Purchase of Province-Guaranteed Bonds by the Carinthian Compensation Payment Fund

Report ID: 352

From March to October 2018, the Austrian Court of Audit (ACA) and the Court of Audit of Carinthia carried out an audit of the agreement on the purchase of province-guaranteed bonds by the Carinthian Compensation Payment Fund (Kärntner Ausgleichszahlungs-Fonds) pursuant to Section 2a of the Financial Market Stability Act (Finanzmarktstabilitätsgesetz). In this context, the provincial parliament of Carinthia addressed an audit request to both the ACA and the Court of Audit of Carinthia.

The audit institutions performed the audit jointly in order to prevent a duplication of efforts. The audit aimed at presenting the initial situation and at assessing the development and structure as well as the approval, financing and implementation of the second offer. The auditors furthermore looked into the costs and the remaining economic risks. The audited period essentially spanned the years from 2015 through 2017. 

Central recommendations

1. The Carinthian Compensation Payment Fund should step up its efforts in order to attain an adequate premium reduction for the liability insurance of the executive board.
2. In the interest of encouraging competition and compliance with the principles of economy and efficiency, the Carinthian Compensation Payment Fund should award service contracts only via a public procurement process or after at least three reference offers have been solicited.
3. As regards the negotiations with the Heta Asset Resolution AG (HETA), the Carinthian Compensation Payment Fund should, against the backdrop of the interim distributions that have in the meanwhile taken place, carry out a legal assessment of a rapid and appropriate write-down and the possibility of withdrawing the HETA securities in order to achieve a subsequent reduction in custodian fees.
4. The province of Carinthia and the Carinthian Compensation Payment Fund should carry out an analysis of possible further steps of the hold-outs or other creditors, taking into consideration the cost-benefit ratio, or commission suitable lawyers or experts to ensure best possible pre-paredness for such judicial or extrajudicial steps.

Source: https://www.rechnungshof.gv.at/rh/home/news/news/news_1/Erwerb_von_landesbehafteten_Schuldtiteln_durch_den_Kaerntne.html

EUROSAI WGEA COOPERATIVE AUDIT ON AIR QUALITY

Report ID: 251

With the aim to assess whether the governments of 16 european countries were taking proper action on air quality, the SAIs of the European Court of Auditors, Albania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the Netherlands conducted a cooperative audit.

In order to collect and assess comparable information on national government actions, the 15 SAIs
prepared a common audit framework containing the main audit question, the audit topics and the corresponding secondary questions to be addressed by the national audits. The main audit question was: “What is known about the effectiveness and efficiency of measures taken by national and local governments to improve air quality, and are these measures compliant with international and national legislation?”

Two of the main audit findings were that many European countries are failing to comply with international and European standards on air quality. Moreover, many governments have failed to take effective  action to improve air quality and hence to protect their citizens’ health.

The Achievement of Auditing Sustainable Development Goals 2030 Agenda by Supreme Audit Institutions in the ARABOSAI Region

Report ID: 424

The scope of the study is the preparedness’ following-up of the ARBOSAI member SAIs as well as the reporting of the progress achieved in carrying out their auditing SDGs roles, given the tasks assigned to as a regional organization, alongside identifying areas of improvement with regards to member SAIs.

The results of the study highlighted SAIs' awareness about the importance of this type of audit as to improving the quality of public services provided in line with the ISSAI 12 objectives related to "The value and benefits of the SAIs- making a difference to the lives of citizens".