Court of Audit
Pre-Auditing System
Budget Preparation and Implementation
System
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Authorized to exercise
administrative and judicial control over government
expenditure of public funds above a certain amount,
usually $50,000, the Court of Audit (COA) is
responsible for both the pre-auditing and
post-auditing of government expenditures. The mandate of
the COA covers the expenditures of all government
agencies, the Lebanese University, the Green Project,
the 50 largest municipalities, and Unions of
Municipalities. |
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COA online at
www.coa.gov.lb
In order to increase transparency and efficiency in the
work of the, a website was created for the COA.
Laws and procedures regulating the work of the COA are
published on the website, as well as the results of the
annual audits performed, and advisory opinions. Requests
for advisory opinions, whether legal or administrative,
can be sent by email with the opinions later published
on the website. |
Pre-Auditing System
Prior to the assistance the COA was essentially evaluating
proposed expenditures in terms of legal or administrative
conformity but was unable to exercise the type of control
designed to ensure accountability. There was a lack of
standardizations in terms of the procedures and processes
being used, and a failure to archive information in
organized ways. Paper records were not well-organized and
information relevant to a particular case or useful for
comparison purposes was difficult to access as there was no
clear system for archiving, and records were stored in
multiple locations.
In order to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the
agency, the Center developed a set of standardized forms to
be used and procedures to be followed in completing the
pre-auditing task. At the same time, the entire workflow
process, from registration of a proposed expenditure, to
analysis, to decision, was automated. The Pre-Auditing
System was then developed to enable judges to search
current and archived cases according to a number of
different criteria including type of contract, price,
contractor, or item being purchased. Users are able to
perform comparative analyses of similar contracts and
generate reports to be used in the evaluation process. In
addition to enhancing the control and auditing capabilities
of the agency, internal reporting abilities have been
strengthened with performance reports and information for
the COA annual report now readily available. Since the
system was installed in early 2004 hundreds of pre-auditing
cases have been registered and processed. Judges are
utilizing the system on a daily basis to perform research
and controllers are utilizing the system as well to produce
reports.
Another application developed for the oversight agencies is
the Budget Preparation and
Implementation System that is installed at both the
Court of Audit and the Central Inspection Board. The system
is being used to prepare the agency budget, and in all
phases of implementing the budget, from allocation to
obligation to authorization to disbursement to clearance of
funds. Members of the agency staff are also able to follow
up on payments issued by the Ministry of Finance utilizing
the system.
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