Lithuania 2000 ENG

The purpose of the peer review is to provide this SAI with recommendations for changes and improvements in order for it to develop in line with international standards and good practices amongst sister institutions of other democratic countries, while taking into account the country’s specific circumstances. This will constitute an important contribution to the strengthening of the Lithuanian financial control system and public accountability, as well as to meeting the requirements of accession to the European Union.

The main issues to address are:

changes to the legal framework in order to simplify the definition of the current State Control mandate, to cover all types of audits and to broaden its scope thereof ; a streamlining of the communication lines with the Seimas and of the audit follow-up should be included ;
changes to the audit process by adopting and implementing audit policies and standards and an audit manual in line with international good practice, while ensuring full ownership of these instruments by the institution ;
acquisition or development of modern auditing and management tools and techniques, including IT instruments ;
internal reorganisation in order to set up a more coherent and flexible structure for resources management ;
development of staff professionalism by reviewing the recruitment procedures, improving the training policy and the staff management ;
definition and development of a communication policy, both external and internal.

SIGMA considers that there are three priority areas for action. These are:

The State Control work on a Strategic Development Plan and a possible request for Phare funds ;
The review of the legal framework with the above-mentioned objectives in mind ;
The SAO strategies and Parliament procedures for a better follow up of audit findings and recommendation

Peer Review Team:

Mr. Edward Fennessy, Head of Unit in the European Court of Auditors,
Mr. Rolf Elm-Larsen, Head of Division in the National Audit Office of Denmark,
Mr. Henri Paul, Conseiller Maître, French Cour des Comptes and
Mr. François-Roger Cazala, Conseiller Maître, French Cour des Comptes seconded to SIGMA as Principal Administrator.