National Audit Office of Finland

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.

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 war in Ukraine has had a wide impact on the management of public finances.

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.