Zenica Brown Coal Mine d.o.o. Zenica, Kreka Brown Coal Mine d.o.o. Tuzla, Bauxite Mines d.o.o. Posušje, Bauxite Mines d.o.o. Široki Brijeg, JP Bosansko-podrinjske Šume d.o.o. Goražde, Public Employment Service of Sarajevo Canton, Public General Hospital Bugojno, Public General Hospital Jajce, Health Insurance Institute of Canton 10, Health Insurance Institute of Bosansko-podrinje Canton, Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Una-Sana Canton, West Herzegovina Canton, Municipality of Pale (FBiH), Municipality of Bosansko Grahovo, City of Široki Brijeg, and Forestry Company Prenj d.d. Konjic – these are the institutions that violated the Law on Audit of Institutions in the Federation of BiH. Upon receiving the audit report, audited institutions are legally obliged to submit their responses within 60 days to the Office for Auditing Institutions in FBiH, outlining measures undertaken to eliminate identified irregularities and shortcomings in their work. However, these 16 institutions ignored this legal requirement. Considering that more than four months have passed since the publication of the most recent audit reports, and given that these institutions have a significant impact on citizens’ quality of life, such violations of legal provisions are unacceptable and demonstrate irresponsibility towards the system, the public, and the citizens. For the Municipality of Pale (FBiH), RMU Kreka Tuzla, and Bauxite Mines d.o.o. Široki Brijeg, this represents a continuation of poor practice, as they had previously breached the same obligation during earlier financial audits.
The audit reports for these 16 institutions identified significant irregularities in their operations and spending of public funds, which is why none of them received an unqualified (clean) audit opinion. Two institutions—RMU Zenica d.o.o. Zenica and RMU Kreka d.o.o. Tuzla—received adverse opinions from the Audit Office, both for their financial statements and for compliance with legal regulations. Across all 16 institutions, a total of 380 audit recommendations were issued, of which as many as 165 were repeated from previous audit reports. Institutions with more than half of their recommendations repeated from earlier periods include West Herzegovina Canton, the Public Employment Service of Sarajevo Canton, the Health Insurance Institute of Canton 10, the Health Insurance Institute of Bosansko-podrinje Canton, and the City of Široki Brijeg.
Failure to fulfill legal obligations and negligent handling of public funds demonstrate the lack of accountability of persons in leadership positions when it comes to addressing and overcoming accumulated problems. For this reason, it is crucial that competent authorities, within their mandates, respond to violations of the Law, review the responsibility of institutional leaders, and engage in the process of remedying the identified irregularities and weaknesses in operations. As representatives of the citizens, the authorities should, in line with their responsibilities, take adequate steps to ensure that institutional work is brought back within the framework of lawful and efficient management of public resources.