Gyeongbuk Provincial Council Begins Settlement Inspection of Gyeongbuk Province and Education Office... Representative Member Lee Sun-hee Elected

The Gyeongbuk Provincial Council (Chairman Bae Han-cheol) has launched a settlement audit of the 2023 fiscal year revenue and expenditure budget execution details and fund usage for Gyeongsangbuk-do and the Gyeongsangbuk-do Office of Education. Ten members were appointed as settlement audit committee members, including three provincial councilors, three former accounting officials, two certified public accountants, and two tax accountants.

The Gyeongbuk Provincial Council elected Lee Seon-hee, a member of the Planning and Economy Committee (People Power Party, Cheongdo), as the representative committee member, and Noh Seong-hwan, a member of the Agriculture, Fisheries, and Livestock Committee (People Power Party, Goryeong), as the secretary.

Before starting the final audit of Gyeongbuk Province and the Gyeongbuk Provincial Office of Education, the final audit committee members, including Assemblyman Noh Seong-hwan (second from the left in the front row), Assemblyman Lee Seon-hee, Superintendent Lim Jong-sik of Gyeongbuk Education, and Assemblyman Son Hee-gwon, are taking a commemorative photo.

The settlement audit committee members are organized into three teams and will conduct the settlement audit of Gyeongsangbuk-do and the Gyeongsangbuk-do Office of Education for 20 days from the 11th to the 30th.

The settlement audit of the Gyeongsangbuk-do Office of Education will be conducted over seven days from the 11th to the 17th. Last year, the total revenue of the Office of Education was 6.3847 trillion KRW (a decrease of 438 billion KRW compared to 6.8227 trillion KRW the previous year), total expenditure was 5.6036 trillion KRW (a decrease of 621.6 billion KRW compared to 6.2252 trillion KRW the previous year), and the net global surplus was 108.3 billion KRW (an increase of 52.1 billion KRW compared to 56.2 billion KRW the previous year).

The settlement audit of Gyeongsangbuk-do will be conducted over 13 days from the 18th to the 30th. Last year, total revenue was 13.4216 trillion KRW (a decrease of 536.8 billion KRW compared to 13.9584 trillion KRW the previous year), total expenditure was 12.5962 trillion KRW (a decrease of 366.3 billion KRW compared to 12.9625 trillion KRW the previous year), and the net global surplus was 289.9 billion KRW (a decrease of 71.8 billion KRW compared to 361.7 billion KRW the previous year). This indicates that the revenue decline due to last year’s economic downturn had a significant impact on Gyeongsangbuk-do’s finances.

Lee Seon-hee, the representative of this settlement audit, stated, “Last year, due to the government’s tax revenue forecast errors, a considerable amount of budget was cut in the supplementary budget, sharply reducing the budgets for projects such as river disaster prevention and school facility improvement.” She added, “In this difficult economic situation, we plan to carefully examine whether the precious taxes paid by the residents were properly executed according to the budget purposes and whether the budget was used frugally without waste.”

Bae Han-cheol, Chairman of the Gyeongbuk Provincial Council, urged the settlement audit committee members, “As the settlement audit committee members verify the budgets executed for Gyeongsangbuk-do administration and educational administration on behalf of the residents, please do your best to conduct a thorough audit so that it can serve as an opportunity to enhance fiscal soundness and budget execution efficiency.”