The State Audit Office of Hungary (SAO) has completed its audit of the tender scheme under the Rural Development Programme, which aimed to increase the free availability of public welfare function of Hungarian forests. During the audit, the SAO identified a number of problems in the call for tender and the tender procedure which prevented that the key objective of the call for tender is achieved effectively and in case of all applications. The audit also contributed to the non-payment of a project which would not be able to fulfil the function undertaken by the beneficiary.
The SAO has concluded its audit aimed at evaluating the measures taken to improve e-administration, which included testing the user experience of the electronic interfaces for the most common administrative procedures. The audit found that major steps have been taken towards a full-scale implementation of digital citizenship, but it also revealed shortcomings in strategic planning and in consistent user-friendliness. It is noteworthy that some of the SAO’s findings have already been applied during the audit process.
The audit of the State Audit Office of Hungary on the situation of residential social care for the elderly has been concluded. Although the SAO has also identified a number of good practices at the audited institutions, the solution to the deficiencies known by the ministry and the public maintainer – lack of professionals, low wages or outdated assets – requires additional measures. Among other things, the SAO formulated recommendations to ensure the personal and material conditions of the institutions as well as the more efficient management of resources.
In the framework of its audit, the State Audit Office of Hungary examined whether the concerning local government evaluated the actual effect of the change in energy prices on the implementation of the budget, its financial management as well as on the performance of its mandatory and voluntary tasks. The audit also covered whether the local government and its budgetary bodies had taken energy efficiency measures in order to reduce energy costs and the measures taken by the local government contributed to ensuring the financial balance of the budget and the performance of the mandatory tasks..
The Democratic Coalition, the Jobbik Movement for a Better Hungary, the Momentum Movement, the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP), the LMP – Hungary’s Green Party and the Dialogue for Hungary disregarded the principles of good faith and proper exercise of rights in the election campaign, they circumvented legal regulations in terms of the funding of their joint campaign, the limiting of the extent of campaign expenditures as well as the accounting for the campaign.
The individual candidates of the Fidesz-Hungarian Civic Alliance-Christian Democratic People’s Party (Fidesz-KDNP) did not renounce the utilisation of budget support in favour of their nominating organisation. The budget support for the nominating organisation was properly used by Fidesz-Hungarian Civic Alliance-Christian Democratic People’s Party to finance the expenses related to the election campaign activities during the election campaign period, which was certified by regular accounting documents.
Within the framework of a compliance audit, the State Audit Office of Hungary assessed the lawfulness of the financial management of the Fidesz-Hungarian Civic Alliance, the Momentum Movement, the Christian Democratic People’s Party, the Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party and their foundations in 2020-2021. In addition to its findings on irregularities detected during the audit, the SAO made recommendations to correct the deficiencies. During the audit of the Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party and its foundation, the SAO found serious weaknesses in the regulatory, management, grant-making and donation acceptance procedures.
The State Audit Office of Hungary (SAO) has completed the audit of the accounting of the funds spent by individual candidates who obtained representation in the 2022 parliamentary election campaign. 94 representatives out of the 97 individual candidates have used the funds in accordance with the law. Only three candidates were found to have committed irregularities. The audit of the accounting of the funds used by the nominating organisations for the campaign is still ongoing.
The process of resource
distribution decree-making of 2022 of the Municipality of Budapest was in
compliance with the provisions of the Resource Distribution Act, and the
regularity of decree-making was ensured. The planned expenditure and revenue
figures of the 2022 resource distribution were supported by calculations, and
the resource distribution and its financial accounting were in compliance with
the regulations. No corrections are required for the 2023 distribution,
although supplements needed in case of certain provisions of the decree. The
recommendations made in the previous SAO audit have been followed up.
The execution of the 2021 central budget complied with the legal requirements. The budget revenue and expenditure outturns in the 2021 Bill on Final Accounts are reliable. The final draft of the bill has been prepared in accordance with the legal provisions. Public debt has been in compliance with the legal requirements.