Among the functions legally attributed to the General Intervention of the State Administration are of great importance those that concern public accounting, functions that have been grouped into three large areas:

-National accounting functions,

-The public accounting management functions, and

-The management and scheduling functions of public accounting.

These functions have historically constituted a key part in the activity that the IGAE should develop, allowing, among other advantages, to give a fundamental support and support for the performance of the other great block of functions which has been attributed to that Centre, which relate to the internal control of the State public sector entities.

In the last few years, these accounting functions have additionally acquired significant importance in the context of economic policy, so it is necessary to maximize the functioning and the resources allocated to the the same in order to achieve all the objectives that have been set in this field to the General Intervention of the State Administration.

For example, it is possible to highlight in the field of national accounting all the tasks entrusted to the General Intervention of the State Administration by the Organic Law 2/2012, of 27 April, of Stability Budget and Financial Sustainability, in order to achieve compliance with the principles set out in that Law to public entities.

Moreover, in the field of public accounting management, during the last few years of economic crisis, a periodic and short-term monitoring of the implementation of expenditure by the various bodies of the public accounting system has been carried out. General Administration of the State and other public bodies to control the volume of such expenditure, and all procedures for accountability by the various entities for electronic procedures have been enhanced, software and telematics in order to improve the deadlines for accountability, as well as with the elaboration of the General Account of the State in consolidated terms.

In the field of management and planning of public accounting, the processes for the reform and standardization of public accounting that all public administrations have to implement have been addressed in order to achieve their harmonisation with the International Standards of Public Sector Accounting (NICSP), issued by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and with the General Accounting Plan of the Spanish company.

The experience acquired in the development of the aforementioned accounting functions has revealed the great interrelationship between all of them, so that it is absolutely necessary to achieve the maximization of the processes coordination and communication of information about each other. For example, the provision of information from the accounting management area to the national accounting area for the purposes of the compilation of the public sector's economic accounts and the rest of the reports that they are entrusted with is essential. On the other hand, it is essential to draw up standard accounting criteria for the conduct of public accounting by the various public sector entities, as has been developed by the area of management and accounting planning, effects of giving the timely solidity and foundation to the data that the national accounting has to use for the compilation of its statistics. In this respect, it can be stressed that the European Union has understood this, which has launched a project piloted by Eurostat to develop and subsequently implement by all the Member States the European Standards of Sector Accounting. Public (EPSAS), based on the NICSPs, in order to give greater coherence and reliability to the economic accounts that are being developed by these countries.

For all of the above, it has been considered necessary to strengthen the integration processes of all the existing accounting areas in the General Intervention of the State Administration in order to achieve the optimal the objectives assigned to it in the field of accounting, by means of the creation of the National Accounting Office in which all the functions and accounting areas of the General Intervention of the State Administration are integrated, in order to improve the results of the actions carried out by the different areas accounting by better coordination of the accounts, which will allow a unitary view of all of their accounting actions, optimizing existing information flows at present.

This reform, has been carried out with the approval of the Royal Decree 802/2014, of September 19, that the Royal Decree 256/2012, of 27 January, is amended, that the basic organic structure of the Ministry of Hacienda and Administraciones Públicas and Royal Decree 696/2013 of 20 September, amending the former.

The National Accounting Office is thus constituted on the central axis of the functions that the General Intervention of the State Administration has attributed, as a management center and as the managing center of the public accounting, as well as in the preparation of the public sector economic accounts in accordance with the national accounting methodology.

On the other hand, the need to assign officials to these tasks requires an organization that allows to respond with flexibility and effectiveness to this kind of work and those related to them that can be carried out by personnel. for the National Accounting Office, such as consultation resolution, budget execution reports, forecasting, unit classification and other information that can be attributed to it.

This scheme adjusts the employment relationship of the General Intervention of the State Administration, setting up the National Accounting Office as an organic unit of immediate reference for the development of the tasks referred to, including the set of necessary jobs, both for operational and coordination purposes.

The unique and grouped configuration system of the set of jobs that are integrated into the National Accounting Office allows for a party that the head of the higher body determines the general framework of distribution of the functions that correspond to this organ, around each of the National Experts in Accounting Division Chiefs, which are configured in the relation of jobs as higher and dependent levels, in turn, directly of the Director of the National Accounting Office.

On the other hand, this system also enables the necessary levels of flexibility and automatic adaptation to the specific needs that may be required, through future modifications, of such functional distribution.

In any case, in this initial phase of establishment of the National Accounting Office it is appropriate to determine criteria for the distribution of the works among the different teams on the basis of the experience already acquired in the previous organisational scheme, as well as a specialist, without prejudice to the fact that these criteria can subsequently be modified, along the lines of adapting the human and material resources at any time (i) have, without excessive organizational rigidness, the specific and priority objectives in each time and in order to achieve maximum effectiveness in its performance.

Consequently, in accordance with the above and on the proposal of the Director of the National Accounting Office, the following operating criteria are laid down for the exercise of the powers that correspond to the Office:

First.

Each of the three National Experts in Accounting Division Chiefs who, according to the relationship of jobs are set up as senior positions of the National Accounting Office, under management The Director of the Office shall, immediately, undertake the development of the following tasks in order to enable the effective and appropriate fulfilment of the functions corresponding to that body:

I. Expert/National Expert in Accounting Division Head, in charge of planning and direction of public accounting, to whom the elaboration of the General Plan of Public Accounting, the accounting regulations applicable to the state and local public sector entities subject to the public accounting principles, partial or special plans of the State business public sector entities to be drawn up in accordance with the General Accounting Plan of the companies; the basic principles of analytical accounting applicable to entities subject to the public accounting principles, as well as the development of the functional requirements of the accounting information system, the analytical accounting system and other economic and financial management systems designed by the General Intervention of the State administration for public sector entities subject to public accounting principles.

II. Expert/National Accounting Expert Division Head, responsible for the management of the accounting, to whom the monitoring and analysis of the implementation of the General State Budgets is responsible; the elaboration of the Account of the General government of the State; centralization of the financial and budgetary information of the entities in the state public sector, as well as the elaboration of the corresponding reports and publications; prepare the accounts and other documents to be submitted to the Court of Auditors and form the Account General of the State, as well as to carry out its follow-up until its final approval. Similarly, according to the provisions of Royal Decree 635/2014 of 25 July 2014, the calculation of the average period of payment to providers of central government is appropriate.

III. Expert/National Accounting Expert of Division, dedicated specifically to the analysis and elaboration of national accounts, to whom the elaboration of the economic accounts of the public sector corresponds according to the own methodology the national accounts, the production of forecasts of revenue, expenditure and the government deficit or surplus in terms of national accounts for all public administrations and their sub-sectors; evaluation and monitoring of the compliance with the objectives of budgetary stability, public debt and the rule of law expenditure of all public administrations and their sub-sectors and the compilation of statistics on public finances for other international bodies.

Second.

The Director of the National Accounting Office is responsible for the overall coordination of the work conducted by each of the three National Accounting Experts and will directly assume the functions of the National Accounting Office. classification of public units in accordance with national accounting regulations, as well as the analysis and reports on the economic and financial performance carried out by the public administrations and each of the its subsectors and on the treatment in national accounts of the operations carried out by the public sector, as well as on investment projects that are consulted by any government for the purpose of assessing its sustainability and efficiency.

It will also be the representation of the General Intervention of the State Administration in the Technical Committee of National Accounts, created by the additional provision of the Organic Law 6/2013, 14 of November, for the creation of the Independent Fiscal Responsibility Authority.

Third.

The Director of the National Accounting Office will determine the development by significant functional areas of the tasks assigned to each National Accounting Expert and establish the same. time a management framework for system objectives, in which each of these areas, grouped in the different Divisions, represents the level of direct accountability of the assigned actions.

Fourth.

Every six months the Director of the National Accounting Office will report to the General Administration of the State Administration a report with the results and most relevant aspects deducted from the practical application of the approved functional distribution and in which, where appropriate, the proposed amendments which it considers appropriate to increase the effectiveness and orderly development of the tasks entrusted to it shall be included.

Madrid, October 20, 2014.-The Comptroller General of the State Administration, José Carlos Mayor Hernández.