WITH DEFICIENCES OF VIEW
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The Court of Accounts of the Republic of Moldova (CoARM) presented, on June 8, during the meeting of the Public Finance Control Committee (PFCC), the results of the audits performed within the administrative-territorial unit of Balti municipality – the Audit report on the financial statements, as at 31 December 2020 and Compliance audit report on the budget process and public assets management during 2018-2020.
The main audit findings and recommendations were reported by Eduard Moroșan, member of the CoARM, as well as by the audit managers.
The purpose of these audits was to provide reasonable assurance that the financial statements of the administrative-territorial unit of Balti municipality, as of 31 December 2020, are not affected by material misstatement, due to fraud or error, by issuing an opinion, as well as the evaluation of the compliance of the budgetary process and the management of the public patrimony within the ATU Bălți during 2018-2020, in relation to the legal criteria of legal order.
Following the financial audit, the Court of Accounts issued a qualified opinion. At the same time, it is revealed that the budgetary process and the management of the public patrimony within the ATU Bălți municipality do not fully correspond to the spirit of regularity and good governance.
Among the main non-compliances, the Court of Accounts stated: non-identification and non-assessment of the economic potential and, respectively, of the taxable base related to the formation of sources to supplement the municipal budget; incurring irregular and inefficient expenditures for investments and capital repairs; non-transparent capitalization of subsidies in the absence of regulations and confirmatory calculations; the lack of proper evidence of the public patrimony and the truthful reporting of the patrimonial situations, as well as the failure to ensure the full registration of the rights over the real estate. These findings indicate a low responsibility of decision-makers in the performance of their duties.
In order to eliminate the deficiencies, the Court of Accounts submitted a series of recommendations to the audited entity, the most important being:
- eliminating the deficiencies indicated in the Audit Reports, establishing the persons responsible for them and holding them accountable according to the existing legal framework;
- developing a functional mechanism for assessing the taxable base for advertising tax planning and bringing this sector into compliance;
- establishing the payment for the use of public property lands related to enterprises and private objectives, with their subsequent calculation and collection, according to the legal provisions;
- identification of all real estate not valued for tax purposes, with the information of the PSA, for their evaluation, with the assurance of the proper registration of contracts;
- compliance with the daily required amount of food for a child/student within educational institutions, approved throughout the Order of the Minister of Health no. 638 from 12.08.2016, as well as the financial regulations allocated from the state and local budget to finance children's nutrition;
- inventory, delimitation (in the public and private domain), approval and registration in the Real Estate Register and in the accounting records of the managed public patrimony, with the establishment of the opportunity for its revaluation.
The recommendations are to be implemented by the entity within 9 months from the issuance of the decisions; with the subsequent informing of the Court of Accounts.
