Allocation of support from literature endowment of Cultural Endowment of Estonia

The purpose of the audit is to assess whether the distribution of support via the literature endowment of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia is expedient and in compliance with established rules. Sectoral endowments and regional expert groups distribute grants in the Cultural Endowment of Estonia (Kulka). The final decision on larger allocations is made by the council. Since 2009 the National Audit Office has audited all of the endowments of Kulka except the literature one. The sports allocations made by Kulka were reviewed when the area of sport was audited and the activity of one of the regional export groups (Võru County) was assessed in the Special report on the Funding of Culture. Several problems were found in the latter. The earlier audits highlighted some problems and Kulka has shown goodwill in resolving many of them, i.e. it promised to start resolving them in its responses to the audit report and actually did this in some cases. However, problems that apply to all sectoral endowments (such as duplicated sources of funding and the transparency of the processing of applications) have not been resolved.
Answers to the following main questions will be sought in the course of the audit:
1) Are the activities of the state in supporting literature clearly targeted and the tasks divided between different financiers?
2) Is the system for payment of literature grants of Kulka, the Council of Gambling Tax and the Ministry of Culture (administration burden and burden on applicants and rapporteurs) sustainable?
3) Is the allocation of grants from the literature endowment of Kulka transparent and understandable? Are decisions on the distribution of Kulka’s funds based on clear criteria and in compliance with established procedures?Answers to the following main questions will be sought in the course of the audit:
4) Are writers supported in a manner that provides them with social guarantees equal to those of other subjects?

Area of government	Ministry of Culture
Institution to be audited
Auditees
Audit Department	Performance Audit Department
Director of Audit	Tarmo Olgo
Audit Team	Raina Loom, Eerik Hanni, Maret Hinno
Contacts
Audit Number

Remarks

Planned Start	I Quarter 2014	Actual Start	I Quarter 2014
Planned End	II Quarter 2014	Actual End	II Quarter 2014
Status	Published

Related Audits
Created on	2/14/2014
Last modified on	8/27/2014
Last reviewed on	8/27/2014