The Budget of the Union is prepared and submitted by the Secretary General to the Executive Committee for approval until the 30th of September of each year and afterwards it is submitted by the Executive Committee to the Annual General Assembly of the Union for approval.
The implementation of the Budget is checked by the Executive Committee at fixed intervals during the year.
The financial statements of the Union are prepared according to international financial reporting standards and are in line with the instructions of its auditors. The auditors of the Union are the Ernst & Young Cyprus Ltd.
The financial statements are audited before the 30th of June of each year and afterwards they are submitted by the Secretary General to the Executive Committee before the 30th of September for approval and authority to be signed. After the approval of the Executive Committee and the signature from the President and the Secretary General, the financial statements are submitted for approval to the Annual General Assembly.
The main source of revenue of the Union comes from contributions from its members. The contribution of each member is calculated on its annual income, as it appears in the financial statements that are published in the Official Gazette of the Republic for the previous year, after the deduction of 3% as recovery expenses, at a fixed percentage of 0,4%. The occupied municipalities are exempted from this obligation. In addition, the Union receives grants from the Central Government regarding the organisation of seminar/events and the participation to national organisations.
The contributions are recognised at the year they are receivable and are based on the amount of revenue that is being notified to the Union by each member. Any adjustments are taken into account when the financial statements of each member are published in the Official Gazette of the Republic.
The main expenses of the Union, as presented in the annual budget, are the payroll cost, the operating expenses for the office in Brussels, the organisation of seminars and the participation in meetings abroad.
The President or the Secretary General may approve without any other authorisation, purchases of materials or services, the value of which do not exceed the amount of €2.000 and €1.000 respectively. With the consent of both, the President and the Secretary General, amounts up to €5.000 are approved. In case where the value for purchase of materials or services exceed the amount of €5.000 (except for payroll) an approval is required by the Executive Committee.
For the carrying out of any expenditure of the budget and its payment, a special form has to be properly completed, mentioning the nature and amount of the expense as well as the person that approves the payment. This form along with the invoices or any other documents for every expenditure must be filed in special files of the accounting department.