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Federal Department of Finance
Federal Department of Finance
Agency overview
Formed	1848
Jurisdiction	Federal administration of Switzerland
Headquarters	Berne
Employees	8,048
Annual budget	Expenditure: CHF 15.7 billion; Revenue: CHF 59.5 billion; (2009)
Minister responsible	Hans-Rudolf Merz, Federal Councillor
Website
	efd.admin.ch

The Federal Department of Finance (German: Eidgenössisches Finanzdepartement (EFD); French: Département fédéral des finances; Italian: Dipartimento federale delle finanze) is one of the seven departments of the Swiss federal government. The department is headquartered in Bern and is headed by a member of the Swiss Federal Council, Switzerland's finance minister. Initially, in 1848, the department was called "Department of Finance", then, from 1873 "Department of Finance and Customs", until it received its present designation in 1978.

[edit] Organisation

The Department is composed of the following offices:^[2]

General Secretariat, including the Federal Strategy Unit for IT (FSUIT).
Federal Finance Administration (FFA): Responsible for the budget, financial planning, financial policy, the federal treasury and financial equalisation between the Confederation and the cantons. Operates the federal mint.
Federal Office of Personnel (FOPER): Responsible for human resources management, personnel policy and personnel training.
Federal Tax Administration (FTA): Responsible for federal revenue collection and the application of federal tax laws in the cantons.
Federal Customs Administration (FCA): Responsible for monitoring the import, export and transit of goods, collecting customs duties, traffic charges and taxes. Operates the Swiss Border Guard, which carries out border police duties.
Swiss Alcohol Board (SAB): Regulates the alcohol market.
Federal Office of Information Technology, Systems and Telecommunication (FOITT): Provides IT services for the federal administration.
Federal Office for Buildings and Logistics (FBL): Responsible for property management, central procurement of non-durable goods, federal publications and the production of the Swiss passport.

The following independent authorities are affiliated to the FDF for administrative purposes:

Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO): The federal government audit office. Examines accounting practices and verifies the proper and efficient use of resources by the administration, other public service institutions and subsidy recipients.
Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA): Regulates banks, insurances, securities dealers, investment funds and stock exchanges, as well as the disclosure of shareholding interests, public takeover bids and mortgage lenders.
Federal Pension Fund (PUBLICA): Provides insurance coverage to employees of the federal administration, the other branches of the federal government and associated organisations.