Auditing operation No. 05/04
Management with State Budget funds of the Ministry of Industry and Trade budget chapter earmarked for the research and development
The auditing operation was included in the Annual Audit Plan of the Supreme Audit Office (hereinafter referred to as “SAO”) for the year 2005 under No. 05/04. The auditing operation was managed and the audit conclusion drawn up by Mr. Petr Skála, the Member of the SAO.
The aim of the audit was to examine the provision, the drawing and the usage of the State Budget funds earmarked for the research and development, including the system of evaluation of expected benefits.
The audited bodies were the Ministry of Industry and Trade (hereinafter referred to as “MIT”) and selected beneficiaries.
The audited period covered the years from 2001 until the end of the audit as well as previous periods in certain cases of relevant connections. The audited period covered the years from 1998 in case of the evaluation of benefits.
The audit made out that the MIT provided state funds of public support according to relevant legal regulations.
The SAO points out other deficiencies and risks in the system of provisioning of subsidies for the research and development. These deficiencies and risks decrease the economy and effectiveness of spent public funds.
- The MIT did not set the rules for the drawing of subsidy in the part of running and personal cost. By this the MIT did not create sufficient pressure on beneficiaries to draw the subsidy only in tenable amount. In the audited sample of projects, the beneficiaries considered the approved amount as the limit that they drew in full extent.
- The system misses the effective and objective mechanism that would allow the evaluation and comparison of social efficiency of the particular project. The absence of the efficiency evaluation also influences the selection of project in the phase of public tender.
- The objectivity of the evaluation of some projects effectiveness and efficiency is decreased by the fact that project aims are not expressed in verifiable way. The audit of their fulfilment has thus only formal trait.