Regulations
Activities of the National Audit Office are governed by the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, Law of the Republic of Lithuania on National Audit Office, international agreements, and other legal acts.
Purpose of the Institution
The National Audit Office is the supreme public audit institution accountable to the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania. When implementing the tasks assigned to it, supervises the lawful and efficient management and use of state assets and the execution of the state budget, promotes a positive and effective impact of public audit on the system of public finance management and control and public administration oriented towards results and public needs, monitors compliance with the rules laid down in the Constitutional Law on the Implementation of the Fiscal Treaty, and performance of tasks to ensure transparency and accountability of public finances.
Competence of the Institution
The National Audit Office performs public audit, budget policy monitoring and other activities aimed at proper implementation of the tasks assigned to it.
The National Audit Office carries out public audit of three types:
- Financial audit – where the sets of data of annual (consolidated) financial statements and reports on the execution of the budget of the audited entity are assessed and an independent auditor’s opinion is issued.
- Performance audit – where the activities of the audited entity are assessed in terms of economy, efficiency and effectiveness.
- Compliance audit – where compliance of the audited entity’s activities with legal acts and/or other requirements is assessed, and an independent auditor’s opinion may be issued.
In order to improve the performance of the audited entity(s) and increase the public benefit, proposals - recommendations are formulated on the basis of the results of public audits to resolve the problems identified during the audit.
The National Audit Office annually submits to the Seimas:
- a public audit opinion and a public audit report on the set of State consolidated accounts;
- a public audit opinion and a public audit report on the set of consolidated accounts of the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund;
- a public audit opinion and a public audit report on the set of consolidated accounts of the State Social Insurance Fund;
- a public audit opinions and public audit reports on the sets of accounts of Resource Funds whose expenditure estimates are approved by the Seimas;
- a public audit opinion and a public audit report on the set of national financial statements.
The National Audit Office as supreme audit institution, may carry out performance audit of the Bank of Lithuania, with the exception of the fulfilment of the tasks of the European System of Central Banks and the Eurosystem, without violating the activities of the audit firm chosen by the Bank of Lithuania.
The National Audit Office, as supreme audit institution, in a manner prescribed by international treaties of the Republic of Lithuania and other legal acts, carries out audits of the European Union financial assistance allocated to the Republic of Lithuania and submits records of these audits to the appropriate institutions.
The National Audit Office, when performing the functions of the budget policy monitoring authority set out in the Constitutional Law on the Implementation of the Fiscal Treaty, submits to the Seimas:
- an opinion on the validity of the reasons for failure to implement the structural adjustment target for the previous year and the eligibility of measures to implement this target;
- an opinion on the structural adjustment target set by the Draft Law on the Approval of Financial Indicators of the State Budget and Municipal Budgets for the Year Concerned of the Republic of Lithuania and on the need for additional measures (in monetary terms) to implement this target;
- an opinion on the endorsement of the economic development scenario;
- an opinion on the correspondence between the emerged or projected situation and the concept of extraordinary event in accordance with the provisions of Council Regulation (EC) No 1466/97 of 7 July 1997 on the strengthening of the surveillance of budgetary positions and the surveillance and coordination of economic policies, as last amended by Regulation (EU) No 1175/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 November 2011;
- an opinion on the compliance of the structural adjustment targets and the guidelines on measures to fulfil these targets proposed by the Government to the Seimas for approval with the requirements for the medium-term target achievement deadline established in the Republic of Lithuania Constitutional Law on the Implementation of the Fiscal Treaty;
- a report on the assessment of the Stability Programme of Lithuania.
The National Audit Office carries out external review of the audit performed by municipal controllers (municipal control and audit services) in a manner established by the Auditor General.