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Integrity Scorecard

2007 Assessment

Italy: Integrity Indicators Scorecard

Italy: Integrity Scorecard Report > Sub-Category: Supreme Audit Institution
Indicators		Score
55	In law, is there a national supreme audit institution, auditor general or equivalent agency covering the entire public sector?	100
56	Is the supreme audit institution effective?	94
57	Can citizens access reports of the supreme audit institution?	100

Indicator and sub-Indicator Details

In law, is there a national supreme audit institution, auditor general or equivalent agency covering the entire public sector?

55: In law, is there a national supreme audit institution, auditor general or equivalent agency covering the entire public sector?

Score:

YES

Comments:

References: Artss 100 and 103 of the Constitution

Art. 100: [...] The Court of Accounts exercises preventative control on the legitimacy of government measures, and also subsequent control on the management of the state budget. It participates, in those cases and in ways established by law, in control of the financial management of those bodies to which the state contributes in the ordinary way. It reports directly to the houses on the results of audits performed. The law ensures the independence from the government of the bodiy and of its members.

Art. 103 : [...] The Court of Accounts has jurisdiction in matters of public accounts and in other matters laid out by law.

Is the supreme audit institution effective?

56a: In law, the supreme audit institution is protected from political interference.

Score:

YES

Comments:

References: Art. 100 of the Constitution

Art. 100: The law ensures the independence from the government of the two bodies and of their members.

Law 202 of July 21, 2000

56b: In practice, the head of the audit agency is protected from removal without relevant justification.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: [ LINK ]

56c: In practice, the audit agency has a professional, full-time staff.

Score:

100

Comments: At the present time, the staff of the court is composed of 496 effective units, of which: 1 president 1 general prosecutor 75 presidents of chambers 311 counselors, 55 first referendaries and 53 referendaries The administrative staff is composed of 2,872 effective units. At the top of the administration of the court there is the general secretary.

References: [ LINK ]

56d: In practice, audit agency appointments support the independence of the agency.

Score:

100

References: [ LINK ]

56e: In practice, the audit agency receives regular funding.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: The budget of the Court of Accounts is part of the state budget: see the reports of the Court on State budget [ LINK ]

56f: In practice, the audit agency makes regular public reports.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: www.corteconti.it

56g: In practice, the government acts on the findings of the audit agency.

Score:

100

Comments: The Court of Accounts makes a serious and critical analysis of the state budget every year (audit function), though its conclusions are not promptly taken into account, because political interests are more influent. The court's decisions are taken seriously and they are promptly implemented when the court acts in its jurisdictional funcionts.

References: Report of the Court of Accounts: Relazione sul rendiconto generale dello Stato per l'esercizio finanziario 2006 [ LINK ]

56h: In practice, the audit agency is able to initiate its own investigations.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: [ LINK ] see the list of investigations for 2007 in [ LINK ]

Can citizens access reports of the supreme audit institution?

57a: In law, citizens can access reports of the audit agency.

Score:

YES

Comments:

References: www.corteconti.it

57b: In practice, citizens can access audit reports within a reasonable time period.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: www.corteconti.it [ LINK ]

57c: In practice, citizens can access the audit reports at a reasonable cost.

Score:

100

Comments: Reports are free.

References: [ LINK ]