The SAO audited state assets under the management of selected museums
Press Release – May 5, 2011
The auditors focused on the state budget funds managed by selected museums as well as activities of the Ministry of Culture, which is the authority of the audited museums.
The audit conclusion points out that the audited museums (with the exception of Jan Amos Komenský Museum in Uherský Brod) failed to record their accountings correctly within the period 2008–2009. The audited museums (with the exception of Jan Amos Komenský Museum in Uherský Brod and the Olomouc Museum of Art) failed to present complete and provable accounts. Shortcomings were found within the fields of assets’ evidence, accounting, and inventory.
The Moravian Museum and the Wallachian Open Air Museum violated Act No. 137/2006 Sb., on public procurements, when divided up public contracts in a way that reduced the amount of the contracts to below the financial threshold stipulated by the law.
Auditors revealed shortcomings within the inventory and administration of the museum collections at Husite Muzeum in Tábor, the Museum of Glass and Jewellery in Jablonec nad Nisou, Jan Amos Komenský Museum in Uherský Brod, and the Wallachian Open Air Museum. The Museum of Glass and Jewellery, the Silesian Museum, the Husite Muzeum, and the Moravian Museum violated Act No. 219/2000 Sb., on property of the Czech Republic, when borrowing collections for longer terms than allowed by the law.
The Wallachian Open Air Museum in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, National Technical Museum, the Moravian Museum, the Olomouc Museum of Art, Jan Amos Komenský Museum in Uherský Brod, and Technical Museum in Brno failed to follow Act No. 320/2001 Sb., on financial control in public administration, to full extent.
National Technical Museum violated the budgetary rules when transferred the income from property sales amounting to CZK 8 million (obtained in November 2008) into the state budget as late as in April 2009.
Government Ruling No. 840/09, on Audit Report No. 08/23 “State property management and management of the state budget funds provided from the chapter ‘Ministry of Culture’ by government agencies”, ordered the Ministry of Culture to implement corrective measures. After that, the Minister issued a decision in order to change the founder’s deeds of the audited museums. However, the changed deeds still omit some necessities and include several incorrect or incomplete data.
In 2009, the Ministry of Culture failed to supervise the audited museums as required by the Act No. 320/2001 Sb., on financial control in public administration. Nor the Ministry performed a control within the meaning of the Act No. 122/2000 Sb., on protection of collections in museums, in spite some museums had failed to meet their statutory commitments.
The audit was performed from June 2010 to January 2011. The audited period was years 2008 and 2009; the preceding period and the period until the completion of the auditing operation were also scrutinized where relevant. Among the audited bodies were the Ministry of Culture; National Technical Museum; Husite Muzeum in Tábor; the Moravian Museum; Jan Amos Komenský Museum in Uherský Brod; Chrudim Puppetry Museum; Museum of Glass and Jewellery in Jablonec nad Nisou; the Olomouc Museum of Art; the Silesian Museum; Technical Museum in Brno, and the Wallachian Open Air Museum in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm.
The auditing operation was included into 2010 Audit Plan of the SAO under No. 10/16. Zdeňka Profeldová, Member of the SAO Board, managed the operation and prepared the audit report as well.
Communication Department
Supreme Audit Office