History
In the Czech Lands (Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia), which were a part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy until 1918, the first audit institution was the Court Accounting Chamber (Hofrechnungskammer), set up in 1761. The name of the institution whose area of activities was the whole Habsburg monarchy, was changed several times. From 1792 to 1794, it was the Chief State Accounting Office (Staatshauptbuchhaltung), from 1794 to 1805 the Supreme State Audit (Oberste Staatskontrolle), and from 1805 to 1840, the name of the institution was General Accounting Directorate (General-Rechnungs-Direktorium). The Supreme Audit Office (Oberste Rechnungs-Kontroll-Behörde) was established in 1840, and functioned under this name until 1866, when the Supreme Accounting Court (Oberster Rechnungshof) was founded. The Supreme Accounting Court with jurisdiction for the Czech Lands remained in existence until 1919. After the Czechoslovak Republic was founded in 1918, the tradition of this office was continued by the Supreme Accounting and Audit Office in Prague, established in 1919 by the Act on the Establishment and Jurisdiction of the Supreme Audit Office.
After 1919, auditing in the Czech Lands comprised treasury audit, administrative audit and state audit. The treasury audit examined the work of executive bodies from the viewpoint of statutory regulations; administrative audit with jurisdiction for all authorities examined whether revenues and expenditures conformed to laws, regulations and ordinances, within the limits of the budget. The third type was the state audit, whose concern was the economic plan for a certain economic or accounting period. It considered whether the state administration was guided by this authoritatively prescribed plan. This type of audit was the constitutional right of the Parliament, which carried it out, on the one hand, by enacting the budget and, on the other hand, by considering the final statement; the audit reviewed the responsibility of the ministries.
Subordinate to the Parliament, the Office carried out in particular ex-post audit of financial management, was monocratic, ex lege independent, of equal status with ministries and at the same time independent of them. Its was to supervise the management of public funds and the implementation of the state budget. It was headed by a chairman appointed by the President of the Republic. Except during the Nazi occupation, this Office functioned until 1951, when the Ministry of State Control was created as one of the instruments of centralized directive rule.
In the first half of the 1950s, the Soviet model of economy was adopted in our country. The state professional audit institution was made into a central body of state administration, headed by a minister who was a member of the government. This system required supreme audit to further the political objectives of the totalitarian regime led by the communist party, and to push through its mode of management.
After 1960, the Ministry was replaced by the Central Commission of State Control and Statistics, which, besides auditing, also gathered all main statistical data. Auditing focused on supervising the fulfillment of the state plan in production enterprises. Auditing of central bodies was given little attention. Examination of the management of the financial resources of the state, according to the various chapters of the budget, was virtually nonexistent. The separation of the supreme statistical institutions from the audit authority came in 1967, when two separate central offices were established.
During the brief reform period in 1968, the supreme audit institution was subordinate to the Parliament. In 1971, a system of people's control bodies was instituted on both the federal level and that of the constituent republics, again as direct instruments of management of the state and society by the communist party.
The first phase after 1989, democratic changes in the country saw the Federal Ministry of Control established, and at the same time Ministries for the Czech and Slovak Republics. The ministries were central bodies of state administration, headed by ministers.
In the second phase after 1991, major changes in the work of the state audit authority continued. It had jurisdiction over the state administration and subordinate bodies, including legal persons and all the other persons receiving resources from the state budget.
In the third phase of changes in the concept of auditing activity, preparations were made for the re-establishment of the Supreme Audit Office. For a period of transition, both the federal and national Ministries of Control and the Supreme Audit Office of the Czech Republic functioned simultaneously.
After the Czech Republic became a separate independent state in January 1993, the present Supreme Audit Office was established in July 1993.