Syed Hussein Al -Qassab
The Chairman of the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee of the Shura Council, Khaled Al -Muscati, stressed that referring the final account to the committee enhances the principles of transparency and accountability, noting that the financial and administrative control bureau expressed a positive professional opinion on the financial statements of the Shura Council, where he made it clear that it appears fairly, and from all aspects of the fundamental center of the Council.
During its regular session, the Shura Council discussed the report of the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee on the audited financial statements of the Council for the fiscal year ending on December 31, 2024 AD, which was audited by the Financial and Administrative Supervision Bureau.
The Chairman of the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee, Khaled Al -Muscati, explained the mechanism for preparing and studying the council budget project, noting that the General Secretariat is preparing the estimated budget, then the Secretary -General raises it to His Excellency the Chairman of the Council for its approval.
He added that the annual budget project is referred by the president to the council’s office for consideration, in addition to the final account project.
Al -Muscati indicated that Article (180) of the internal regulations of the Shura Council provides for the preparation of the General Secretariat for the final account and its presentation to the president within three months from the end of the fiscal year, so that it will be referred to the council’s office; Hence, to the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee, which holds his research and submitted a report on it to present it in the first next session.
And that referring the closing account to the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee is a passenger procedure subject to the assessment of the council’s office, but this procedure enhances the principles of transparency and accountability by enabling the committee to study the financial statements before presenting it to the plenary session.
Al -Muscati emphasized that the financial and administrative supervision bureau expressed a positive professional opinion on the financial statements of the Shura Council, where he explained that it appears in a fair manner, and from all the fundamental aspects, the financial position of the council as on December 31, 2024 AD, in addition to the results of its operations and changes in cash flows, according to international standards for the preparation of financial reports and the requirements of the financial regulations of the council.
He reviewed the most prominent achievements of the General Secretariat during the year 2024, noting that it won the “Sunnah Foundation in Digital Transformation” award within the twelfth annual summit awards for government human resources in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, in addition to obtaining the first place repeated in the award for the best program in preparing leaders for the same year.
He pointed to the achievement of the General Secretariat of the Shura Council ranked first in the Arab world and the thirteenth globally in the digital maturity index of parliaments, according to the Global Electronic Parliament report issued by the International Parliamentary Union, thanks to its efforts in providing support and training to the members and employees of the General Secretariat.
Al -Muscati added that the General Secretariat continued to develop parliamentary performance by sending its employees to participate in international conferences and exhibitions, with the aim of seeing the latest innovations in the areas of artificial intelligence, digital transformation, and modern technical devices, noting the implementation of 8 parliamentary support programs that included 51 training hours, and 170 participants from the members and members of the Secretariat benefited from.
