TALLINN, 31 March 2004 - The SAO audited the activities of the Valga County Vocational Training Centre and detected a number of irregularities – the Accounting Act, the Public Procurement Act and the Government Property Act had been breached. The audit was undertaken in response to submissions made by the employees of the Vocational Training Centre.
In the course of the audit, the SAO found that the Training Centre had failed to organise public tenders in a number of cases. In addition, the Government Property Act vas violated by way of organising an auction without the corresponding permission from the Ministry. There were major deficiencies in asset accounting: for a long period, there were no reliable fixed asset inventories, substantive inventories were not carried out, the statements concerning asset write-offs were neither reliable nor comparable. It was also established that the Director of the Centre had not ensured the integrity and conformity of the documentation, although accounting records should be preserved for 10 years.
Remuneration was paid improperly in the Training Centre. Several senior teachers were paid lower salary over the years, although they should have earned more as from the day of evaluation. The audit revealed that the Director had unduly received 14,785 kroons in the form of various emoluments and that no recalculations as to the holiday pay in the amount of 32,700 kroons had been made. Over the years, the Director had exceeded the monthly maximum cost limits for car fuel and thus owes the Training Centre about 16,000 kroons.
Besides the Director of the Training Centre, the weak control in the administration sphere of the Ministry of Education and Research contributed to the described situation. Despite the fact that the Ministry has several departments engaged in control and two administered public departments dealing with schools, the Training Centre’s internal control system has not been sufficiently analysed and assessed.
The SAO suggested that the Ministry should decide whether the Director of the Training Centre is suitable to hold the said position. Furthermore, the performance of functions stemming from the statutes of the Ministry’s structural units and the administered public departments should be ensured and control over the economic activities of schools should be strengthened.
A detailed report on the deficiencies detected and proposals made by the SAO is available at the SAO web site www.riigikontroll.ee. Responses from the Minister of Education and Research, the Chairman of the Board of the Valga County Vocational Training Centre and the Director of the said Training Centre have been annexed to the audit report.
Sven Soiver
Press Representative of State Audit Office
Telephone: (372) 640 0787
GSM: (372) 53 414464
E-mail: [email protected]
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Posted:
3/31/2004 12:00 AM
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Last Update:
10/1/2015 12:02 PM
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Last Review:
10/1/2015 12:02 PM