NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE STATE AUDIT OFFICE OF

NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE STATE AUDIT OFFICE OF THE REPUBLIC OF LATVIA State Audit Office of the Republic of Latvia 13 k-5 Skanstes Street, Riga, LV-1013 Telephone: +371 67017500 Fax: +371 67017673 E-mail: lrvk@lrvk. gov. lv Home page: http: //www. lrvk. gov. lv Ieva Braumfelde Director of Audit Department 04. 09. 2008.

Implementation of the State Audit Office Strategic Development Plan 2006 -2009 Based on mid-term evaluation, the Strategic Development Plan was updated in December 2007 – new objectives and achievable results were established that are directed towards the development and work quality improvement of the SAO 2

Objectives of the State Audit Office Strategic Development Plan 2006 -2009 § Objective 1 – Improvement of the audit work of the SAO § Objective 2 – Development of the SAO resources § Objective 3 – Strengthening communication and cooperation of the SAO 3

Improvement of the audit work of the SAO (1) Quality management system (QMS) established as integral part of SAO work: – Process descriptions for main and support processes approved – QMS manual developed – Feedback for all ongoing activities ensured 4

Improvement of the audit work of the SAO (2) Team. Mate fully implemented – TEC in use across the office from January 2008 – Team. Schedule in use across the office from August 2008 – From September 2008 all audit teams conduct financial audits in EWP 5

Improvement of the audit work of the SAO (3) § IDEA widely used in audits § New approach to the audit of consolidated annual accounts introduced Single audit team established 6

Development of the SAO resources § In-house training system established, potential financial, legality and performance audit trainers identified and trained § Training programmes developed and approved for: – all levels of audit staff – potential managers – IT use in audits § Agreement with 2 universities concluded on attraction of employees 7

Strengthening communication and cooperation of the SAO (1) § Involvement of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in audits, e. g. , – Sector related NGOs: WWF, Latvian Forest Owners’ Association, Latvian Forest Industry Federation – General NGOs: Transparency International Latvia § In cooperation with Saeima’s Public Expenditure and Audit Committee in 2008: – 16 audit results reviewed – Implementation of recommendations of 12 previously completed audits monitored 8

Strengthening communication and cooperation of the SAO (2) Intensified international cooperation and multiplied the amount of parallel audits, e. g. – On goods and other item movement across Latvia – Russia border control points – On administration of Enterprise Income Tax relief and administration of reduced VAT rate (allowances) – On compliance of management and supervision of fisheries sector with the requirements of EU regulatory enactments 9

Thank you for attention! The State Audit Office of the Republic of Latvia Phone: +371 7017500 Fax: +371 7017673 E-mail: lrvk@lrvk. gov. lv 10