Audit Activities of the Supreme Audit Offices in the V4 Countries

Abstract

The paper analyses the activity of Supreme Audit Offices (SAOs). The aim was to evaluate the performance of control activities performed by SAOs in the Visegrad Group countries. These are four countries with similar historical development and cultural and socio-economic values, and all of them are members of the EU and NATO. Descriptive statistics are used to analyse and compare the control activity, and the Kruskal-Wallis H test is used to evaluate the hypotheses. The evaluation mostly focused on the number of audits performed in all countries, the number of audit findings from these audits, the number of recommendations issued by audit authorities, the number of measures taken by the audited entities to ensure the correction of identified deficiencies, and the number of criminal reports filed. Despite the countries' historical, cultural and economic similarities, we find differences in the public sector, especially in the control scope of SAOs, the number of audited entities, the focus of audits, and the types of audits performed. Nevertheless, we believe that the presented analysis and its conclusions are interesting and inspiring for other European countries, especially post-communist countries, with a history similar to the V4 countries, and that it will enrich the existing body of literature on state audit. The research results can provide a reasonable basis for further detailed research in areas relevant to the given issue. In this context, it is appropriate to extend the analysis to other EU countries and evaluate the comparison with more advanced economies