At the sitting held on 5 and 6 September 2019 outside of the National Assembly seat in Zrenjanin, the members of the Committee on Finance, State Budget and Control of Public Spending considered the following agenda:
- Audit Report on the Consolidated Financial Reports of the Annual Financial Statement of the City of Zrenjanin 2018 Budget;Decision amending the Decision on the Establishment of the Subcommittee for the Consideration of Reports on Audits Conducted by the State Audit Institution;
- Report of the Subcommittee for the Consideration of Reports on Audits Conducted by the State Audit Institution on considered financial report audits conducted in 2019;
- Report of the Subcommittee for the Consideration of Reports on Audits Conducted by the State Audit Institution on considered regulatory audits conducted in 2019;
- Initiative to amend the laws and regulations concerning financial reporting and public procurement;
- Proposal of the Committee for performance audits for 2020.
Greeting the attending, the Mayor of Zrenjanin Cedomir Janjic highlighted the excellent cooperation the City of Zrenjanin has with the republic authorities, both the National Assembly and the Government, and with all the ministries. He said that Zrenjanin is an attractive place for investment stressing that one of the biggest investments in Serbia was realized in this city – construction of the Chinese tyre factory “Shandong Linglong". He said that another big investment is to follow - the construction of the Belgrade-Zrenjanin and Zrenjanin-Novi Sad highway, adding that in the past two years 4500 new jobs were created in Zrenjanin by both domestic and foreign investors.
The Committee then proceeded to tackle the Audit Report on the Consolidated Financial Reports of the Annual Financial Statement of the City of Zrenjanin 2018 Budget, presented by Dr Dusko Pejovic, President of the Council of the State Audit Institution.
The Committee members adopted the Decision amending the Decision on the Establishment of the Subcommittee for the Consideration of Reports on Audits Conducted by the State Audit Institution.
The Subcommittee for the Consideration of Reports on Audits Conducted by the State Audit Institution then held its 5th sitting where it considered the financial report audits conducted in 2019 and the regulatory audits conducted in 2019. Subcommittee Chairman Prof. Dr Vladimir Marinkovic ceded the floor to the President of the Council of the State Audit Institution who presented the reports on the abovementioned audits.
Following a comprehensive debate the Subcommittee proposed that the Committee adopt the reports. The Committee accepted the Subcommittee’s proposal by majority vote.
On day two, 6 September, the Committee members discussed the initiative to amend the laws and regulations concerning financial reporting and public procurement with a special focus on the Draft Law on Accounting and Draft Law on Audit, presented by Aleksandar Janjusevic, acting assistant minister of finance, and the Draft Law on Public Procurement, presented by Ivana Djenic, deputy head of the Public Procurement Office.
Finally, the Committee considered the proposal of the Committee for performance audits for 2020, presented by Dr Dusko Pejovic, President of the Council of the State Audit Institution.
The sitting was attended by representatives of the State Audit Institution, Ministry of Finance, Public Procurement Office, Republic Commission for Protection of Rights in Public Procurement Procedures and the Association of Internal Auditors of Serbia for the public sector, Novi Sad office.
The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairperson Dr Aleksandra Tomic and attended by the following Committee members and deputy members: Zoran Despotovic, Milorad Mijatovic, Prof. Dr Vladimir Marinkovic, Momo Colakovic, Milan Lapcevic, Vojislav Vujic, Zoltan Pek, Zoran Bojanic, Goran Kovacevic, Sonja Vlahovic, Olivera Pesic, Veroljub Arsic and Arpad Fremond, as well as MPs Mirko Krlic and Stanislava Janosevic.
The Committee sitting outside of the National Assembly seat was held under the auspices of project “Strengthening the Oversight Role and Transparency of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Phase Two”, conducted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, and financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
