. cit., 84.
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48°52′01″N2°19′33″E/ 48.8669°N 2.3257°E/48.8669; 2.3257

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