Functional Review of the Ministry of Education, Science and ...

Internal Audit
In the small EU countries, Internal Audit Unit is always dedicated organizational unit at the upper level of
the organizational structure. In most cases in EU-6 (5 of 6) it reports directly to the Minister. There is an
Internal Audit Unit at the MEST but with just one employee now. According to the draft of the Law on
Internal Audit, the Internal Audit Unit should be under direct control of the Minister or Permanent
Secretary. 7 In terms of its substantive work, the Auditor General Report for the year 2007 contains several
findings pointing to different problems. Auditor General Report for the year 2008 confirmed that nothing
essential has been done with the findings so far. Moreover, the work of the unit in 2008 was not
concentrated on the problems identified in the Auditor General 2007 Report.
Recommendation B.9: In the plan of activities of internal audit, concentrate on areas where the
main problems have been identified by the Auditor General.
Recommendation B.10: Establish the Internal Audit Unit with 3 posts as a dedicated unit at the
upper level reporting directly to the Permanent Secretary.
Budget and financing
We are dealing with the administration of finances in general in the section A above. Here we present the
recommendations on the organizational aspect of this field.
Units responsible for budgeting and financing in EU-6 are mostly (in 4 cases) dedicated organizational
units at the upper level. They report to the Minister or Permanent Secretary. In one case, the unit is part of
PS’s Office and in one case of Administration Department. As for the internal organization, it is different in
each EU-6 ministry. Accounting is a division of this unit in 1 case (Latvia), while in 2 cases (Slovakia,
Lithuania) the accounting is a separate upper level unit.
In the Kosovo context, it should be mentioned that according to the Law on Public Financial Management
and Accountability, the chief financial officer (head of unit for financing) should report to the Permanent
Secretary.
Recommendation B.11: Establish the Department for Budget and Financing as a dedicated unit at
the upper level reporting directly to the Permanent Secretary.
Recommendation B.12: Establish three divisions within the Department for Budget and Financing:
Budget Division, Division for Accounting and Payments and Investment Division.
The Investment Division should deal with all issues connected with investment budget for education
sector. Moreover, it should deal with issues of the school infrastructure that the MEST is responsible for.
The Budget Division should deal with all tasks related to the budget for education sector prescribed by
legal regulations, specifically: proposal of the budget for the MEF, allocation of the approved budget to
organizations and units of the education sector, administration of budget during the year, coordination of
data collection and final composition of financial statements of education sector for the MEF, ensuring
communication concerning budgetary issues with the MEF. Most of the work on the investment part of the
budget would be handled by the Investment Division, while the Budget Division would include the products
of the Investment Division into the overall documents and reports. The Division for Accounting and
Payments would deal with accounting and payments through State Treasury in accordance with the
relevant legal regulations and internal administrative instructions of the MEST. The division would be
responsible for the preparation of financial statements for the Budget Division as well as for providing
accounting records for asset management for the Division of Operation of the Administrative Department.
Investments
At the MEST, the Division for Infrastructure under the Department of Infrastructure and Technical Services
plays the role of an investment unit. Units responsible for investments in EU-6 ministries are more often
7 See Article 3 (definition of the senior management of the Public Sector Subject) and Article 10 Section 1 of the Draft
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