Upper Austrian State Audit Office
The Upper Austrian State Audit Office (LRH) is a financial control body of the Austrian state of Upper Austria and was founded on January 1st, 2000.
Tasks and test procedure
The state constitution guarantees the existence and tasks of this examination and advisory body of the state parliament. The Oö. State Audit Office Act 2013 determines the competencies and the organizational framework of the LRH.
The legal basis of the LRH takes into account the international standards of public financial control, which are set out in the declarations of INTOSAI of Lima and Mexico as well as in the guidelines of EURORAI for independent institutions of external public financial control.
The tasks of the LRH are the examination
- of the country,
- its foundations, funds and institutions,
- of companies with at least 50% state participation,
- of municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants and their foundations, funds and institutions,
- of companies with at least 50% parish participation,
- the use of state or municipal subsidies and
- public corporations with funds from the state and municipalities.
- The LRH also inspects communities with at least 20,000 inhabitants by special order.
As part of special tasks
- the LRH prepares reports on municipalities and municipal associations,
- assesses the financial impact of planned state laws,
- he supports the taking of evidence and surveys by committees of inquiry and works on the
- Community (EU) financial control with.
In principle, the LRH tests on its own initiative, while special tests require a written order that precisely describes the content and scope. A special test occurs when
- Parliament,
- at least a quarter of the MPs or
- the control committee decide on such.
- Under certain conditions, a club,
- the state government or a responsible member of the government request this.
In follow-up examinations, the LRH assesses the extent to which the suggestions for improvement decided by the control committee have been implemented by the state government after one year.
The Constitutional Court decides in the event of differences of opinion about the jurisdiction of the LRH .
As a recognized, independent auditing and advisory organization, the LRH wants to benefit taxpayers. He sees himself as a process-oriented consultant and works in partnership with his customers. With its work, the LRH wants to contribute to using public funds more economically. It should pay off for the taxpayer.
The LRH has laid down its visions, goals, principles and working methods in the mission statement.
- The LRH's modern, risk-oriented audit approach focuses on examining critical factors and assessing risks
- The LRH believes that it is more important to question economic efficiency and expediency than to just pay attention to compliance
- Comprehensive administrative reform and a consistent reduction in bureaucracy are central concerns of the LRH
- The LRH wants to find ways to improve systems and not just pillory "black sheep"
Test reports are public from the time they are sent to the state parliament and can be accessed on its website.
organization
The director is responsible for the management. When it was founded, Helmut Brückner was elected director for six years by the state parliament and reappointed in 2004. According to the statutory provisions, his term of office ended on December 31, 2012. Since January 1, 2013, Friedrich Pammer has been the new director.
The heads of the competence areas support and advise him in decision-making. The internal structure is based on the principles of project organization. The 24 members have specialist training. The audit teams are put together individually according to the requirements of the individual audit projects. The secretariat supports the work of the teams.
Functions such as public relations and knowledge management as well as internal experts grouped together in the competence areas optimize the testing and advisory process.
Cooperations and further education
In cooperation with other audit offices , audit methods and standards are constantly being further developed. On the initiative of the Burgenland LRH, a two-semester academic college course for the job-specific training and further education of auditors was developed in cooperation with all Austrian state auditors. This course, the first in Europe, guarantees high-quality training in accordance with uniform national and international standards.
The LRH has been a full member of EURORAI, the European Organization of Regional External Institutions for the Control of Public Finance, since 2001. Director Pammer is a member of the EURORAI Presidium.
History of the LRH
Since it was founded, the LRH has succeeded every year in paying off for taxpayers. This means that the savings potentials indicated by the LRH were always well above its annual budget. More than 90 percent of the recommendations of the LRH were implemented. With its audits, the LRH was able to provide politicians with a sound basis for decision-making and contribute to making the political discussion more objective.
The LRH was awarded the Speyer Quality Prize in 2005. In 2010, it was the first court of auditors in the German-speaking area to submit to the certification process in accordance with the ISO 9001 standard and successfully completed this process. In addition, he has met all the criteria for obtaining the NPO label for management excellence (total quality management) awarded by the University of Friborg and the Swiss Association for Quality and Management Systems (SQS). The certificate attests to the LRH that it is taking care of the economic and appropriate use of tax money in a professional and qualified manner and does not need to shy away from comparison with other control institutions.
As of 2014, the LRH will examine communities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants on its own initiative. The now independent municipal examination by the LRH enables a more in-depth look at the financing of essential public budget services.
In 2015 the LRH celebrated its 15th anniversary. Since it was founded, it has shown savings potential of more than 400 million euros; 91 percent of his recommendations are implemented.