Internal auditing procedures at the Ministry of Education inefficiently guaranteed the financing of sports and P. T. activities
Press Release – March 31, 2008
Internal auditing and ways to finance sports and personal training activities of the Ministry of Education (ME), together with the management of the University Sports Centre of ME were examined during a SAO audit that focused on the corrective measures adopted by the ministry after the previous audit No. 04/10 – State budget funds earmarked for the National Development Programme of Sports For All.
"The audit revealed lingering misconducts within the systemic financing of sports and physical training activities, which had been funded from the state budget chapters of Ministry of Education and General Cash Administration,“ said František Dohnal, president of the Supreme Audit Office (SAO).
The audit also revealed that the ME passed no strategic documents, which would announce a current P. T. policy and which should have replaced the state sports policy proclaimed for the period 2004–2006. The aims and goals of the existing programmes only manifest indeterminate objectives and run to inexplicit accomplishment evidences, which can be hardly used for any assessment.
"Unfortunately, the ministry neglected a continuous survey of the non-investment programmes. The endowments were granted according to perfunctorily elaborated projects without setting any limits of the competencies, the desirable extent of the activities, or prospective expenses. The drawing rules were set down inadequately. Contrary to the law, some grants were used for purposes that differed from the initial projects, which violated the budgetary discipline. Furthermore, the audit revealed that the guides for departmental sport-centres are functionally obsolete and that the process of the ministry's internal auditing is utterly insufficient,“ said Dohnal.
The auditing operation was included into the Audit Plan of the SAO under No. 07/17. Zdeňka Profeldová, Member of the SAO Board, controlled the operation and drew up the audit report as well.
Radka Burketová
Press Speaker
Supreme Audit Office