Audit office warns accounting rules remain outdated after 25 years

The Faroese National Audit Office has again warned that accounting regulations are not being taken seriously enough, Kringvarp Føroya reports.

The warning appears in the office’s annual report for the 2025 financial year. A circular on accounting regulations issued by the Ministry of Finance 25 years ago has not been updated, despite major changes in digitalisation, IT security, internal controls and accounting procedures.

The circular does not need to be updated every year, but it should be reviewed and adapted when changes are made to areas such as IT systems that affect the accounting of public institutions, the audit office said.

Without such updates, the regulations can become misleading and lose their value as management and control tools.

The audit office has repeatedly pointed out that many accounting regulations have not been updated in line with changes at public institutions. It raised the issue again in this year’s report.