Special Report 3/2013

Financial and follow-up audit of procurement procedures and inventory management of the General Hospital of Athens “IPPOKRATIO”

The purpose of this audit was to investigate whether the public governance of the hospital is in compliance with the law and internationally used standards. The audit team laid special attention to accountability, internal control and internal and external audit. More specifically, the HCA’s audit focused on investigating the adequacy of the hospital’s procurement system and stock management, as well as its impact in the financial statements.

The audit disclosed that there is uncertainty of proper care regarding procurement procedures and safeguarding of assets. The ineffective control procedures regarding procurement and stock management lead to risks regarding legality, regularity, incorrect accounting and eventually the quality of the hospital services. The main conclusions from our audit can be summarized as follows: a. Ineffective internal control relating to public procurement purchases resulting to risking the goals and objectives of the hospital function. b. Weak accounting process regarding purchases and relevant transactions with impact to the financial statements. c. Insufficient safeguarding of assets increases the risk of loss of hospital’s property. d. Deficiencies in good public governance also play significant role in the inadequacy of procurement procedures and may lead to overspending of budget resources and failure in providing adequate public services.

The HCA recommends that the management should improve the quality of the internal control procedures, thus achieving a good public governance.