SAI was established under constitution. SAIs Head is appointed by Government/ Head of State/ selection from Panel (on proposal of the Prime Minister by selection from 3 senior members of the Corte dei conti, proposed by the Corte itself). Procedure for terminating the appointment of the Head of SAI is :
The President and the members of the Corte dei conto (who are judges) can be removed only by decree of the President of the Republic on the advice of a special committee composed of the President and vice-President of both houses of the Italian Parliament (this event never happened).
The prescribed qualification for appointment of the Head of SAI is that she/he should be Senior member (President of Chamber) of the Corte dei conti. SAIs appointed head has a prescribed age limit of 72years. The Various Conditions of service of the head of the SAI to secure independence are:
SAI is fully independent of other branches of Government. SAI have the financial independence, parliament has the right to decide on the allocation of budgetary resources for the SAI. It has the right to receive resources according to the general financial rules. There is a board of auditors who certifies SAI's financial statements.
The SAI's jurisdiction extends to following
SAI's jurisdiction is exercised according to different laws which specify the scope of the audit function in relation to the enumerated items. SAI have jurisdiction over Regulatory bodies (eg. Privatisation, Environment, Pollution Control, telecom etc.), only in the cases stated by law.
SAI dose not have the power of requisitioning all records of the auditee departments/organisations to discharge its mandate. SAI dose not have the power to enforce or initiate enforcement action to secure access to needed records which are not produced. SAI dose not have the powers to seal, search and seize documents and other related items where it is considered necessary for its audit and inspection. SAI can seek testimonials of civil servants but has no powers to seek testimonials of the private persons concerned and it cannot seek co-operation of persons other than agencies subject to audit. The SAI does not have powers to instruct government investigating agencies to perform activities considered necessary. The SAI has the authority of re-examining its own adjudication on only one occasion if there is a first degree of judgement and a second degree for re-examining the adjudication before a Chamber other than the Chamber of the first judgement.
The SAI does not have power to decide on claims of interested persons in connection with official actions, duties and behaviours of persons subject to audit and inspection. The SAI does not have the authority to dispense with, in whole or part, the audit of Federal, Provincial and local Governments accounts and other related matters. The SAI has powers to take punitive action and/or impose surcharge. It can impose a fine to the responsible accountant who does not present his account. The SAI has the powers to access the computer systems of the auditees and the power to download and use electronic data either in site or off site, but only for the audit of State budget. The SAI has the powers to review the development of computer systems by the auditees and suggest/enforce any controls. The SAI does not have any role in the appointment of other external auditors engaged by the auditees for meeting any statutory requirements. The SAI does not have powers to supervise and regulate their works.
The SAI prescribes Financial, Compliance, Performance and EDP Audits in its scope of Audit. The most recent provisions are in a 1994 law that summarises the scope of the audit of the State budget according to the types of managements acts. Other provisions are in the relevant sectors laws concerning the audit function of the budgets of Regions, local authorities, public bodies. The SAI conducts Pre-audit and Special audit. Pre-audit concerns the main State contracts and the directives of Ministries and high rank State manager.
1. Pre-audit: the Administration sends the act to the relevant audit office which following a compliance audit, puts a "visa" on it. In case of no compliance a special procedure is enforced.
2. Special audits: they are limited to the work programmes of the different Corte's chambers or are carried out following a request of the Parliament or Regional Councils.
The SAI discharges judicial functions. The audit examination has a judicial feature and is carried out by the Corte's Prosecutor General. The enquiries are directly carried out by the Prosecutor General. The meetings of the Regional judicial Chambers are open to the public. The defendant civil servant is represented by his lawyer and he can submit documents and witness statements. The "Order" passed is a sentence. For appeals, there are three second level chambers located in Rome, whose meetings are open to the public. The sentence is enforced by a special office of the Treasury. During the enquires and the Chamber judicial procedures it is possible to put under judicial attachment the civil servant properties. The Corte reports to the Parliament or Regional Councils the audit findings and follows up the activity of the auditee in compliance with the Corte advices. There are no links between judicial functions and the conduct of performance audit. Inclusion of the findings of the audit court in the audit reports of SAI may happen if the "sentence" represents a case that needs to be proposed to the attention of the Parliament.
The SAI is required to follow specific standards, practices and guidelines in conducting audit and reporting. The SAI can consult and/or collaborate with other countries/SAIs and international organizations on matters relating to audit eg. the co-operation with the SAIs of the European Union. SAI can engage consultants, professional services in conducting audit. SAI reports State economic interests like mass embezzlement of State assets, serious losses and wastes as it is obliged to do so. The law provides that any civil servant is obliged to report to the penal judge and the Corte when he knows cases of fraud or embezzlement. Any report is approved by the relevant audit chamber before being presented to the Parliament or Regional Council. SAI have the powers to share its audit reports with the public and media after the formal reporting.
The SAI is constituted as A collegial multi-member body (Board-Committee-Chamber)/ Court/Tribunal Audit/Accounts. The SAI is a /Chamber of audit/Court of accounts/Audit. The Head of SAI are judges. The independence is fully guaranteed. For SAI's day to day functioning the Secretary General is responsible. The regional audit chambers are independent from the central audit chambers.
The SAI can expend resources budged independently and it has full independence in forming its workplan. The law grants the functional and organizational independence of the Corte. The Corte is fully independent in the staff recruitment according to a ceiling fixed by the law. The conditions of services are fixed by the law. The SAI is not subject to an independent audit. The SAI is not required to submit report on its activities.