The State Audit Institution (SAI) expressed a qualified opinion on the compliance of the operations of the diplomatic and consular missions (DCMs) of Montenegro in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), North Macedonia, Albania and Slovenia for 2024 and a qualified opinion on the compliance of the operations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).
The SAI announced that the institution has published a Report on the Audit of the Regularity of Operations of the Diplomatic Missions of Montenegro in BiH, North Macedonia, Albania and Slovenia for 2024, which is available on the official SAI website, www.dri.co.me.
“The competent SAI Collegium, which managed the audit in question, consisting of: the Chairwoman of the SAI Senate, Senate member Vesna Mihailović – head of the Collegium, and Senate member Milan Dabović – member of the Collegium, expressed a qualified opinion on the regularity of the operations of the audited representative offices and a qualified opinion on the compliance of the operations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the part relating to the audited diplomatic and consular representations,” the statement states.
The SAI added that the audit of the regularity of operations of diplomatic missions determined that certain missions did not record all movable and immovable property in their business books and that they did not fully comply with applicable regulations when conducting an inventory of property, as well as that an inadequate manner of keeping consular books by certain missions was determined.
“Also, in certain representative offices, expenditure payment orders were not completed and signed by the head of the representative office before the disbursement of funds, but subsequently. The audit also determined that the representative offices procured certain goods and services without obtaining bids from three bidders and did not report all the procurements carried out in the Statistical Report on Conducted Procurements,” the SAI said.
The statement states that in the area of compliance with the MFA’s operations, it was determined that the ministry did not precisely define financial and material operations in the Internal Rules on Financial and Material Operations of the Diplomatic Mission, especially in the area of budget planning and execution, preparation and submission of reports, and keeping auxiliary records.
“The Ministry does not provide records of liabilities in class 2 accounts, and it was also determined that it did not point out to the representative offices any shortcomings in the submitted reports on implemented procurements. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and diplomatic missions of Montenegro in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of North Macedonia, the Republic of Albania and the Republic of Slovenia are obliged to submit to the State Audit Office an Action Plan for the implementation of recommendations by November 16, 2025, and a Report on the implementation of recommendations by April 16, 2026,” the State Audit Office said.
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