Audit Board relying on external personnel for 'Key Tasks'... "65.3% of settlement staff belong to external accounting firms"

Despite the "Board of Audit and Inspection's Settlement Audit Improvement Plan," No Willingness to Improve Shown

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] It has been confirmed that the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) relied heavily on external personnel for a significant portion of its key task of settlement review. Although the BAI expressed its intention to increase its own workforce, it has been revealed that no improvement efforts have been made for seven years.

According to the '2018~2021 National Settlement Workforce Status' data disclosed by Kwon Chil-seung, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, on the 23rd, 63.5% of the personnel responsible for national settlement belonged to external professional accounting firms. Among the BAI's internal settlement personnel, those holding professional accounting qualifications such as certified public accountants, tax accountants, and financial managers were confirmed to be 17 out of an average of 54 people (31.6%).

Kwon Chil-seung, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea Photo by Yonhap News

According to Article 97 of the Constitution, the BAI is a constitutional institution under the President to audit the settlement of national revenues and expenditures, audit the accounts of the state and organizations prescribed by law, and inspect the duties of administrative agencies and public officials. Its main task is to audit the settlement of national revenues and expenditures.

Despite settlement review being a major task of the BAI, it has relied on external personnel.

Moreover, among the national financial statements submitted to the National Assembly by the BAI since 2011 (fiscal year basis), settlement errors that were not detected amounted to 95 trillion won over the past ten years (2012~2021).

Rep. Kwon said, "One of the BAI's main duties is to scrutinize national accounts, but despite receiving annual settlement error reports, it still forms task forces instead of dedicated personnel and even brings in personnel from private accounting firms without legal grounds." He added, "Although the BAI concluded in 2015 through the 'Improvement Plan for BAI's Settlement Audit' that it is desirable to maintain the current workforce in the short term and increase professional personnel in the long term to shift to a self-execution method, it has shown no willingness to improve for over seven years."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.