2026-06-15
How can we avoid accounting errors that recur year after year? How can we ensure that public finance decisions are made based on reliable data? These and other questions were raised today at the practical conference “Quality of Public Sector Financial Accounts: Audit Insights and VSAFAS Updates,” organised by the National Audit Office and the Ministry of Finance.
The aim of the conference is to work with the community of public sector financial accounting professionals and colleagues from the Ministry of Finance to find solutions that would help improve the quality of public sector financial data, increase the reliability of financial reporting, and ensure that the government’s financial decisions are based on accurate data.
The conference was opened by Auditor General Irena Segalovičienė and Vice Minister of Finance Neringa Rinkevičiūtė-Laurinaitienė, who welcomed the participants. In her welcome address, the Auditor General emphasised that the quality of financial accounts has a direct impact on the government’s ability to make informed decisions.
“Accounting is the memory of the state. If this memory is accurate, we can understand what we manage, how we use public resources, and what decisions we need to make. If it is inaccurate, even the most advanced technologies or artificial intelligence will not help us make sound decisions. Therefore, the quality of financial accounts is not a mere formality—it is the foundation of trust in the state, accountability, and transparent public finance management,” said Auditor General Irena Segalovičienė.
Vice Minister of Finance Neringa Rinkevičiūtė-Laurinaitienė, in her welcoming remarks to the conference participants, noted: “The Ministry of Finance and the National Audit Office are united by a common goal—to strengthen responsible public finance management. The Ministry formulates public finance policy and develops accounting regulations, while the National Audit Office conducts financial audits of the country’s key financial accounts. Such cooperation allows us to identify problems and ensure that public finance management is based on reliable information.”
During the event, Danguolė Krištopavičienė, Head of Financial Audit Department 1 at the National Audit Office, and Vita Andrulytė, Principal Public Auditor and Audit Team Leader, presented the results of the financial audits of the 2025 national and state financial accounts, discussed the most common accounting errors and provided recommendations on how to avoid them in the future.
Audits of the 2025 key state financial accounts recently completed by the National Audit Office have shown that problems with the quality of public sector financial accounting remain significant. Material misstatements have been identified in the most important sets of state financial accounts for the fourteenth consecutive year. According to the auditors, the persistent errors in asset accounting relate to the accounting of forest land and stands, mineral resources, infrastructure facilities, and other state assets. Another financial audit of the 2025 national accounts covering the entire public sector revealed that the auditors were unable to confirm more than one-fifth of the data on public sector assets. In other words, the public sector manages assets worth nearly EUR 91 billion, but the accuracy of data on more than EUR 19 billion of these assets raises reasonable doubts.
These results indicate that some of the financial accounting issues in the public sector remain systemic and have persisted for several years. During the conference, auditors and financial accounting specialists analysed the causes of these issues, discussed specific solutions, and reviewed the National Audit Office’s recommendations, the implementation of which will help strengthen the reliability of financial data and prevent recurring errors.
In the second part of the event, representatives from the Ministry of Finance presented the latest amendments to the Public Sector Accounting and Reporting Standards (VSAFAS) and related legislation to financial professionals, and discussed their importance in ensuring higher-quality financial accounting in the public sector.