Broadcasting Act 2009

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Accounts and audit.

109.— (1) A corporation shall submit estimates of income and expenditure to the Minister in such form, in respect of such periods and at such times, as may be required by the Minister and shall furnish to the Minister any information which the Minister may require in relation to such estimates, including proposals and future plans relating to the performance by the corporation of its functions over a period of years, as required.

(2) A director general, under the direction of the board of his or her corporation, shall cause to be kept, on a continuous basis, all proper and usual books or other records of account in respect of—

(a) all income and expenditure of the corporation,

(b) the sources of such income and the subject matter of such expenditure, and

(c) the property, assets and liabilities of the corporation.

(3) The accounts of a corporation for each financial year shall be prepared in accordance with accounting standards by the director general and approved by the board of the corporation as soon as practicable but not later than three months after the end of the financial year to which they relate for submission to—

(a) in respect of RTÉ, such duly qualified auditors as the board of RTÉ shall appoint, and

(b) in respect of TG4, the Comptroller and Auditor General,

for audit.

(4) A copy of the accounts referred to in subsection (3) and the report of the auditors appointed by the board of RTÉ under paragraph (a) of subsection (3) or the Comptroller and Auditor General, as the case may be, thereon shall, as soon as may be but not later than 6 months after the end of the financial year to which they relate, be presented to the board of the relevant corporation and to the Minister.

(5) The financial year of a corporation shall be the period of 12 months ending on 31 December in any year.

(6) A corporation shall, if so required by the Minister, furnish to him or her, such information as he or she may require in respect of any balance sheet, account or report of the corporation or in relation to the policy and operations of the corporation other than day-to-day operations.

(7) (a) A corporation, its director general and any relevant member of staff of the corporation shall, whenever so requested by the Minister, permit any person appointed by the Minister to examine the books or other records of account of the corporation in respect of any financial year or other period and shall facilitate any such examination.

(b) In this subsection “ relevant member of staff ” means a member of the staff of the corporation in respect of whom there have been duly assigned duties which relate to the books or other records of account referred to in paragraph (a).

(8) A director general, under the direction of the board of his or her corporation, shall cause to be kept all such special accounts as the Minister may from time to time direct.

(9) Without prejudice to subsection (3) and section 110 , a corporation shall as soon as may be after the end of each financial year, send to the Minister—

(a) a statement of the use it has made, of the monies paid to it under section 123 in that financial year, in pursuance of its public service objects, and

(b) a statement in respect of the total revenue and costs derived by the corporation in that financial year distinguishing between monies received or expended on—

(i) activities in pursuance of its public service objects, and

(ii) activities in pursuance of its exploitation of commercial opportunities object.

(10) A corporation shall include in the statement required under subsection (9) a statement of the cost accounting principles and methods by which costs and revenues have been assigned to such activities.

(11) The Authority, at the direction of the Minister, and having consulted with a corporation, shall prepare and publish guidance for the corporation as regards the cost accounting principles and methods to be considered by the corporation in preparing a statement under subsection (9).

(12) Any guidance issued by the Authority under subsection (11) shall be general in nature and shall not specify the particular items to be included in preparing a statement under subsection (9) to which the guidance relates.

(13) The Compliance Committee, at the direction of the Minister, shall review and report to the Minister on the extent to which a statement prepared under subsection (9) complies with the guidance issued by the Authority under subsection (11).

(14) The Minister may give directions to a corporation as to the format of a statement prepared under subsection (9).

(15) The Minister shall cause the documents furnished to him or her under this section to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.

(16) In this section “accounting standards” has the same meaning as in section 205A(1) of the Companies Act 1990 .