Supervisors are the most expensive civil servants: financial controllers cost 221,000 francs per head

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Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter (59), a self-described ‘saver’, wants to curb the federal government’s expenditure growth. This week, the House of Representatives debated the budget for next year and the tasks and financial plan until 2027.

For this occasion, SonntagsBlick has taken a closer look at the development of federal government expenditure – especially the changes in full-time jobs and personnel costs according to state accounts.

Federal financial control at its best

The analysis shows: Of all federal officials, the employees of the Federal Audit Office (SFAO) cost the most – that is, the staff of the agency that oversees “the financial management of the federal government.” The EFK was led by Michel Huissod (66) from 2013 to August 2022. The former “Sheriff of Bern” is now chairman of the online magazine “Republik”.

Between 2017 and 2022, personnel costs per full-time job at the EFK – not to be confused with gross wages – increased from 206,000 to approximately 221,000 francs. Compared to all federal offices, state secretariats and general secretariats, this is a top value. This is followed by the State Secretariat for International Financial Affairs (209,000 francs) and the General Secretariat of the Department of Economy, Education and Research (WBF) under Guy Parmelin (64) with 208,000 francs. At other authorities such as the Federal Services for Culture (155,000 francs), Sports (147,000 francs) or the Federal Customs Administration (141,000 francs), the personnel costs per full-time position are considerably lower.

The higher average costs are explainable

A spokesperson for the SFAO explains the high average costs for 122 full-time positions in the authority’s tasks as follows: “The risks in the federal government are high and the environment to be assessed in the context of financial supervision is very complex and extremely different.”

To effectively assess the economic use of the funds, the SFAO has highly qualified experts with many years of professional experience. “This, as well as the competitive situation in the labor market for financial and IT experts, is reflected in the high personnel costs per capita, which include other costs in addition to wages.”

At the General Secretariat WBF, personnel costs per full-time job have increased by no less than 15 percent since 2017. Faced with this, the media agency emphasizes that expenditure and average wage developments between the administrative units cannot be compared “so directly”. “These are all organized differently in terms of structure and tasks, which also explains a different wage structure and average wages,” said a spokesperson.

The General Secretariat of the WBF is one of the smallest general secretariats. “This results in relatively low total personnel costs, but relatively high average personnel costs per position,” the spokesperson continues. In addition, we employ a relatively large number of employees who have a lot of experience and have been employed for a long time. This also results in higher personnel costs.

Source:Blick