APPROVED

                                                                                                                               by the Council of the State Audit Office

                                                                                                                                                                     on 17 July, 2006,

                                                                                                                                             (Minutes No 32, paragraph 2)

Code of Ethics of the State Audit Office

I. General Provisions

1.       The aim of the Code of Ethics of the State Audit Office (Code of Ethics) is to determine basic principles of professional ethics and general norms of behaviour for the State Audit Office officials and employees, as well as to facilitate lawful and honest work to serve public interest and improve the culture of the organisation and to enhance confidence of society, Saeima and audited entities towards the State Audit Office (SAO).

2.       Each employee of the SAO shall be responsible for the observance of the Code of Ethics.

3.       To achieve professional aims employees shall observe the following ethical principles:

3.1.        integrity;

3.2.        objectivity;

3.3.        professional competence and due care;

3.4.        confidentiality;             

3.5.        professional behaviour.

4.       Employees of the SAO shall observe basic principles determined by the Code of Ethics in their work, however, in situations
not mentioned in this Code, they shall act according to the common norms of behaviour and moral.

5.       The management of the SAO shall support and defend each employee which has suffered damages or which interests have been threatened while fulfilling his/her job responsibilities.

6.       The management of the SAO in its activities and work organisation shall facilitate observance of basic principles determined of the Code of Ethics and common norms of behaviour. 

II. Basic Principles of Ethics

7.       Integrity and objectivity:

7.1.        employees shall be fair and honest in their professional behaviour;

7.2.        employees shall perform their duties with integrity and act in an appropriate manner in situations where signs of dishonest actions have been noticed;

7.3.        employees shall perform their duties observing principles of honesty and objectivity;

7.4.        employees shall fulfil their responsibilities in good faith, without abusing  advantages of their positions to get personal benefit to themselves or other person. Employees shall neither accept from nor offer to legal entities or private persons, State or local government institutions gifts or entertainment which might reasonably be believed to have a significant and improper influence on their professional behaviour;

7.5.        employees shall maintain equal and honest attitude towards everybody and keep back from special benevolence or unreasonable privileges towards a certain person. When taking up issues and making decisions employee shall consider only impartially proved information and act in accordance with legislation and general legal principles.

8.       Professional competence and due care:

8.1.        employees shall value professional, precise, creative work and shall exercise their responsibilities precisely and fairly, following the best experience and practice and ensuring effectiveness and quality of the SAO’s work;

8.2.        employees shall improve their qualification to ensure quality of the SAO’s work;

8.3.        if employee lacks professional competence or knowledge to fulfil particular job, the employee shall inform about that his/her immediate superior who shall deal with the issue of attraction of other employees or experts;

8.4.        when performing their duties, employees shall demonstrate professional competence and be responsible for their professional development. Employee shall broaden their knowledge taking into account the aims set by the SAO.

9.       Confidentiality:

9.1.        employees shall respect the confidentiality of information acquired in the course of professional service;

9.2.        employees shall respect confidentiality and care about information protection at all levels of the SAO’s activities with exception of cases when special authority has been given by the Auditor General;  

9.3.        employees shall realize that information they posses is provided to ensure work of the SAO, thus they shall not allow the use of information for private interests; 

9.4.        the duty of confidentiality shall continue even after the end of the employment relationship between the employee and the SAO.

10.    Professional behaviour:

10.1.     when performing his/her duties, the employee:

10.1.1.      shall refrain from any conduct which might bring discredit to the profession or the SAO;

10.1.2.      shall not overestimate his/her skills, level of qualification or experience; 

10.1.3.      shall not denigrate work of other employees;

10.2.     employees shall not involve in activities, professions or actions which might decrease their honesty, objectivity and independence or damage the reputation of the SAO;

10.3.     employees shall support each other in professional activities and avoid criticism of colleagues without giving a chance to protect his/herself.   

III. Ethics of behaviour

11.    Loyalty towards the SAO:

11.1.     employees has an obligation to be loyal towards the SAO;

11.2.     loyalty means creative support of employees, participation and advice in relationship with the management of the SAO and other employees, as well as fulfilment of duties and instructions assigned by managers;  

11.3.     employees shall be proud of possibility to work in the SAO realizing that their work facilitates legal, correct, useful and effective utilization of funds and assets possessed by the State and local governments. Employees shall fulfil their obligations enhancing the public confidence towards the SAO.

12.    Responsibility:

12.1.    employees shall realize the significance of their work in achievement of the SAO’s aims; thus they shall feel personally responsible for the quality of the SAO work and fulfil their job responsibilities with responsibility, using knowledge, skills and acquirements they posses to achieve the highest work results and shall be ready to report to the society on the job done;

12.2.     the job shall be done according to highest job execution standards and norms determined by the Code of Ethics.

13.    Independence:

13.1.    employees of the SAO shall be independent in their actions, avoiding influence of external factors which might decrease their professional assessment, as well as shall fulfil their duties in compliance with the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia, the Law on the State Audit Office and other external and internal regulatory enactments in force, and shall act fairly and by objective considerations;

13.2.    the independence of employees shall become apparent when fulfilling their job responsibilities avoiding influence of any economic, financial and other relationships;

13.3.     employees shall inform the Auditor General in cases when their independence is threatened in the result of their actions or participation. 

14.    Communication within the SAO and with other institutions and organizations:

14.1.    employees shall be positive towards each other and accept constructive approach to provision of information, expression of assertions and advice. Managers shall give appropriate, adequate and constructive answers, as well as shall facilitate professional development of employees; 

14.2.    employees shall take care of involving new employees of the SAO in the collective, sharing the professional knowledge, experience and practice;

14.3.    when executing orders issued by a higher official employees shall be personally responsible for their actions. If the order is illegal, employee shall inform about it his/her immediate superiors; 

14.4.    interrelations with other employees shall be based on the principles of honesty and respect avoiding discrimination against different nationality, sex, age, physical abilities, sexual orientation, political, philosophical and religious opinion;

14.5.    employees shall avoid arrogance and authoritarian management; they shall observe the norms of democracy and good fellowship;

14.6.    in communication with other employees, manager or subordinate employees shall observe the order of subordination and respect the opinion of others, as well as they shall be polite, tolerant and shall not misuse confidence of other employees;

14.7.    with their attitude towards other employees and persons employees shall not create basis for suspicion about their dishonest actions or easily influenced position;

14.8.    behaviour that is obtrusive and offensive shall not be admissible, especially if it continues irrespective of reprimand from other employee or person;   

14.9.    employees shall not use language, gestures and/or hints which might injure pride of other employee or person;

14.10. discussions among employees shall be based on the principles of openness, mutual understanding and good fellowship, employees shall listen to each other and support their opinions with evidence;

14.11.employees shall resolve conflicts in the way of constructive cooperation facilitating sensible resolution of situation; 

14.12. if in doubt about the application of the Code of Ethics employees shall discuss the situation with the immediate superior, the head of structural unit or the Head of Personnel Division;

14.13.employees shall not use with malicious intent the information about relationships, lack of knowledge or experience of other employees;

14.14. calumniation about other employees shall not be admissible;

14.15. employees must be self-critical, able to admit and redeem failures and unethical action and apologize for that;

14.16.employees shall inform about circumstance which might be cumbersome or which might cause conflict situations when performing professional duties;

14.17.communication between the SAO and mass media shall be ensured by the corresponding structural unit treating all mass media equally in terms of information submission time and its content. It is important for society to receive clear, evident and certain information about the policy of the SAO and its implementation;  

14.18. in the promotion of themselves and their professional work, employees shall:

14.18.1.  use no mass media which might bring the profession into disrepute;

14.18.2.  make no exaggerated claims about the level of their qualification or experience;

14.18.3.  not denigrate the work of other employees;

14.19.the official opinion of the SAO shall be expressed to mass media only by employees authorized by the Auditor General;

14.20. public opinions of employees shall not express the official opinion of the SAO;

14.21. when communicating with society as private person, employees shall care for the reputation and prestige of the SAO, thus they shall refrain from expressions which might cause doubts about their loyalty towards the SAO;

14.22. employee shall realize that their behaviour, appearance and attitude creates the image of the SAO in society;

14.23. both when fulfilling job responsibilities and out of work employees shall avoid situations which might decrease the authority of the SAO or the significance of its activities or which might threaten or damage the reputation of the institution and themselves;

14.24. employees shall not use e-mail and home pages which might cause untoward conditions for fulfilment of job responsibilities, or which might cause interference in information systems or bad reputation of the SAO;

14.25. employees shall take into account that e-mail is equivalent to outgoing letters. The presentation style and the content shall correspond to the standards acknowledged by the SAO;

14.26. in the event of simultaneous employment relationships with other employer, employee shall observe the basic principles and standards of ethics included in the Code of Ethics;

14.27. critics about the policy or management of the SAO among the employees of the SAO and out of Office shall be considered as unethical behaviour.

15.    Conflict of interests:

15.1.     employees shall not accept gifts, material benefits, services from persons which might influence the fulfilment of their job responsibilities, decision making or cause a conflict of interests. Employees shall take decisions only in the interests of society according to the Code of Ethics;   

15.2.    when discussing possible transactions out of the SAO, employees shall act fairly and with responsibility. Employees shall refuse from exercising responsibilities that are related to their private or property interests, or those of their relatives or business partners;

15.3.     employees shall not accept a gift in any transaction related to the professional activities of the SAO, participate in any measure if there are doubts about possible conflict of interests or a decrease of the SAO’s prestige;

15.4.    employees shall assess together with the immediate superior all possibilities of conflict of interests including employment relationships with audited entities in the past;

15.5.    employees shall not cause situations in which they might be financially or in some other way dependant on persons which might influence their work results;

15.6.     when making personal transactions, employees shall take care about the reputation of the SAO, thus they shall avoid involvement in doubtful transactions;

15.7.    employees shall use the position and information acquired while exercising the responsibilities only for the sake of the SAO. Abuse of the position and use of the state resources for private interests shall be inadmissible;

15.8.    employees shall inform a higher official about any expression of corruption in the SAO;

15.9.    in any negotiations about another job or when assuming another office after the end of the employment relationships with the SAO, employees shall refrain from activities which might cause abuse of their position in the SAO or which might cause doubts about possible conflict of interests. 

IV. Closing provisions

16.    All employees of the SAO in their professional activities shall comply with the norms determined by the Code of Ethics; otherwise a disciplinary penalty in accordance with regulatory enactments could be applied.

17.    Employees shall not be called to administrative responsibility if they rejected to execute illegal order or instructions.

18.    In the event of offence of the standards of ethics or norms of behaviour, employees or other persons shall be entitled to make a complaint on an employee of the SAO to his/her immediate superior or the head of structural unit or the Auditor General. Should the problem be impossible to solve individually and impartially, one must turn to the Ethics Commission of the State Audit Office.

19.    Decisions of the Ethics Commission of the SAO about the offence of norms of behaviour shall carry advisory character to the Auditor General.

20.   The decision on offences of the norms of behaviour determined by the Code of Ethics shall be taken by the Auditor General or his/her authorized person.

Auditor General                                                                                                                                                       I.Sudraba