Court of Audit

A Court is independent from the government, the law only subjugated body of financial control, whose job it is to the budgetary and economic management of the public administration to regularity (that is, compliance with the procedural and substantive law ) to check and economy ( audit ). Audit institutions exist in many democratic countries, often in similar form.

  • 3.1 Confederation
  • 3.2 cantons

Germany

General

SAIs take in the state structure a special position. Whether they belong to the legislative, executive or judicial branch, or specifically mentioned outside the three in Article 20, paragraph 3 of the Basic Law (GG) powers ( powers ) and constitute an institution sui generis, is not clear.

In the examination arrangements, requests for information and testing releases of SAIs, although it is by government action, but generally not to administrative acts. Such is available only if the test action is directed against a body outside of the administration, which in the cases of § § 91, 92 and 104 of the Federal Budget Code ( BHO) is possible.

Federal Court

For the purpose of the Federal area of the Federal Court of Audit ( BRH ) was established, which has its headquarters in Bonn (formerly Frankfurt am Main). The BRH is, as far as he perceives administrative tasks, a supreme federal authority ( § 1Vorlage: § / Maintenance / buzer BRHG ), its members ( § 3Vorlage: § / Maintenance / buzer Section 1 BRHG ) enjoy judicial independence (article 114Vorlage: Art / Maintenance / buzer paragraph 2 sentence 1 of the Basic Law, § 3 para 4 BRHG ). Historical predecessor of the BRH is the Court of the German Reich.

Courts of Auditors

In those countries there are separate Courts of Auditors (LRH ) as the supreme Land authorities:

  • Court of Baden -Württemberg in Karlsruhe,
  • Hessian Court in Darmstadt,
  • Bavarian Supreme Court in Munich,
  • Court of Berlin,
  • Landesrechnungshof Brandenburg in Potsdam,
  • Auditors of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen in Bremen,
  • Auditors of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,
  • Landesrechnungshof Mecklenburg -Vorpommern in Schwerin and Neubrandenburg,
  • Lower Saxony's state audit office in Hildesheim,
  • Court of Audit of North Rhine-Westphalia in Dusseldorf,
  • Audit of Rhineland -Palatinate in Speyer,
  • Court of Saarland in Saarbrücken,
  • Saxon Court in Leipzig,
  • Court of Audit of Saxony-Anhalt in Dessau,
  • Court of Audit of Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel,
  • Thuringian Court in Rudolstadt.

Municipal audit offices

Authorities with similar responsibilities at local level are called audit offices.

Austria

SAIs are independent bodies of the National Assembly and the provincial assemblies in Austria. You are responsible for reviewing the financial management, ie the financially -producing activities, the federal government, respectively the Länder and municipalities over 10,000 inhabitants. Also, companies, foundations, funds and bodies to which the state holds at least 50 %, it has to be checked.

  • Court of Auditors - the Federal Court (RH)
  • The Courts of Auditors ( LRH)

Switzerland

Waistband

At the federal level, there are in Switzerland, the Swiss Federal Audit Office, shortly EFK. It is administratively attached to the Federal Department of Finance and thus, standing in contrast to Germany or France, not the top, next to the executive, the legislature and the judiciary state institutions.

It was founded in 1877 as Control Bureau, which already existed since 1852, the post of a permanent auditor. When she was asked in 1882 to the Law on the reorganization of the Department of Finance on an explicit legal basis, it received its present name. Since the entry into force on 1 January 1968 are with the Audit Act a separate law for the EFK, which has expanded its competences. This was triggered by the Mirage affair. Today it employs nearly one hundred employees.

Cantons

Called my own, independent, and thus the administration except Switzerland ( German and French ) System stand closer SAIs, Cours des Comptes, the cantons of Geneva and Vaud know.

The Vaudois Court was introduced in 2003 under the new cantonal constitution of 2002 ( Article 166 ), whereupon abänderten the Geneva 2005 their Constitution (Article 141, in force since 2006) also to that effect. In the Vaud, the five members of the Court by the Grand Council, ie the cantonal parliament, elected; in Geneva, however, determined the people of the six members in direct elections.

Liechtenstein

The financial control of the Principality of Liechtenstein is a supervisory authority of the State Parliament and established as a relatively autonomous and independent institution only since 2010.

France

The Cour des Comptes, the French Court of Auditors and with his back until 1318 history of one of the oldest audit institutions in the world and one of the oldest still existing institutions of the French central government.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the function of the Court is perceived by the National Audit Office (NAO ), headquartered in London.

Greece

The Greek Court was created in 1833 on the French model. His mandate is derived from the Constitution. It is part of the judiciary and has supreme as Tax Court the right to impose sanctions. Its tasks are: auditing and reporting, counseling, case law. In addition to the traditional review of the public sector, he also controls the use of ' community resources ' ( by EU ) in the field of the Common Agricultural Policy and the Structural Funds (see also IACS).

European Union

The financial control of the European Union ( EU) through the existing since 1975 the European Court of Auditors ( ECA). Its task is to review the legality and proper use of funds of the EU institutions. Seat of the Court of Auditors in Luxembourg.

United States

The task of a Court accepts in the United States, the Government Accountability Office (GAO ). It represents a bipartisan investigative body of the Congress of the United States and also takes over the function of a Court also tasks that are based in Germany in the award of the Federal Chamber of the Federal Cartel Office. The GAO is faced with the Comptroller General of the United States.

Documents

  • Economic authority
  • Budget law
Municipality Court of Audit (France)
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