2025-05-22
Auditor General Irena Segalovičienė presented in the Seimas the audit opinions on the country's financial accounts for 2024, emphasising the significant errors found in the accounts, which have been recurring for several years. During her presentation, Ms Segalovičienė highlighted errors in the accounts of the Ministry of the Environment, unreliable data on museum assets, and discrepancies in mineral resources that have not been corrected since last year.
The National Audit Office performed its constitutional duty and issued audit opinions on the 2024 set of accounts of the State, sets of accounts of five resource funds - Compulsory Health Insurance Fund, State Social Insurance Fund, Guarantee Fund, Long-Term Employment Benefits Fund, and Pension Annuities Fund, as well as on the accounts of the National Defence Fund.
Qualified opinions are expressed on the accounts of the State, accounts of the State Social Security Fund and Compulsory Health Insurance Fund. This means that the accounts contain significant errors which prevent us from obtaining a true and fair view of how much and what assets the State holds, the Fund's liabilities in respect of social benefits, and the true amount of receivables.
The National Audit Office found significant errors in the accounts of the Ministry of the Environment: the correctness of the value of more than EUR 2 billion (EUR 2 463.01 million) of stands of trees and more than half a billion euros (EUR 695.54 million) of forest land could not be confirmed due to deficiencies in accounting information. Already in 2019, a recommendation was made to the Ministry to establish and clearly describe the procedures and processes for accounting for forest land and stands. This should have been implemented by July 2021 but has not been done so far.
It is also not possible to confirm the correctness of the data on the museum values of three museums (M.K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art, Lithuanian National Museum of Art and Lithuanian National Museum) (EUR 463.54 million). The museum assets were not inventoried, which means that it was not ensured that all the assets recorded in the accounts exist. This asset management practice may lead to the non-detection of potential asset shortages, losses or discrepancies. Furthermore, such practices are not compatible with the aim of adequately protecting museum objects in the event of war or threats.
The National Audit Office found that there is no reliable data (EUR 1 434.23 million) on mineral resources that can be sold (sand, water, gravel, etc.). Already in 2023, the data on their value in the accounts were incorrect. The Lithuanian Geological Survey did not recalculate them in 2024: the accounts retained the errors identified in the previous audit, did not estimate the use of mineral resources in 2024, and did not include newly approved mineral resources.
„"Correct accounting of assets or resources is a fundamental duty of state institutions. If accounting is not done correctly, there are significant systemic risks: decisions on the use of assets, investments or exploitation of resources may be wrong or based on inaccurate data, with potential losses for the State, both financial and strategic. This opens the door to abuse", says the Auditor General.
We are also unable to confirm the correctness of the financial data of small bodies such as the Centre for the Dissemination of Science and Innovation or the Lithuanian Association of Research Libraries. The data presented in the different systems - the set of accounts, the general ledger (aggregated financial accounting register), the analytical accounting registers - do not coincide.
"The fact that small bodies managing small budgets misreport their data several years in turn shows either a lack of accounting competence or a lack of responsibility," says Ms Segalovičienė.
The auditors expressed unqualified opinions on the accounts of the Guarantee Fund, the Long-Term Employment Benefits Fund, the Pension Annuity Fund and the National Defence Fund, which were free of material misstatements.