¹ Both the Federal Assembly and the Federal Council balance expenditure and revenue; they are based on art. 126 of the Constitution (brake on debt).

² The Federal Assembly and the Federal Council manage the finances of the Confederation, taking into account the funding aspect as well as the outcome.

³ The Federal Assembly and the Federal Council give as much as possible their legislative decisions with their financial decisions.

⁴ The Federal Council and the Administration manage the finances of the Confederation according to the principles of legality, urgency and employment of the funds. They ensure efficient and economical use of funds.

¹ The ceiling for total expenditures to be approved in the budget under s. 126, para. 2, of the Constitution corresponds to the proceeds of the estimated revenue and the economic factor.

² The estimate of revenues does not account for extraordinary revenues. These include, among other things, extraordinary revenues from investments, patents or concessions.

³ The economic factor corresponds to the quotient of the trend value of the real gross domestic product, as determined by a smoothing of the gross domestic product over the long term, and the likely value of the real gross domestic product, for the year Budget.

When considering any project with financial implications, the Federal Council and the Federal Assembly shall take into account the ceiling of total expenditure.

¹ When the budget or supplements are adopted, the Federal Assembly may raise the ceiling under s. 126, para. 2, of the Constitution if:

A.

Extraordinary events beyond the control of the Confederation;

B.

Adjustments to the accounting model must be made;

C.

Levels of payments related to the accounting system require it.

² However, an increase is permitted only if the additional financial requirements amount to at least 0.5 % of the total expenditure ceiling.

¹ After the adoption of the State account, the ceiling for the previous year's total expenditure shall be adjusted according to actual ordinary income. ¹

² If the total expenditure on the State account is greater than or less than the fixed expenditure ceiling, the difference will be debited from a clearing account held outside the State account or credited to the account in question.

¹ Any overdraft of the clearing account shall be compensated for over several years, subject to a lowering of the ceiling to be fixed in accordance with Art. 13 or 15.

² If the overdraft exceeds 6 % of the total expenditures made during the previous fiscal year, the overrun is eliminated during the following three fiscal years.

¹ The extraordinary income and expenditure shown in the State account shall be recorded as an increase or charge in a depreciation account held outside the State account.

² Not included in the Depreciation Account:

A.

Extraordinary revenues assigned under a statute;

B.

Extraordinary expenses that are covered by revenue within the meaning of the let. A.

¹ When the depreciation account ends with an overdraft, it shall be compensated for in the following six years, subject to a lowering of the ceiling to be fixed in accordance with Art. 13 or 15.

² If the discovery of the depreciation account increases by more than 0.5 % of the total expenditure limit within the meaning of s. 126, para. 2, of the Constitution, the period laid down in para. 1 starts to run again.

³ In special cases, the Federal Assembly may extend the time limits under paras. 1 and 2.

⁴ The obligation to balance the depreciation account is deferred until an overdraft of the clearing account remains within the meaning of s. 17.

⁵ The Federal Assembly fixes the amount of the reduction in the ceiling each year when the budget is adopted.

¹ In order to compensate for the foreseeable discovery of the depreciation account, the Federal Assembly may lower the ceiling to be fixed in accordance with Art. 13 or 15 when the budget is adopted.

² The reduction of the ceiling is possible provided that the clearing account within the meaning of s. 16 is at least balanced.

Lowering the ceiling within the meaning of s. 17 B , para. 1, or 17 C Is enhanced to the depreciation account provided that the bonus does not strike the clearing account.

¹ The Federal Council is in the process of lowering the ceiling for art. 17, 17 B , para. 1, or 17 C : ¹

A.

By adopting additional savings in its area of competence;

B.

By proposing to the Federal Assembly the legal amendments required by the additional savings, taking into account the right of participation of the cantons.

² In establishing and implementing the budget, the Federal Council has every opportunity to make savings. To this end, it can block the already approved budgetary appropriations and commitment appropriations. The rights conferred by law and benefits guaranteed in particular cases are reserved by a binding decision.

³ When the clearing account exceeds the rate set out in s. 17, para. 2, the Federal Assembly decides during the same session on the proposals of the Federal Council referred to in para. 1, let. B, declare urgent the texts it has voted for and bring them into force immediately (Art. 165 Cst.); the Federal Assembly cannot derogate from the amount of savings provided by the Federal Council.

¹ The Federal Council shall establish multi-annual financial planning, comprising the three years following the budget year. It indicates: ¹

A.

Financial requirements for the period in question;

B.

Means of covering the alleged financial needs;

C.

Alleged expenses and revenues;

D. ²

Benefit groups and the related benefit and effectiveness objectives.

² When the Federal Council asks the Federal Assembly for new appropriations to finance objects not provided for in the financial planning, it shall at the same time indicate how it intends to finance this new burden.

³ The Federal Council works to coordinate the financial planning of the Confederation with that of the cantons.

⁴ The content and structure of financial planning are governed by s. 143, para. 2, and 146, para. 4, of the Act of 13 December 2002 on Parliament ³ . ⁴

¹ The expenditure ceiling is the maximum amount of budgetary appropriations that the Federal Assembly allocates to certain tasks for a multi-year period. ¹

² Spending ceilings can be set in particular when appropriations are allocated and paid in the same year, there is a margin of appreciation and it is appropriate to manage charges and long-term investments.

³ The spending limit is not worth spending authority.

¹ A commitment appropriation is in principle required when it is planned to incur financial commitments going beyond the budget year.

² The commitment appropriation sets the amount up to which the Federal Council may enter into financial commitments for a specified purpose.

³ The duration of a commitment credit is limited only if the credit order provides for it.

⁴ Commitment appropriations are required, in particular for:

A.

Construction projects and purchase of buildings;

B.

The leasing of long-term buildings with considerable financial implications;

C.

Development and acquisition programs;

D.

The granting of grants that will be paid only in subsequent years;

E.

The granting of bonds or other guarantees.

⁵ Financial requirements arising from commitments must be entered in the budget as an investment expense or expense.

¹ Commitment appropriations are assessed on the basis of carefully established accounts and in the rules.

² The Federal Council responds to the assessment of its financial needs. The administrative unit responsible for preparing the credit application must indicate in this application the basis of calculation used and the causes of uncertainty; it provides, if necessary, for a reasonable reservation which must be clearly stated in the application.

³ The unit concerned asks for study credits as required to determine the extent and financial consequences of major projects.

¹ The Federal Assembly regulates, by way of order, the cases in which requests for commitment appropriations are submitted by a special message.

² The Federal Council may submit a special message to the Federal Assembly for credit applications with a broad political scope.

³ For the rest, the commitment appropriations are opened by the orders on the budget and its supplements.

Where a commitment appropriation is allocated to a defined purpose in general or to several projects, the Federal Council shall determine the distribution of the credit if it does not fall within the scope of the appropriation as it has been opened.

The administrative unit shall keep a check on each appropriation indicating the commitments entered into and the commitments to be made in order to complete the project.

¹ The Federal Council shall indicate the statement of commitment appropriations in the presentation of the State account.

² Unused commitment appropriations are lapsed as soon as the project is completed.

¹ The Federal Council requests an additional credit without delay if it proves to be before the execution of a project or during the course of the project that the commitment credit is insufficient.

² In the event of higher or higher exchange rate costs, the Federal Council may request additional credit after the project has been carried out.

³ Payments shall not in any way exceed the original commitment appropriation.

¹ If a project is to be implemented without delay, the Federal Council may authorize its construction or prosecution before the necessary commitment credit is opened. It requires the prior approval of the Delegation of Finance of the Federal Chambers (Delegation of Finance).

² The Federal Council shall submit to the subsequent approval of the Federal Assembly the urgent commitments it has decided.

³ If the urgent commitment is more than 500 million francs and, for subsequent approval, the convening of the Federal Assembly in extraordinary session shall be requested within one week of the approval of the Delegation of Finance, this session shall take place during the third week following the filing of the request for a meeting.

¹ The Federal Assembly adopts the annual budget on the basis of the draft submitted to it by the Federal Council before the end of August.

² The Federal Assembly may fix for each benefit group:

A.

Targets, parameters and target values;

B.

A financial framework. ¹

³ The financial framework covers:

A.

Expenses and revenues;

B.

Capital expenditures and revenues. ²

¹ The budget is based on the content and structure of the State Account but does not account for the flow of funds, balance sheet and the state of own capital. ¹

² It includes:

A.

Authorized investment expenses and expenses (budgetary appropriations);

B.

Estimated investment income and revenues;

C.

Total allowable expenditures and estimated total revenues.

³ The amounts mentioned in para. 2, let. A and b are broken down according to:

A.

Administrative units;

B.

The intended use and origin of the funds. ²

⁴ In the Budget Message, the Federal Council provides an overview of the various budgetary positions that it has introduced, deleted, separated or merged since the previous year.

¹ Administrative units are managed by budget envelopes in their own area.

² The budget envelopes shall in principle include:

A.

Operating expenses and investment expenses;

B.

Operating income and investment income.

³ Administrative units with significant investments establish separate budget envelopes for capital expenditures and revenues.

⁴ An administrative unit may exceed the amount of the expenses and investment expenditure provided for in the budget envelopes if it meets one of the following conditions:

A.

It is in a position, in the course of the financial year, to cover the expenses and additional investment expenditure by non-budgeted income derived from the benefits provided by it;

B.

It uses the reserves established by s. 32 A .

⁵ Non-budgetary appropriations may be approved to finance important projects or measures.

¹ The establishment and implementation of the budget shall be governed by the principles of gross proceeds, universality, annuality and speciality.

² For the rest, the principles set out in s. 47 shall apply mutatis mutandis.

¹ The appropriations are evaluated according to a rigorous calculation of foreseeable needs.

² Where the legal basis for a charge or a foreseeable investment expenditure is lacking at the time of the establishment of the budget, the appropriation is open; subject to the entry into force of the required legal provision, it shall remain blocked in The interval.

³ Where a measure extends over a period of several years, the total deemed charge or investment is indicated in the statement of reasons for the credit claimed.

¹ Administrative units may be reserves:

A.

When, due to project delays, their budget envelopes or out-of-envelope credits under s. 30 A , para. 5, have not been used or have not been fully utilized;

B.

When they essentially achieve the benefit objectives and:

1.

That they realize additional net income from non-budgeted supplementary benefits, or

2.

They record lower than budgeted expenses or investment expenses by optimizing the provision of benefits.

² The Federal Assembly decides on the constitution of reserves with the State Account.

¹ An additional appropriation is requested for a charge or an investment expenditure for which the budget appropriation is missing or is not sufficient.

² The Federal Council periodically submits requests for additional appropriations to the Federal Assembly.

³ Should not be subject to an additional credit application:

A.

The shares of third parties not budgeted for revenue;

B. ¹

Contributions to funds from assigned revenue;

C. ²

Amortisation, revaluations and non-budgeted provisions.

¹ The Federal Council may adopt a charge or an investment expenditure before the opening of the additional appropriation by the Federal Assembly where such expenditure or expenditure cannot be deferred and the appropriation is lacking or is not sufficient. It requires, in advance, the concurrence of the Delegation of Finance.

² It shall submit to the subsequent approval of the Federal Assembly the urgent investment expenses and expenses which it has decided, with the concurrence of the Delegation of Finance, with the next supplement to the budget; where this is no longer possible, it shall Submit them as a credit overrun with the State account.

³ It may submit to the subsequent approval of the Federal Assembly urgent investment expenses or expenses which have not been previously approved by the Delegation of Finance when the following conditions are met:

A.

A credit overrun is required;

B.

The amount does not exceed 5 million francs by charge or investment expenditure.

⁴ If the charge or investment expenditure is greater than 500 million francs and, for subsequent approval, the convening of the Federal Assembly in extraordinary session shall be requested within one week after With the concurrence of the Delegation of Finance, this session shall take place during the third week following the filing of the request for a meeting.

The Federal Assembly approves, after the fact, with the State Account:

A.

Exceeding budget envelopes under s. 30 A , para. 4;

B.

The following charges, provided that they have not been budgeted:

1.

Accrual liabilities,

2.

Charges due to differences in foreign exchange rates or to a reduction in the circulation of money,

3.

Contributions to social insurance if they are linked by law to the evolution of value added tax revenue,

4.

Contributions to the railway infrastructure fund derived from the general budget of the Confederation;

C.

Urgent supplements which cannot be submitted with the next supplement to the budget (Art. 34, para. 2).

¹ When the implementation of investment projects, measures or projects has been delayed, the Federal Council may postpone to the following year budgetary appropriations and additional appropriations opened by the Federal Assembly which have not been Fully used.

² The Federal Council shall draw up a report on the carry-over of appropriations to the Federal Assembly in messages on additional appropriations or, where this is not possible, in the State account.

Supplements to the budget should not, to the extent possible, exceed the total amount of credits that are not likely to be used.

The Federal Assembly may, by decree on the budget, partially block:

A.

Commitment appropriations;

B.

Spending limits;

C.

Budgetary appropriations resulting in expenditure.

¹ The Federal Council is hereby authorised to waive or partially, in the following cases, the blocking of appropriations decided by the Federal Assembly:

A.

A severe recession;

B.

Payments must be made because of a legal obligation or a formal promise.

² The release of credits for severe recession is subject to approval by the Federal Assembly. The Federal Council shall draw up a report on the other releases in the messages on supplementary appropriations or in the State account.

¹ The accounts shall be established in such a way as to present a statement of wealth, finances and income in accordance with reality.

² They are based on the principles of importance, clarity, consistency of accounting methods and gross proceeds.

¹ The establishment of accounts is governed by generally accepted standards.

² The Federal Council regulates the modalities. He consults the finance committees in advance.

³ Any derogation from these standards is expressly stated in the Annex to the annual accounts.

⁴ The Federal Council is working to harmonize the standards for the presentation of the accounts of the Confederation, the cantons and the municipalities. It may allocate contributions to encourage such harmonization. ¹

¹ Capital assets are recorded on the estate under the following conditions:

A.

They have a future economic utility or are used directly in the performance of public tasks;

B.

Their value can be reliably determined.

² Existing commitments are recorded as liabilities when their implementation is likely to result in cash outflow.

³ Provisions are made to cover existing commitments where the date of execution or the amount of cash outflows resulting from them are undetermined.

⁴ If generally accepted standards require, financial guarantees and bonds are recorded on the liabilities side of the balance sheet. ¹

¹ The financial assets shall be recorded on the balance sheet at amortised value or at amortised acquisition cost.

² The administrative heritage is included in the balance sheet:

A.

The value of acquisition, net of depreciation and revaluation, or venal value;

B.

In the case of interests:

1.

For significant shareholdings: pro rata to the share held by the Confederation in the company's own capital,

2.

For other interests: to the venal value or, if it cannot be determined, to the acquisition value.

³ Financial commitments are recorded on the balance sheet at amortized value or amortized acquisition cost.

⁴ The inclusion in the balance sheet is governed by the principle of individual assessment.

¹ The tangible capital assets on the balance sheet are amortized:

A.

According to planning: to take into account the losses due to their ordinary use;

B.

Without planning: to take into account other capital gains.

² The balance sheet is corrected in the case of depreciation of assets and holdings. The downward revaluations have no effect on the confederation's claims to third parties.

³ Unplanned depreciation and revaluations are made as soon as the depreciation is predictable.

¹ Special funds are funds allocated to the Confederation by third parties who have encumbered them with expenses or come from budgetary appropriations under statutory provisions.

² The Federal Council regulates management in accordance with these charges and the legal provisions.

³ Expenses and revenues are recorded on the balance sheet outside the results account.

⁴ Accounting for special funds, including funds holding special accounts under s. 5, let. B, is governed by the provisions of this Act. ¹

¹ Special funding refers to the mandatory allocation of revenue to a defined task. Such funding requires a legal basis.

² Expenses that are not used to acquire capital assets can only be recorded on the asset if they are to be covered by assigned revenue.

¹ According to the principle of global consolidation, the following are grouped together in the accounting plan for consideration of the state account:

A.

The institutions and administrative units which appear in the accounts of the Confederation (Art. 5, paragraph a, c. 3);

B.

The administrative units and the funds of the Confederation which submit a special account to the Federal Assembly in the framework of the State account (Art. 5, let. (b);

C.

Decentralized federal government units that maintain their own accounting records.

² The Federal Council may, by order:

A.

Exclude from the overall consolidation of decentralized federal government units that hold their own accounts or prescribe principles for their accounts;

B. ¹

Include in the overall consolidation of other organizations in close contact with federal finances.

³ The consolidated account gives an overview of the state of wealth, finances and income, excluding internal transfers. Significant holdings may be consolidated using the equivalency method. ²