DEPARTMENT GENERAL FOR ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

The Department General for Economic Affairs assures the carrying out of financial attributes, those relating to investments and public acquisitions, as well as administrative attributes. The Department General for Economic Affairs oversees the Department for Budget and Finance, the Department of Administration, the Department for Public Acquisitions and the Dispatch & Distribution Office. The Department General for Economic Affairs reports to the Secretary General of the Romanian Cultural Institute.
The Department General for Economic Affairs is headed by a director general.


A. Finance-Accounting Department

The Finance-Accounting Department oversees the Finance Office and the Accounting Office. The Finance-Accounting Department is headed by a director.

1. Finance Office
The Finance Office is headed by an office chief and exercises the following main attributes:
1. Provides for the creation of annual revenue and expenditure budget plans on the basis of studies and documentation put together by the Institute’s specialty departments and structures it in conformity with the budgetary classification drafted by the Ministry of Public Finance;
2. Distributes the approved quarterly budget;
3. Updates the budget of the Romanian Cultural Institute with all intervening influences, including transfers of credit from one spending category to another, budgetary corrections, and supplements from the Government’s budgetary reserve fund;
4. Drafts documents budgetary correction proposals;
5. Studies monthly financing openings on the basis of proposals received from the other departments and drafts the necessary documentation and its submission within the specified timeframe;
6. Comments on reports concerning the organization of activities, domestic and international travel, acquisitions of goods and services regarding legal and budgetary engagements, the liquidation and ordering of budgetary credits, in the hopes of ultimately obtaining payment of invoices sent by suppliers within the specified timeframe and reviewing expenditures without surpassing approved budgetary credits;
7. Keeps track of legal and budgetary engagements;
8. Drafts the financial-accounting report of all of the institution’s financial transactions;
9. Drafts status reports about expenditures on different categories of activities (publishing of books and magazines, spending on cultural programs, etc.);
10. Drafts status reports and informative documents as requested by the specialty institutions of the state;
11. Organizes the activity of the payments office in accordance with the relevant legal provisions, ensures the effecting of all payments in cash and foreign currency, as well as the effecting of bank transactions;
12. Provides the necessary funds for travel by Institute’s personnel in the country as well as abroad on the basis of orders submitted and approved by the chief accountant; verifies reports and ensures, together with the specialty departments, the restitution of any unused foreign currency to the payments office of the Institute and the reconstitution of the respective funds;
13. Analyses and comments, in advance of submission for approval, on proposals by the specialty departments regarding the retirement of certain funds, the cessation of certain resources and of other real property, in accordance with the regulations in effect;
14. Makes available to the chief accountant any information relating to the financial-accounting activity of the institution;
15. Drafts and forwards statistical reports of a financial nature;
16. Provides for the respecting of legal provisions in effect regarding compensation for the employees of the Institute, on the basis of the job and personnel rules drafted by the Human Resources Office, as well as hiring orders;
17. Calculates the rights due authors on the basis of contracts;
18. Calculates the remunerations due on the basis of contracts for the rendering of services;
19. Determines and calculates the rights due over the vacation period in accordance with relevant legal provisions;
20. Determines and carries out all restorations of funds to the state budget, in accordance with the terms established by law, and ensures the submission by the legal deadline of the necessary declarations regarding CASS, CAS, the unemployment fund, etc.;
21. Calculates the rights due for medical leaves on the basis of medical documents;
22. Drafts documents necessary for making payments to the state, in accordance with the terms established by law and by other institutions, as well as employee compensation requirements;
23. Comments on internal proposals initiated by the departments and on preliminary plans concerning the hiring, retirement, and promotion of employers, with a view to respect the legal provisions concerning the public sector compensation system;
24. Permanently provides for budgetary allocation for salary expenditures provided for in the budget;
25. Drafts monthly, quarterly, bi-annual, and annual reports regarding the salary structure used to the Ministry of Economy and Finance;
26. Drafts the centralized report with a view to monitoring of personnel expenditures for those institutions reporting to the Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs and financed wholly by the state budget and submitting them within the timeframe determined by the Ministry of Economy and Finance;
27. Drafts and submits annual income tax records within the specified timeframe for all employers and collaborators of the Institution;
28. Drafts the documents necessary for determining salary expenditures in the Institute’s budget plan and in corrected budget plans when regulations require;
29. Issues financial audit stamps in accordance with the specific legislation governing all transactions and documentation from which are derived financial rights and obligations between the Institute and other individuals or organizations, as well as the use of funds provided for in the Institute’s revenues and expenditures budget, on the basis of the corresponding accompanying documents in proof previously signed by the head of the specialty department/office initiating the respective transaction;
30. Serves as the object of internal financial audits regarding the following:
- Legal and budgetary engagements;
- The initiation and transfer of credits;
- The modification of transfers done on a quarterly basis and on the basis of subdivisional categories;
- Budgets for approved credits, including credit transfers;
- Accounting for expenditures;
- Other categories of transactions as established by the order of the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
31. Audits are carried out by issuing official stamps by persons appointed on the order of the president of the Institution, in accordance with legal provisions regarding audits;
32. Persons carrying out audits are different than those that approve and execute transactions subject to official stamp;
33. The official stamp is exercised through the signature of an appointed person and through the application of the personal seal that comprises the following information: the name of the institution, the text “Stamped for internal financial audit”, the number of the stamp, and the date of issue of the official stamp;
34. The documents presented for the internal audit stamp are listed in the Register concerning the transactions presented for the internal audit stamp. On the basis of these is drafted a quarterly report that concerns the transactions subject to internal financial audit for the Central Administration. On a quarterly basis, the report is submitted to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The verification procedure is that established by the Order no. 522/2003 of the Ministry of Public Finance for the approval of general methodological rules regarding the exercises of internal financial audit;
35. Provides directly for the execution of the Institute’s budget and ensures application of the rules for closing the budgetary execution established annually by the Ministry of Economy and Finance;
36. Provides for the chronological and systematic registration, revision, and storage of information pertaining to transactions effected, in lei as well as in foreign currency.
37. Verifies the documents in proof received and drafts monthly accounting reports covering all financial transactions;
38. Revises the documents from an accounting standpoint using the accounts guide for public institutions with a view to drafting quarterly and annual accounting reports and submitting them within the specified timeframes;
39. Drafts status reports and replies to information requests sought by the specialty institutions of the state;
40. Provides for the recording of all public assets and records all public transactions;
41. Provides for the optimal inventorying of public assets and estimation of their value in accounting reports;
42. Analyses and comments on the proposals of the specialty departments pertaining to the retirement of certain funds, material resources, other real property, in accordance with the regulations in effect, for submission for approval.
43. Provides for the monitoring of debtors;
44. Provides for and ensures the accounting for of materials, inventory items, and resources, keeping records of storage locations;
45. Collaborates with other departments and offices to carry out their proposed objectives and fulfill their specific attributes;
46. Carries out any other attributes provided for by law, as well as those expressly conferred by the leadership of the Institute;


B. Administrative Department
The Administrative Department is headed by a director and exercises the following main attributes:

1. Provides logistical support, through its own resources or through third parties, for cultural programs taking place at the headquarters of the Romanian Cultural Institute as well as in other locations;
2. Drafts the list of necessary investments on the basis of information collected by its personnel according to the approved budget and submits it for approval by the Managing Committee.
3. Provides logistical support, through the Office of Ceremonies, for ceremonial and promotional activities;
4. Provides for the coordination of maintenance, usage, and repair of the Institute’s public mobile and immobile assets, including the automobile garage, through its own resources or through third parties;
5. Collaborates with all of the Institute’s departments to provide for the material, technical, and administrative conditions necessary for them to carry out their activities;
6. Proposes the signing of contracts for public acquisitions in field corresponding to the activities of the department;
7. Provides for the carrying out of contracts for public acquisitions in fields corresponding to the activities of the department;
8. Provides for the coordination of market research activities with a view to carrying out provisioning and refurbishing activities;
9. Provides for the maintaining of ties between the Institution and other public institutions (e.g., city halls, road authorities, etc.) within its field of activity;
10. Provides, through a manager, for the management of the mobile and immobile assets of the Institute (e.g., fixed resources, inventory items, etc.);
11. Provides a courier for the institutes in Bucharest;
12. Collaborates with other departments and offices to carry out their proposed objectives and fulfill their specific attributes;
13. Carries out any other attributes provided for by law, as well as those expressly conferred by the leadership of the Institute;

Office of Ceremonies
The Office of Ceremonies reports to the Administrative Departments. The Office of Ceremonies is headed by an office chief and exercises the following main attributes:
1. Provides logistical support, through its own resources or through third parties, for ceremonial or representational activities;
2. Provides for the coordination of provisioning and refurbishing activities to ensure the best possible execution of the Institute’s activities;
3. Ensures that actual consumption falls within projected consumption (e.g., auto fuel);
4. Checks and comments on calculations and financial reports to ensure the respecting of the level of spending provided for by law and/or in the budget (e.g., cost of food and drink per person) within its field of activity;
5. Collaborates with other departments and offices to carry out their proposed objectives and fulfill their specific attributes;
6. Carries out any other attributes provided for by law, as well as those expressly conferred by the leadership of the Institute;


C. Department of Public Acquisitions
The Department of Public Acquisitions is headed by a director and exercises the following main attributes:
1. Drafts all documents necessary for making public acquisitions: reviews, documents in proof, assigning documentation, participation announcement, acquisition file: relevant assigning documentation, opening declaration, procedural report, contracts, orders, and communications, in accordance with the legal rules in effect;
2. Drafts the acquisition file: relevant assigning documentation, opening declaration, procedural report, contracts, orders, and communications, in accordance with the legal rules in effect;
3. Provides for the execution of the public acquisition activities and direct purchases on the basis of legal rules and internal procedures, for services, products, and works;
4. Permanently monitors and adopts those modifications that appear in the legislation concerning public acquisitions;
5. Writes the draft plan and plan for public acquisitions on the basis of information collected by its personnel and on the basis of the approved budget and submits it for approval by the Managing Committee;
6. Solicits in writing from the personnel of all departments of the Institute all information necessary for the carrying out of public acquisitions (technical information, necessary characteristics of the product, service, or work to be acquired, the desired timeline, and the financial estimations related to the respective acquisition);
7. Provides for the closing of contracts with suppliers;
8. Collaborates with other departments and offices to carry out their proposed objectives and fulfill their specific attributes;
9. Carries out any other attributes provided for by law, as well as those expressly conferred by the leadership of the Institute;

Office for the Oversight of Public Acquisitions
The Office for the Oversight of Public Acquisitions reports to the Department of Public Acquisitions. The Office for the Oversight of Public Acquisitions is headed by an office chief and exercises the following attributes:
1. Ensures that contracts and public acquisitions are carried out correctly and efficiently;
2. Collaborates with other departments and offices to carry out their proposed objectives and fulfill their specific attributes;
3. Carries out any other attributes provided for by law, as well as those expressly conferred by the leadership of the Institute;


D. Dispatch & Distribution Office
The Dispatch & Distribution Office exercises the following main attributes:
1. Organizes a mail collection point for the delivery of correspondence and small parcels domestically and internationally with the help of the postage meter, as well as through the postal service, expedited mail, courier mail, customs, etc.;
2. Analyses the stock of books and publications and proposes measures for delivering books to be sold, making donations to interested parties, and selling paper;
3. Drafts documentation necessary for proposed activities and involves in these activities all of the departments of the Romanian Cultural Institute;
4. Writes up distribution plans for the Romanian Cultural Institute’s published products in Bucharest, the rest of the country, and abroad;
5. Closes and monitors contracts for the carrying out of distribution activities with credible associations, that are recognized on the market for books and publications and have a distribution network in the entire country;
6. Organizes and updates a system of postal and online distribution; writes and updates book proposals and publications in an electronic format for the Internet;
7. Issues receipts for clients and monitors the optimal distribution of goods;
8. Provides for the accompaniment of cultural goods during transport (printing houses, clients, etc.);
9. Monitors the receipt of payments for sales and, in the case of non-paying clients, takes measures for the recuperation of balances;
10. Presents the Legal Office with the documentation necessary for legal action by non-paying clients;
11. Organizes client records;
12. Analyses book and publication returns and proposes relevant measures;
13. Collaborates with other departments and divisions to achieve their proposed objectives and fulfill their specific attributes.
14. Carries out any other attributes provided for by law, as well as those expressly conferred by the Institute’s leadership.