The SAACB’s Pen Continues to Work Professionally amid a Fresh Legislative Gap in Palestine

-       We still harbor great hope for the continued professional supervisory performance of the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB), in accordance with international auditing standards and ethical standards, to contribute to "making a difference" in the life of the Palestinian citizen, despite the stark absence of legislative cover to consolidate the Bureau’s powers and to make implementation of its recommendations and observations obligatory, in order to improve the performance of the public function through its audit reports, whether financial, performance, or compliance...!

-       The State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB)’s annual financial and administrative audit report for 2022 was issued on 21-8-2023, in which it presented 110 audit reports for 2022, across 234 pages, the number of pages in the report. It allocated 9 reports to the economy sector, while the governance and security sector received 12 reports, and the social and cultural services sector also received 9 reports. The nongovernmental organizations sector received 12 reports, and the local governance sector claimed the largest share of audit reports, amounting to 51 reports. This sector continues to lead in the number of audit reports in previous years as well.!

-       It caught my attention that of the 231 complaints the Bureau received in 2022, plus approximately 95 complaints carried over from previous years, complaints issued by citizens were the most numerous: the Bureau received 194 complaints from these citizens in 2022.

-       The number of entities subject to the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) in Palestine exceeds four thousand entities subject to its oversight.

-       The necessity of implementing the Bureau’s recommendations by the entities subject to its oversight, which had audit reports written about them in that year, is consolidated. It was observed that the proportion of these entities that complied by responding to the Bureau’s observations did not exceed 58% of the total reports (only 64 entities complied). Meanwhile, the proportion of responses received after the expiration of the legal period, which is one month, was 16.5% (18 entities) of the total of these reports — 110 reports. The entities that did not respond and did not pay attention to the Bureau’s audit reports amounted to 21 entities, representing ذ9% of the number of reports. It should be noted that there are 7 reports that do not require a response according to the Bureau’s 2022 report.!

●     Although I have refrained from writing recently, I see it as my duty toward those interested, followers, and friends to write in upcoming installments to inform you about some of the Bureau’s main reports, whether in the economy sector, local governance, governance and security, nongovernmental organizations, etc.

●     The number of people who viewed the report on the Bureau’s website from its issuance on 21-8-2023 until the time of preparing this post is only 136 views.!

●     We send greetings and appreciation to the diligent counselor Mr. Iyad Teim, President of the Bureau, and to all the experienced Bureau teams for what they have done and continue to do in issuing high-quality, professional reports to improve the overall performance of the public function, thereby improving the provision of services to citizens in a better and more transparent manner!

●     To be continued.... in subsequent posts...