VII.8 SUPREME AUDIT AND SUPERVISORY INSTITUTIONS (PUBLIC SECTOR) STRUCTURE AND ORGANISATION The administration’s financial audit and supervisory system is made up of both internal and external institutions. This chapter discusses three of the main institutions, that is, the supreme audit institution ARC, the administration’s internal auditor SOAB, and the Board of financial supervision Cft. The Curaçao Court of Audit (ARC – Algemene Rekenkamer Curaçao) is the administration’s supreme external audit institution. It is responsible for examining the country’s revenues and expenditures. As such it assists Parliament in its role to scrutinise the work of government. 829 The current Court of Audit has been in place since 10 October 2010, but its predecessor, the Court of Audit Netherlands Antilles (ARNA – Algemene Rekenkamer Nederlandse Antillen), dates back to 1953.830 ARC is a High Council of State and consists of three members, including a president (referred to below as ‘the board’). Its main task is the auditing of the financial and material management of the public administration in the broadest sense.831 To do so, ARC performs regularity audits, performance audits and administrative integrity audits. ARC may use the findings of the internal audits of the administration’s internal auditor, as of 1994 one of the tasks of SOAB (Stichting Overheidsaccountants Bureau).832 SOAB is a public foundation with a board of managing directors appointed by a supervisory board of five to seven people.833 SOAB has a broad aim, which includes auditing of the financial and material management of public finances and possessions, and also covers investigations with respect to financial irregularities, administrative organisation and internal control.834 Since 10 December 2008, and as part of the agreements between the Kingdom partners to reorganise the constitutional order, a form of temporary835 financial supervision based on consensus 829
Constitution of Curaçao (Staatsregeling van Curaçao), Official Curaçao Gazette 2010, No.86, Article 68 (Below: Constitution). The explanatory memorandum on Article 68 adds that ARC must approve the accounts, but this is no longer reflected in the Constitution. 830 ARNA, Report on activities during the years 1991 to 2006 (Verslag van de werkzaamheden gedurende de jaren 1991 tot en met 2006) (Curaçao: Algemene Rekenkamer Nederlandse Antillen, July 2007). 831 Country ordinance Court of Audit Curaçao (Landsverordening Algemene Rekenkamer Curaçao), Official Curaçao Gazette 2010, No.87, Article 1. In two other regulations, ARC is also authorised to audits the financial statements of the Civil Servants Pension fund Curaçao (Ambtenaren Pensioenfonds Curaçao, APC, previously known as APNA) and the Landsloterij, the Country’s lottery. 832 Ibid, article 24 and the explanatory memorandum on Articles 22 and 24. Country ordinance Cooperation with Foundation Administration’s Accountants Bureau (SOAB) (Samenwerking met Stichting Overheidsaccountantsbureau) AB 1993, No.51. When asked, Transparency International was informed that the procedure to formally appoint SOAB as the internal auditor of the Country Curaçao was in process, but not yet concluded. On 10 April 2013, the minister of finance presented a draft ordinance to correct for this to Parliament (Parliament of Curacao, 2012-2013, No.32). In practice, dealings between government and SOAB and those between ARC and SOAB have followed the ordinance valid before the change in constitutional relations. 833 Charter SOAB, Article 7. 834 Ibid, Article 3. 835 Kingdom Act Financial Supervision Curaçao and Sint Maarten (Rijkswet financieel toezicht Curaçao en Sint Maarten), Bulletin of Acts and Decrees 2010, No.334 (below: Kingdom Act), Article 33. The Curaçao 141
NATIONAL INTEGRITY SYSTEM ASSESSMENT CURAÇAO