Revealed in Court of Accounts reports: 'Exchange rate difference' game at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The Court of Accounts has published its 2023 audit reports for various ministries. The report prepared for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs includes significant findings, such as failure to comply with the principles of periodicity and consistency in accounting records, incorrect recording of exchange rate difference expenses, and non-compliance with capital expenditure limits.

IRREGULARITIES IN ACCOUNTING RECORDS

According to the Court of Accounts report, it was determined that some transactions related to items such as "material accounts, facility, machinery and equipment accounts, vehicle accounts, and fixed asset accounts" of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were recorded as 2023 transactions in the accounting books, despite having been carried out in 2022. According to the report by Cumhuriyet, it was also emphasized that movable property correction records and data entries from previous years were offset late by spending units.

INCORRECT RECORDING OF EXCHANGE RATE DIFFERENCE EXPENSES

Another notable finding in the report concerns exchange rate difference expenses. It was determined that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reflected exchange rate differences arising from personnel expenses, purchases of goods and services, medical treatment expenses, and contributions to international organizations for overseas operations under the "personnel expenses" item. It was stated that this situation led to inaccuracies in the accounting records.

NON-COMPLIANCE WITH CAPITAL EXPENDITURE LIMITS

The Court of Accounts report also determined that the ministry included records that did not comply with the capital expenditure limits set out in the schedule attached to the 2023 Central Government Budget Law. It was found that some transactions were not recorded under the capital expenditure code despite exceeding the specified amounts.

LACK OF FOLLOW-UP ON MEDICAL TREATMENT EXPENSES

Deficiencies were also identified in the audit regarding the medical treatment expenses of personnel and their family members serving in overseas missions.

A comparison of the medical treatment documents sent to the Social Security Institution (SGK) for 2022 with the correspondence received from the SGK revealed a discrepancy of 29 treatment documents. It was stated that in this situation, payments might have been made for medical services that should not have been covered.

News Source: 12punto