SAO audit: Significant accounting errors amounting to CZK 40.2 billion were corrected by the Ministry of the Environment and the financial statements are reliable
Press release on audit No 22/18 – 20 November 2023
The Supreme Audit Office (SAO) audited the data of the final account, accounting and financial statements of the Ministry of the Environment (MoE) for the year 2022. The auditors also focused on the data submitted by the MoE for the assessment of the implementation of the state budget. As the audit started during the 2022 financial year, the MoE was able to continuously correct the significant deficiencies identified by the auditors, which would have had an impact of CZK 40.2 billion on the balances of the MoE's 2022 financial statements.
Among the most significant corrections is the addition of the Czech Republic's share in the financial assets of the "Modernisation Fund" in the amount of CZK 24.5 billion managed by the European Investment Bank. Thus, in its financial statements the MoE reports assets that take the form of available financial resources of the Czech Republic.
In the SAO's opinion, after the corrections were made, the MoE's accounts were kept in accordance with the legal regulations. Errors amounting to CZK 4.6 million which were not corrected by the MoE did not have a significant impact on the financial statements, which, according to the SAO, give a true and fair view of the subject matter of the accounts.
Neither the final accounts of the MoE nor the data submitted by the MoE for the assessment of the implementation of the state budget for 2022 contained material misstatements; these data are therefore reliable according to the SAO.
After the measures taken during the audit in the audited areas, the internal control system of the MoE was assessed by the SAO as being efficient.
Communication Department
Supreme Audit Office