The National Audit Office of Finland (NAOF) audits central government finances, monitors fiscal policy, and oversees political party and election campaign funding. The role and duties of the NAOF are laid down in the Constitution of Finland.
The National Audit Office has audited the final central government accounts and the Government’s annual report for 2021. The aim of the audit was to examine whether the final central government accounts have been prepared in compliance with the regulations and whether the budget and budget provisions have been followed. In addition, the National Audit Office also examined whether the Government reports on the state of central and general government finances and on the operational performance in its annual report as required by law.
The monitoring of the effectiveness of the regional development decision is hampered by fluctuations in national regional development funding and inadequate effectiveness indicators. It should be ensured through consistent resource planning that the regional development activities are long-term and that there are preconditions for their effectiveness.
The central government steers the number of staff in government agencies even in great detail. However, at central government level, the number of staff is not planned. Competence development is one of the focus areas in the central government HR policy. However, the targets set for competence development in performance management have been general in nature.
It is impossible to get a reliable overall picture of the central government's future staff needs as competence needs are not anticipated in government agencies, and the loss of competence is not taken sufficiently into consideration in the planning. Anticipation of the agencies' competence needs should be enhanced in order to support their staff planning.
The National Audit Office of Finland (NAOF) is currently chairing the Supreme Audit Institutions’ global Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA). The WGEA Assembly will be held on 4–6 July, and it will focus on climate change adaptation.
More than half of the central government's current staff are expected to leave employment by the end of the decade. To ensure efficient performance of tasks and the provision of high-quality services, the central government will have to base its recruitment and competence development in the coming years on good staff planning.
The audit and monitoring activities of the National Audit Office (NAOF) aim to ensure that state funds are used appropriately and in accordance with Parliament’s decisions and the law. The NAOF performed this core task as planned in 2021.
As emission reduction targets tighten, the debate on just transition is intensified. Significant financial instruments have also been established to support just transition.
NAOF oversees election campaign and political party funding and receives and publishes documents stipulated in the Act on Political Parties and the Act on a Candidate's Election Funding.
The purpose of a financial audit is to ensure that regulations on the state budget and central government finances are complied with, and that correct and sufficient information on the profit, expenditure and financial position of the central government and its accounting offices is provided in reports. Financial audits result in concrete corrections and actions to develop the central government.