Work plan
Audits of the National Audit Office are set out in a work plan that provides an overview of current and planned activities.
Data collection
The National Audit Office needs information for its reporting, on the basis of which it can draw conclusions and assess the activities of the auditees. To obtain the data required for auditing, the National Audit Office can take three different types of procedural steps: requests for information, collection of explanations and inspections.
The National Audit Office may also receive information necessary for auditing from entities and individuals who are not auditees. State authorities and cities and rural municipalities are obliged to assist the National Audit Office in obtaining the data required for auditing, if the National Audit Office requests so.
Duties and rights
The auditee is informed about the audit and its objectives by sending information on the procedural steps, the time of their execution, and the names of the National Audit Office officials and any external experts involved.
The auditee is obliged to provide the National Audit Office with the information required for its work.
The National Audit Office must refrain from disturbing the work of the auditee beyond what is necessary for taking the procedural steps. Also, we have the right to request from the auditee only such information as is required for the audit.
If the auditee has doubts about the relevance of a request for information, it has the right to receive explanations from us about the purpose of the request.
Publication of audit results
We publish audit results mainly as audit reports. In addition to audit reports, we also use other methods, mainly the preparation of overviews and memoranda, which are generally narrower in scope and may not include evaluations comparable to conventional audits.
Obstructing and contesting NAOE activities
If the taking of procedural steps is impeded, the National Audit Office will notice the Parliament’s Select Committee on the Control of the State Budget thereof.
Concealing information required for auditing, refusal from or evasion of giving information or explanations, submission of forged documents, knowingly giving false explanations, and obstruction of an inspection are considered obstruction of procedural steps.
If extreme circumstances arise in which the legal regulations fail to function and our independence is threatened (for example political pressure, interference, funding cuts or meddling with the audit process), National Audit Office has the right to turn to INTOSAI — the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions — which can invoke a mechanism developed specifically for such situations.
