SAO audited annual accounts and financial statements of the Czech Social Security Administration for the year 2010
Press Release – September 6, 2011
From October 2010 to April 2011, auditors from the Supreme Audit Office (SAO) were performing audit operation No. 10/19 – Annual accounts and financial statements of the Czech Social Security Administration for the year 2010. The auditors aimed at annual accounts and financial statements that the Czech Social Security Administration submitted for the 2010 closing account of state budget chapter No. 313 – Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
Since January 1, 2010, changes to the public finance accounting principles have been difficult for the organisational units of the State due to the complicated implementation of new legal regulations.
Implementing regulations to the Act on Accounting came into effect shortly after their issuing, especially the accounting standards, which were issued in a limited number (by January 1, 2010, only four of them came into effect). According to the Act on accounting, all accounting units must obey the accounting standards. The implementing regulation to the Act, decree No. 410/2009 Sb., contains provisional stipulations, which postpone the effect of some of the enactments, but organisational units of the State had only little time to apply the new accounting methods. Moreover, the new legal provisions required significant changes to their software systems.
The limitations described above influenced the audit operation as well. Stipulations of the decree No. 410/2009 could be ambiguous and accounting processes were not clearly defined, so the SAO could not declare its statements to some of the balance figures.
With the exception of the incorrect method of reporting related to depreciated claims, the financial statements of the Czech Social Security Administration for the year 2010 give a true and fair view of the accounts in accordance with the law. The data were not flawless, but there were only minor inaccuracies.
The audit operation was included into 2010 Audit Plan of the SAO. Jan Vedral, Member of the SAO Board, controlled the operation and prepared the audit conclusion as well.
Communication Department
Supreme Audit Office