Publication of the audit report by the Court of Audit: statement by the Governor

The Court of Audit has conducted an audit of Banka Slovenije’s operations, on the basis of amendments to the Bank of Slovenia Act that entered into force in October 2017. The findings published today relate to practices employed at Banka Slovenije in 2017 and 2018. The audit focused on labour costs and other expenditure on staff, and on operating costs.

Banka Slovenije’s initial response to the Court of Audit’s findings is to highlight that the audit relates to a period two to three years ago, and to the operating procedures in place at that time. The findings cited by the Court of Audit can be divided into two categories:

• The first covers procedures and practices that constitute irregularities that Banka Slovenije has identified itself over the last year and a half of my mandate, and has rectified. The majority of the irregularities in the areas of HR policy and remuneration policy (competitive recruitment processes, recruitment procedures, semi-annual and annual performance reviews, etc.) and in the area of public procurement have thus already been identified and rectified. Approximately half of the findings from the Court of Audit’s report have therefore already been addressed.
   
• The second category covers findings where Banka Slovenije has acted in line with the opinions of certain experts in banking, but needs to further adjust its actions to accord with the expectations of the Court of Audit. These are mainly a number of specific themes in the HR field, and in the area of combined public procurement.

Furthermore, today I have initiated procedures at Banka Slovenije to investigate and clarify the circumstances that led to certain irregularities occurring in 2017 and 2018. I will take appropriate action in line with the findings.