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THE PUBLIC AUDIT OFFICE FOR CATALONIA
THE PUBLICAUDIT OFFICE
FOR CATALONIA
What is the Public Audit Office for Catalonia?
The Public Audit Office for Catalonia (Sindicatura de Comptes de Catalunya)is the external body that audits the accounts and scrutinises the �nancialmanagement of the Catalan public sector.
The Public Audit Office is a statutory body required by Article 80 of the Statuteof Autonomy of Catalonia. Its functions are regulated by the Public Audit OfficeAct (Act 18/2010, of 7 June).
Although it reports to the Catalan Parliament, the Audit Office retains fullorganisational, operational and budgetary independence.
What does the Public Audit Office’s auditingmandate cover?
The law states that the Public Audit Office’s auditing mandate covers:
• the Government of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya) and agencies andentities controlled by it;
• local authorities and agencies and entities controlled by them;• enterprises which are partly owned or �nanced by the Government of Catalonia
or local authorities;• public universities in Catalonia and entities controlled by them;• corporate authorities insofar as their activities are subject to public auditing;• political parties represented in Parliament and their foundations and
associations, and the accounting of electoral processes held in Catalonia.
What are the functions of the Public AuditOffice?
In essence, the functions of the Audit Office are:
• To audit the economic and �nancial activity of the public sector in Catalonia byexamining the accounts of public bodies in order to assess legal compliance,effectiveness, efficiency and economy of their operations. The Public AuditOffice publishes its �ndings in the form of audit reports.
• To advise the Catalan Parliament on matters related to public accounting andthe economic and �nancial management of the public sector.
The Public Audit Office may also be delegated by the Spanish Court of Audit(Tribunal de Cuentas) both to carry out audits and to undertake preliminaryjudicial proceedings to settle accounting liability.
How does the Public Audit Office ful�lits mission?
The Public Audit Office acts by legal mandate, at the request of the CatalanParliament or on its own initiative.
The Audit Office is required by the Regulations of the Catalan Parliament tosubmit an Annual Programme of Activities to Parliament before 1 Decembereach year, containing forecasts for its auditing work for the following �nancialyear. This schedule may be altered during the course of the year at the requestof Parliament or as agreed by the Board of the Public Audit Office.
What process does the Public Audit Officefollow in drawing up and approving reports?
The process for preparing, approving andpublishing a report is as follows:
The draft report is preparedby the appropriate department of the Public
Audit Office
This draft report is forwarded to the auditedbody for its comments, which are incorporated
into the report
The draft report is submitted by the BoardMember (síndic or síndica) in charge to the
Public Audit Office Board
The report is approved by the PublicAudit Office Board
The report is sent to the Parliament ofCatalonia and the auditee and is published
Parliamentary procedure
What happens to the reports issuedby the Public Audit Office?
The Public Audit Office’s reports are sent to the Catalan Parliament, whichacknowledges receipt and passes them to the Public Audit Office Committeefor discussion.
The annual report on the General Account (Compte general) of theGovernment of Catalonia is treated differently by Parliament due to itsimportance. Once the Public Audit Office Committee has dealt with this report,it is presented by the Chair of the Public Audit Office at a Parliamentary plenarysession, which debates the report in its entirety.
The audit reports on the public sector of the Government of Catalonia arepublished in the Official Gazette of the Catalan Parliament (Butlletí O�cial delParlament de Catalunya) and all the reports issued by the Public Audit Office areavailable on its website, www.sindicatura.cat.
What are the organs of the Public Audit Office?
The organs of the Public Audit Office are the Board (Ple), the Steering Committee(Comissió de Govern), the Board Members (síndics), the Chair or Presidentof the Board (síndic major or síndica major, also known occasionally as theAuditor General) and the General Secretariat.
• The Board is a collegiate body of seven Board Members, one of whom chairsthe Board. The Board’s tasks are to approve the audit reports, the AnnualProgramme of Activities and the Audit Office’s Annual Report on its activities;to authorise cooperation agreements with the Spanish Court of Audit and withother external audit bodies and, in general, to approve the measures requiredin order for the Public Audit Office to meet its established objectives.
• The Steering Committee consists of the Chair of the Board and two otherBoard Members designated by the Board. The functions of the Committee areintended to ensure the good governance and administration of the institution.
• The Board Members are charged with organising and directing the departmentassigned to them, presenting draft reports and other documents preparedunder their direction to the Board, making proposals for official statements,and other functions as determined by the Board.
• The Chair of the Board is the institution’s senior representative, as stipulatedby law, which confers on him or her certain powers and responsibilities, amongthem to represent the Audit Office before other agencies and in corporate andofficial events; to convene and chair Board meetings; to use his or her castingvote in the event of a hung vote at Board and Steering Committee meetings;to oversee and ensure the good internal governance of the Audit Office; and toauthorise the procurement of goods and services.
• The General Secretariat or Secretary General’s Office is charged with advisingand assisting the organs of the Audit Office and in general with supporting themin order to enable the Board, the Steering Committee and the Chair of the Boardto ful�l all their functions relating to the internal running of the Audit Office.
How are Board Members appointed and howlong do they serve?
The seven Members of the Public Audit Office Board are appointed by theCatalan Parliament. Members of Parliament cast votes for candidates, who areselected as Board Members if they achieve a three-�fths quali�ed majority vote.Board members serve for a period of six years.
The Chair of the Board is chosen by the Board from among its members and isformally appointed to the post by the President of the Government of Cataloniafor a period of three years.
How is the Public Audit Office structuredinternally?
The Public Audit Office is divided into two main areas, the auditing division and theGeneral Secretariat.
The auditing division consists of seven departments, each of which specialisesin one of the areas that make up the public sector of the Government of Catalonia(administration, production, health and social services, education and culture) andthe various levels of the local public sector, as well as the auditing of politicalparties, electoral processes and corporate authorities. Each of these sevendepartments is headed by one of the Board Members and consists of a team ofauditors, assistant auditors and support staff, all supervised and coordinated by asupervising auditor.
The General Secretariat or Secretary General’s Office provides the administrativeand specialist services required to ensure the smooth running of the Public AuditOffice (internal governance, legal services, IT services and documentary services).
What are the Public Audit Office’s links toother external auditing bodies?
In addition to its links with Catalan institutions, the PublicAudit Office has connectionswith external auditing bodies in Spain, Europe and elsewhere around the world.Through the Spanish Conference of Chairs of Regional External Public AuditOffices, set up in 2006, the Public Audit Office for Catalonia is in regular contactwith the other twelve audit offices in the autonomous regions in Spain, as well aswith the Spanish Court of Audit. With regard to international relations, the PublicAudit Office for Catalonia is an active member of EURORAI (the EuropeanOrganisation of Regional External Public Finance Audit Institutions).
Av. Litoral, 12 - 14, 08005 BarcelonaTel. +34 93 270 11 61Fax +34 93 270 15 70
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