On 29 August, President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs visited the State Audit Office (SAO). During the meeting with Auditor General Rolandas Irklis and members of Office’s council, President Rinkēvičs and leadership of SAO talked about institution’s work priorities, as well as findings and recommendations that have come out of completed performance audits. One of the particular projects discussed was SAO’s 2019 compliance and performance audit of the border infrastructure construction and maintenance project implemented by Latvia.
President and management of the State Audit Office discussed the need to conduct an additional audit of Rēzekne State City finances to find systemic improvements that would lead to timely identification of risks based on the annual reviews of municipalities audited by SAO.
‘Today I had an opportunity to meet with SAO staff and hear their concerns about on-going audits and broader perspective on ways to improve government performance. Office is responsible for impartial, evidence-based and fair assessment of the implementation of budget-funded programmes. We expect SAU to conduct audits from the perspective of long-term national priorities, with particular focus on goal-oriented approach and recommendations on how government institutions can achieve them. We can only praise SAO for going beyond its remit and complementing its audits with clear advice that state and local governments can follow. Trust in public sector depends on its ability to be pro-active, efficient and productive,’ President of Latvia said.
‘Office’s findings and recommendations provide well-advised and efficient ways for ensuring compliance and performance in national significance projects that must be followed,’ President Rinkēvičs told after the meeting.
