WITH DEFICIENCES OF VIEW
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The Public Finance Control Committee (PFCC) heard, on March 27, the audit reports on the financial statements of the Ministry of Economy (ME) and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development (MIRD) for the year of 2022.
The audit findings and recommendations were presented by the Vice President of the Court of Accounts of the Republic of Moldova (CoARM), Viorel Chetraru and auditors responsible for the examined audits.
During the audit at the ME, the Court of Accounts found that, although the Ministry has, in general terms, methods and procedures that support the activities carried out, self-control and monitoring mechanisms, they often remain non-functional and do not fully ensure the management and appropriate reporting of public means. Thus, for the second consecutive year, the Court of Accounts issued a qualified opinion on the consolidated financial reports of the Ministry, submitting relevant recommendations for removing the identified deficiencies and improving institutional management.
The basis for the qualified opinion was the fact that as a result of the dissolution of the Implementation Unit of the grant offered by the Government of Japan, the assets of this Unit were to be transferred to the Ministry of Economy according to the Regulation on the manner of transfer of public property goods, but in the transfer documents completed by the Unit, the information on the compromised claims in the off-balance sheet accounts in the total amount of 8,067.8 thousand lei was not mentioned.
Thus, due to the gaps in the documents for the transmission of the assets and liabilities of this Unit, as well as the insufficient control by the Ministry regarding the inventory of the off-balance sheet accounts, the Ministry of Economy, in the consolidated balance sheet ended on December 31, 2022, erroneously reported the information on the compromised claims in the off-balance sheet accounts, these being undervalued by 8,067.8 thousand lei.
In 2022, for the MIRD, there were specified financial resources worth 6 billion 202.4 million lei, 4 billion 795.6 million lei being capitalized. The Ministry manages the most significant budget of all specialized central public authorities.
Following the audit mission, the Court of Accounts issued a qualified opinion on the Ministry's consolidated financial reports. The qualified opinion was determined by the fact that the Public Institution (PI) the National Office of Regional and Local Development did not fully transmit to the beneficiary communities the value of the investments made with the aim of improving the conditions of activity in the educational units. A similar situation can be also observed in the case of capital repairs carried out by the Technical Supervision Agency in the administrative building belonging to another public entity. This fact, at an aggregate level, overvalued the group of accounts related to buildings by 20.84 million lei.
Another aspect that determined the reserved opinion in the year of reference consists of the fact that the PI Implementation Unit of the Project of Building Houses for the Socially Vulnerable Groups II did not transmit the value of the investments made in 31 social apartments in the housing complex in the city of Ialoveni, which overvalued the respective group of accounts by 19.9 million lei.
As a result of the audits, the Court of Accounts presented a series of recommendations, to be implemented by the two entities.
