Auditing operation No. 03/01
Management with the State Budget funds earmarked for the support of the national minorities
The auditing operation was included in the Annual Audit Plan of the Supreme Audit Office (hereinafter referred to as „SAO“) for the year 2003 under No. 03/01. The auditing operation was managed and audit conclusion drawn up by Ms. Marie Hošková, the Member of the SAO.
The aim of the audit was to examine the management with the State Budget funds spent in relation with the activities of the national minorities.
The audited period covered the years 2002 and 2003.
The audited bodies were The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (hereinafter referred to as „MEYS“), the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (hereinafter referred to as „MLSA“) and Ministry of Culture (hereinafter referred to as „MC“).
The MEYS, the MC and the MLSA allowed drawing of subsidies at up to 70 % of the actual expenses by introducing a category of actual expenses in the decision terms, although the Principles specify that subsidies may cover up to 70 % of budgeted expenses in the approved projects.
The MLSA decisions for the year 2003 do not prescribe a breakdown of costs by item nor their amounts. The MLSA left it up to the beneficiaries to structure the allocated resources. The MEYS and the MC outlined a detailed breakdown of costs including the amounts in their decisions, they did not, however, insist on compliance with them.
The MEYS, the MC and the MLSA accepted statements in which the beneficiaries reported overruns of the share of State Budget funds in project. The beneficiaries also did not comply with determined structure and the level of costs. The costs per item did not correspond to their sum. Provided subsidy together with other resources in total exceeded the project costs. Unused subsidies were not accounted for and returned in due time.
The MEYS and the MLSA did not require that other financial resources provided for project implementation have been listed in the statements. They were therefore not able to see from the statements whether other organizations have not in fact contributed to project implementation and whether the amount allocated in subsidy was indeed indispensable for the project.
In the majority of cases the beneficiaries completed the projects at a lower cost than that they had specified in their applications and got approved by the decisions. They did not adhere to the approved cost structure and amounts and did not ask for amendment of the decision, and they included costs unrelated with the project into total project costs. They also paid wages higher than the remuneration for comparable activities, they did not keep separate records of the received and used subsidies in their bookkeeping and in two cases did not keep any books at all.
The auditing operation proved that public bodies did not exercise sufficient control of the use of State Budget funds provided to private non-profit organizations and as a result resources totalling CZK 4,848,992 were drawn unjustified.