On 26 March 2024, the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia mag. Urška Klakočar Zupančič welcomed the President of the Court of Audit Jana Ahčin who presented Annual Report of the Court of Audit for 2023.
The President of the Court of Audit pointed out that the Court of Audit also in 2023 followed its key principles – independence, objectivity and efficiency of its operations, which provide guidance to its work related to all activities, first of all when selecting program of auditing, implementing audits and presenting audit findings, and finally when monitoring how effectively were the proposed changes in the operations of the users of public funds implemented respectively how systemic regulations pertaining to individual fields of their operation were enforced.
The discussion between the presidents among others touched upon the arrangements of payments of functionaries and public servants, since the existing arrangement in practice shows unacceptable anomalies, such as when payments of the public servants are exceeding payment grades of the functionaries within an institution even when they are heads of the departments. The President of the Court of Audit stressed that certain legislative amendments burdened the Court of Audit with new tasks last year and were adopted without prior coordination. Nevertheless, she expressed satisfaction with the adopted amendment of Public Finance Act that enables the independent bodies to autonomously define the scope of their financial plans, thus their financial independence is safeguarded. Additionally, implemented legal amendments, audit measures and recommendations of the Court of Audit provide improvements in the use of public funds.
The President of the National Assembly mag. Urška Klakočar Zupančič was beforehand invited to the celebration of the important anniversary, namely 30 years of the operations of the Court of Audit that shall take place in December.
The Court of Audit through an integrated approach, detailed criteria and standards as well as by successfully adjusting to numerous changes follows its mission of watching over public money. The President of the Court of Audit believes that it is important to strengthen public trust in the independent control institutions, thus all of us – institutions, citizens and other stakeholders – must actively participate and contribute towards integrity and stability of the society.
Attachments:
Infographics of key results
Annual Report 2023