Approved by the GUAM Council of Foreign Ministers on 23 May, 2006, Kyiv

(with amendments approved by the GUAM Ministerial Council Decision of 4 December, 2008, and the GUAM Ministerial Council Decision of 7 December, 2011).

Article 1
Application

The present Financial Provisions shall establish the procedure for management of financial resources of the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development – GUAM (hereinafter GUAM).

Article 2
Definitions

  1. Budget – annual financial plan, which is developed in order to accomplish concrete tasks of GUAM and comprised of financial resources and estimate of expenditures.
  2. Financial resources – the resources, which are composed of contributions of the Member States and other financial receipts.
  3. Estimate of expenditures – a document, which determines directions of the expenditures of GUAM.
  4. Financial period constitutes the calendar year, which starts on 1 January and ends on 31 December.

Article 3
Budget

  1. Draft budget shall be worked out in US dollars and include sections and articles accompanied with relevant explanatory attachments and other necessary documents.
  2. Draft budget shall be worked out by the Secretary General and distributed to all Member States not later than nine months prior to the beginning of a following financial period.
  3. The agreed draft budget shall be submitted to CMFA for approval not later than six months prior to the beginning of a following financial period.

Article 4
Financial resources

  1. Contributions of the Member States shall be transferred to bank account of the Secretariat of GUAM.
  2. By common agreement, other financial receipts shall be transferred to the appropriate accounts of the Secretariat of GUAM.
  3. The budget resources of GUAM shall be hold in the bank or banks specified by the Council based on a proposal of the Secretary General.

Article 5
Contributions

  1. Contributions to the budget of GUAM shall be made by the Member States in US dollars in equal shares.
  2. Upon the budget approval, the Secretary General shall notify the Member States on the amount of their contributions.
  3. Contributions of the Member States of GUAM shall be subject to payment in full upon the receipt of the official notification. The Parties may transfer 50% of the amount of the contribution before the end of the first quarter, and the remaining part shall be paid before the end of the second quarter of a current financial period.
  4. The Secretary General submits reports to the Council of Foreign Ministers on the receipt of membership fees of the Member States as they are credited to the bank account of the GUAM Secretariat.
  5. Each new member state of GUAM shall pay its share of the contribution starting from the date of its accession to GUAM in accordance with the established amount of the contributions of the Member States for a current financial period as calculated for the period of its membership in GUAM.

Article 6
Other receipts

  1. Other financial receipts are the receipts received, upon mutual consent of the Member States, from the other states, organizations, foundations, judicial and physical entities, which are allocated to assist the achievement of the purposes of GUAM.
  2. Other financial receipts include also the interests paid by bank on the financial assets of GUAM held in a banking institution.

Article 7
Budget execution

  1. The approved budget shall be the basis for acceptance of obligations and payments to be made by Secretary General in accordance with the approved estimate of expenditures.
  2. The resources of the budget shall be used to fulfill the obligations within the appropriate financial period.
  3. The financial obligations accepted in accordance with the estimate of expenditures in the current financial period, which have not been fulfilled within this period, shall be included in the estimate of expenditures for the next financial period.
  4. The remained resources of the budget, which have not been used in accordance with the estimate of expenditures before the end of the current financial period, shall be used in the next financial period, as proposed by the Secretary General on the basis of the common consent of the Member States.
  5. The Secretary General has the right to carry out redistributions from one article to another (with the exception of the wage fund) in a total amount not exceeding 2 percent of the approved budget. Transfers from one article to another amount of more than 2 percent of the approved budget are made on the proposal of the Secretary General on the basis of the decision of the Council of Foreign Ministers by approving a new revised cost estimate for the current financial period.
  6. The Secretary General under the instructions of CMFA, and in case of accession of a new state to GUAM, and in other exceptional cases on his/her own initiative, shall submit proposals on the revision of the budget to be agreed upon with the Member States.
  7. Proposals on the revision of the budget shall contain the necessary calculations and justification and shall correspond to the structure of the approved budget.

Article 8
Internal control

  1. The Secretary General shall execute constant control over financial activities of GUAM. With this purpose, the Secretary General shall:
    1. develop and submit to CMFA for its approval the necessary rules and procedures to ensure effective management and compliance with proper saving regime;
    2. ensure control over the appropriate payments to be made on the basis of the certifying and other necessary documents;
    3. appoint the employees authorized to keep the accounting, receive money and make payments;
    4. execute internal financial control in order to ensure the appropriate receipt, maintenance and expenditure of financial resources and assets of GUAM,
  2. Decisions related to the acquisition of necessary goods and services on the basis of received proposals shall be made by the Secretary General by holding tender, making quotations and by other relevant procedures.

Article 9
Reporting

  1. The Secretary General shall be responsible to GUAM for the financial aspects of activities and shall report to CMFA on the proper and effective management of its financial resources in accordance with the present Provisions.
  2. The Secretary General may delegate, in written form, the authority to administer financial activities to one of the international officials.
  3. The Secretary General shall present quarterly and annual reports for the current financial period.
  4. The Secretary General shall present annual financial report on GUAM financial activities for the current financial period for consideration of an external auditor not later than 15 February of the year following the reporting period.
  5. The Secretary General shall provide the Member State of GUAM, on their requests, with any additional financial information about financial activities of GUAM.
  6. The annual report together with the corresponding conclusion of an external auditor shall be presented to the Member States for their consideration before 31 March of the year following the reporting period for further approval by CMFA.

Article 10
External audit

  1. To verify the financial activities of GUAM for the reporting financial period, external audit shall be conducted.
  2. The external audit is carried out by a group of auditors, consisting of representatives of at least three GUAM Member States. Each GUAM Member State decides to appoint its auditor and informs the GUAM Secretariat about its decision.
  3. The provision of financial support of the group of auditors shall be made by the Member States, which sent their representatives to the group, at the expenses of the budget of GUAM.
  4. External audit shall be conducted with the following purposes:
    1. to control the appropriate execution of the GUAM budget;
    2. to verify the conformity of financial statements with the accounting books and documents of GUAM;
    3. to ascertain compliance of financial operations with the established rules and procedures;
    4. to work out and present proposals and recommendations for improvement of financial activities of GUAM;
    5. to prepare an audit conclusion.
  5. The group of auditors shall be entitled to free access to all accounting books and other documents necessary for carrying out its activities.
  6. The group of auditors shall use the information it has received, including that of a special and confidential nature, exclusively for the purposes of external audit.
  7. The group of auditors shall issue and sign an audit conclusion on the financial activities of GUAM that contains the following basic elements:
    1. list of financial documents subject to audit;
    2. applied standards of audit;
    3. description of the work carried out;
    4. conclusions and recommendations.

Article 11
Financial experts

Before taking decisions that may have considerable financial implications for GUAM, the Council shall request for consultative assistance of financial experts from the Member States of GUAM.

Article 12
Entry into force

The present Financial provisions shall enter into force on the date of their approval by CMFA.

Article 13
Changes and amendments

  1. In case of disagreements in the interpretation and application of the present Financial Provisions, the Secretary General, after consultation with the Member States, shall submit them for consideration of CMFA.
  2. CMFA may make changes and amendments to the present Financial Provisions.