Proceedings

continuous quality improvement by supporting the activities of the management,
including increased efficiency of the internal control system, reducing operating costs
and the elimination of waste of financial resources (Chojna-Duch E., p. 61).
4. AUDIT – STILL INTERNAL OR ALREADY EXTERNAL –
ORGANIZATIONS OF PUBLIC FINANCE SECTOR OBLIGED
AND EMPOWERED TO CONDUCT INTERNAL AUDIT
The obligation to conduct an internal audit from the moment of its existence in the
Polish sector of public finances concerned most of the institutions belonging to this
sector. These included in particular: the ministries, central offices, regional offices,
customs offices, tax offices, earmarked funds, health insurance. Other organization
obliged to conduct internal audit were public sector organizations that gather
substantial public money or make a considerable expense. On this basis, the Minister
of Finance defined the amounts of revenue and expenditure which, if exceeded during
the year, shall be subject to internal audit (This amount was 40 000 000). In 2005,
when the Public Finance Act was amended, the list of public organizations obliged to
conduct an internal audit was extended and included: Treasury of the Chamber,
Chamber of Customs, prosecution, or regional audit chambers. The number of entities
obliged to conduct audit increased from year to year, as shown in Table 3.
Table 3. The number of public sector entities obligated to conduct internal audit
and internal auditor jobs
Number of public sector
entities, including:
- number of units of a
central government
Year The obligation to conduct
internal auditor
~ 125 ~
Obligation to employ
an internal auditor
2002 1600 No information
2003 1600 No information
2004 2200 No information
2005 2200 No information
2006 2400 No information
2007 2557 1269
2008 2643 1358
2009 2751 1455
2006 1300 577
2007 1936 648
2008 1959 674
2009 1975 690
- number of units of local 2006 1100 No information
government
2007 621 621
2008 684 684
2009 776 776
(Source: Authors' research based on reports of the Ministry of Finance, Internal Audit in the
public sector in 2006-2009)
In 2009 the legislature modified the list of public sector entities obliged to conduct
internal audit and their number decreased. Currently, they are such units as: the Prime
Minister's Office, ministries, provincial offices, chambers of Customs and Revenue,
Department of Social Insurance, the Agricultural Social Insurance and National
Health Fund. Individuals (art. 272, Act of 27 August 2009), such as: state budgetary
units, public universities, independent public health care, executive agencies, state-