Swedish government told to improve financial accountability

The Swedish National Audit Office has said that the government should change its financial reporting to provide a more comprehensive picture of how it manages its finances.

In a statement on 13 May, the audit office recommended that the government should increase transparency and provide more detail on state finances, especially with regard to monitoring activities, and in for activities where responsibility is shared between different government agencies. The comments followed an audit of the government’s 2014 annual report.

The audit office said that, despite the positive effects of sharing responsibility for certain budgets between different offices, it may have negative consequences for accounting, control and monitoring. For instance, there are holes in the reporting of Sweden’s international relief work, where the country’s participation in various development banks have not been reported at all.