Public finances, state expenditures, public markets, financial jurisdictions, economic control, financial control, public funds, public policies, Court of Auditors, public procurement
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Abstract
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Abstract
The evaluation of public finances and state expenditures highlights the need for better articulation of public policy costs with their concrete results, including the examination of public market efficiency.
Extract
[...] This issue is illustrated by the report public thematic of the Court of Auditors on the right to housing opposable (DALO), published on 26 January 2022, which highlights the persistent limitations of the device despite the financial means mobilized. The Court notes, in particular, weaknesses in administrative organization, the monitoring of benefits and the evaluation of results, all of which are closely linked to the execution of public service contracts. The doctrine emphasizes this evolution of the role of public markets. [...]
[...] The economic and financial control aims to control the proper use of public funds, particularly in our case, the execution of public markets. This control falls mainly within the competence of the juridictions financières - the Court of Auditors, the regional and territorial audit chambers, and, until 2023, the Court of Budgetary and Financial Discipline - within the framework set by the Code of Financial Jurisdictions. Therefore, the study of the economic and financial control of public markets presents a major interest in that it allows us to appreciate the way in which financial jurisdictions contribute to the protection of public funds and the improvement of the efficiency of expenditure, beyond the mere formal respect of contractual rules. [...]
[...] The 2023 reform and the evolution of financial control The Ordinance No. 2022-408 of 23 March 2022, entered into force on 1er January 2023, a profoundly reformed the financial liability regime of public managers. It has abolished the traditional regime of personal and pecuniary liability of public accounts and brought an end to the CDBF as an autonomous jurisdiction, in favor of a unified financial liability regime. This mission is exercised by a single financial jurisdiction, the Chamber of Contested Accounts of the Court of Auditors. [...]
[...] Failures in monitoring the execution of public markets were among the frequently sanctioned shortcomings. They do not judge the accounts themselves. The Court of Budgetary and Financial Discipline sanctioned officials for irregular payments related to the execution of public expenditures. By a a decision of 27 November 1996, she held several agents responsible for having incurred or validated manifestly irregular expenses, notably by giving their visa to acts of engagement without respecting the applicable financial control rules for public markets (CDBF November 1996). [...]
[...] The control of financial regularity and respect for contractual rules The financial jurisdictions first verify compliance with the rules governing the execution of public contracts, in particular the principle of service rendered and the conformity of payments to contractual stipulations. This mission stems from Article L.111-2 of the Code of Financial Jurisdictions, which entrusts the Court of Auditors with the control of the regularity of public accounts. In their reports, the financial jurisdictions point out that irregularities frequently appear during the execution of contracts, particularly in cases of insufficiently justified amendments or payments made without effective control of the services. These practices undermine the legal security of contracts and expose public finances to excessive drifts. [...]
