Finance

UPU is funded through three channels as follows:

Pillar 1: contributions from member countries to the regular budget of the Union. 

Pillar 2: contributions to the affiliated Cooperatives in exchange for their services

Pillar 3: fees for chargeable products and services and voluntary contributions for extra-budgetary programmes

The funding above forms an annual budget, which is approved by the Council of Administration to implement the work programme of the Union. 

The implementation is executed by the Director-General within the scope of his authority to commit and authorize expenses, and to make payments for the purposes assigned within the limits of the appropriations.

The UPU Programme and Budget stems from the strategy of the Union, which gets adopted at UPU Congress for the upcoming business cycle of four years and lasts until the subsequent Congress. 

It comprises the narrative part, elaborating on the Postal Strategy of the current business cycle and related Business Plan and the detailed financial overview by Programmes by Goals, Programmes and Projects in accordance with the Business Plan, as adopted by the Congress. 

It comprises the narrative part, elaborating on the Postal Strategy of the current business cycle and related Business Plan and the detailed financial overview by Programmes by Goals, Programmes and Projects in accordance with the Business Plan, as adopted by the Congress and supported by an aggregated breakdown by type of revenues and expenses.

Financial Statements of UPU cover the period starting 1 January and ending at 31 December.

They are prepared in accordance to International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) as established by the Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB).

The statements provide detailed information on assets and liabilities, revenues and expenses as well as the cash flow of the organization.

The financial statements present the revenue and expenses of the Organization in a consolidated fashion including those of the controlled entities. 

The mentioned entities fully participate in the organization’s mission, benefit from administrative support by the International Bureau and are under the direct oversight by the UPU Governing Bodies. 

They do not represent neither legal entities nor cooperative companies as defined under private law and therefore, as mentioned above are fully consolidated in the UPU financial statements.

The mentioned controlled entities are as follows:

The EMS Cooperative, which is a voluntary cooperative established by resolution of the POC (CEP 2/1998).

The Telematics Cooperative, which is a voluntary cooperative established by the POC in line with Seoul Congress resolution C 27/1994 and confirmed by Beijing Congress resolution C 52/1999.

The Quality of Service Fund, which is a trust established by Congress to help countries improve the quality of the universal postal service. The QSF is governed by a Deed of Trust adopted by the POC.

The UPU*Clearing User Group , which was established by POC resolution CEP 5/2003 to give its members a low-cost and efficient means of settling their international postal accounts within a system that con­solidates transactions and calculates settlement.

In compliance with Article 38 of Financial Regulations the financial statements of the Union are audited by the External Auditor of UPU.