The government accounts for 2018 are correct, but Rigsrevisionen's opinion on section 38. Taxes and fees is qualified. The Ministry of Taxation is still struggling to ensure and provide documentation for the correctness of the information on taxes and fees included the government accounts. We have detected several significant errors, uncertainty and unexplained differences in the area. The Ministry of Taxation has been unable to determine the exact scope of errors and therefore also the scope of their impact on the income side of the government accounts. However, it is Rigsrevisionen's assessment that the majority of taxes and fees have been correctly entered in the financial statements and that the ministries have complied with the terms of relevant appropriations and other regulations.
The report refers to a number of audit issues that concern issues of principle, are critical or affect several ministries. For instance, several government bodies and public enterprises have circumvented or broken the terms of appropriations and thereby acted contrary to the decisions made by the Danish parliament (the Folketing). It also mentions examples of government bodies or public enterprises that are not complying with the government accounting principles and regulations, which results in misstatements in the financial statements, and it refers to the risk of error or fraud due to inadequate separation of duties in connection with the execution of payments and bookkeeping. Last, the report provides an account of cases where judgments and assessments are causing uncertainty about the amounts included in the financial statements.
The purpose of the audit has been to assess whether the information provided by the ministries and included in the government accounts is correct, and whether the ministries have complied with the terms of relevant appropriations. The purpose of the report is to assist the Public Accounts Committee and the Danish parliament in their scrutiny of the government accounts.
Read the introduction and conclusion (PDF)