PUBLIC EXPENDITURE AND AUDIT COMMITTEE Jnis Reirs Public

PUBLIC EXPENDITURE AND AUDIT COMMITTEE Jānis Reirs Public Expenditure and Audit Committee 11 Jēkaba Street, Riga LV-1811 Tel. : +371 7087351 E-mail: Ugis. Datavs@saeima. lv Home page: www. saeima. lv 1 Member of Public Expenditure and Audit Committee 18. 10. 2006.

Legal basis of the Public Expenditure and Audit Committee in the Constitution Parliament establishes committee and determines the number of members and their duties Committee has the right to: q require from Ministers or local government authorities information and explanations necessary for the work of the committee; q invite to their sittings responsible representatives from the relevant ministries or local government authorities to furnish explanations. 2

Legal basis of the Public Expenditure and Audit Committee in the Rules of Procedure of Parliament (1) The activities, tasks and responsibilities of Committee are regulated by the Rules of Procedure 17 standing committees are functioning in the Saeima at the moment, including the Public Expenditure and Audit Committee 3

Legal basis of the Public Expenditure and Audit Committee in the Rules of Procedure of Parliament (2) Rules of Procedure prescribe that the PEAC sittings are: q q q 4 open to the public, but also a closed meeting may be held upon the decision of the Parliament or the committee; full powers if at least half of the committee members are present; recorded and the minutes shall be made available to committee members not later than three days after the committee sitting.

Legal basis of the Public Expenditure and Audit Committee in the Rules of Procedure of Parliament (3) The minutes of the committee sittings include the following information: q q q q 5 the time of the opening and closing of the meeting; the names of committee members participating in the meeting; the names of other persons participating in the meeting; the name of the chairperson; the name of the person taking the minutes; the type of committee meeting (open or closed); the discussed agenda items; the decisions adopted and the results of the voting.

The responsibility of the Public Expenditure and Audit Committee (1) Audits the bookkeeping records, the legitimacy and usefulness of expenditures, as well as the annual report of the Parliament: During the report year plans and carries out an audit of selected items of the Parliament’s financial management Submits opinion on the accomplished selective audits to the Presidium of the Parliament At the end of each reporting year the annual report is being audited 6

The responsibility of the Public Expenditure and Audit Committee (2) According to the recent practice, open competition is organized for the rights of sworn auditors to perform an audit of the annual report of the Parliament, giving audit opinion and preparing findings identified during the audit. Within six months after the end of the reporting year – Committee submits to the Presidium of the Saeima its opinion on the audit of the financial report. 7

The composition of the Public Expenditure and Audit Committee consists of 14 members of Parliament: 7 members of Parliament of ruling position; 6 oppositional members of Parliament; 1 independent member of Parliament. The Public Expenditure and Audit Committee is chaired by oppositional member of Parliament 8

The activities of the Public Expenditure and Audit Committee - how to make the work more effective (1) SAO submits report to PEAC regarding financial audits of such audited entities for which the SAO has issued modified audit opinion and reports regarding significant legality and performance audits In case of significant audit reports issued, there are two PEAC sittings held: 1 st sitting qwith Auditor General 9 2 nd sitting qwith Auditor General qwith the minister responsible for the audited field

The activities of the Public Expenditure and Audit Committee - how to make the work more effective (2) 1 st sitting qwith Auditor General q State Audit Office reports on significant findings and conclusions; q PEAC has a chance to gain extra information to better understand specific audit findings and conclusions. 10

The activities of the Public Expenditure and Audit Committee - how to make the work more effective (3) 2 nd sitting qwith Auditor General qwith the minister responsible for the audited field q the minister responsible for the audited field is being questioned on particular findings identified during the audit; q PEAC identifies the necessary amendments of law; q the adopted decision of PEAC. 11

The activities of the Public Expenditure and Audit Committee - how to make the work more effective (4) The adopted decision of PEAC: Decision on time schedule for: qinformation submission; qimplementation of recommendations. Auditee’s deadline for information submission to PEAC and SAO regarding the implementation of recommendations PEAC requests SAO’s opinion on auditee’s performed actions to eliminate the identified gaps in the previously fixed term Review of information regarding the implementation of recommendations during the PEAC sitting 12

Thank you for your attention! Public Expenditure and Audit Committee 11 Jēkaba Street, Riga LV-1811 Tel. : +371 7087351 E-mail: Ugis. Datavs@saeima. lv Home page: www. saeima. lv 13