Budget and Accounts¶
Basics¶
EQAR's income consists of three main sources:
- Membership fees (from governmental and stakeholder members, 2019: 70%)
- Registration and application fees (from agencies, 2019: 13%)
- Project grants (usually from the Erasmus+ programme, 2019: 15%)
The remainder (2019: 2%) is made up by various income, e.g. from reimbursement of travel costs.
EQAR's financial year is the calendar year.
Budget¶
The General Assembly adopts a budget for a financial year at the ordinary GA of the previous year, proposed by the Executive Board.
When there are material changes to the estimations and assumptions made, the EB proposes a revised budget to the ordinary GA of the year concerned.
The Director is responsible for implementing EQAR's activities within the budget set by the GA.
Accounts¶
EQAR applies common double-entry accounting, as typically used by companies, associations, private foundations and other non-governmental entities. This might be different from budgeting and reporting concepts used by governments.
The accounts are presented in two parts: - the balance sheet and - the profit and loss account.
The profit and loss account is an overview of all income received (accounts 7xxxxx) and expenditure reported (accounts 6xxxxx) during the financial year. The surplus (or deficit) of the profit and loss account shows up on the balance sheet.
The balance sheet represents a snapshot of EQAR’s financial situation at the closure of the financial year.
Each regular transaction (EQAR issuing a fee invoice, payment of costs by EQAR) impacts the profit-and-loss account and thereby the surplus or deficit reported on the balance sheet. A transaction always affects one (or more) other figure(s) on the balance sheet, in a way that assets and liabilities always balance.
The annual accounts are drawn up by the Secretariat and the Executive Board, and then presented to the General Assembly for adoption.
Before adoption by the General Assembly, the accounts are audited by an independent external auditor.