Since November 2024, the Committee of Internal State Audit and its territorial subdivisions have been implementing new approaches to monitoring data from the information systems of the central authorized body for budget execution, using preventive response measures.
To strengthen control over the use of budget funds allocated for wage payments in the education sector, the “Online Budget Monitoring” (OBM) module was developed. This module continuously monitors salary payments based on risk profiles, and when risks are confirmed, immediate response letters are sent to the monitored entities with notifications to the budget program administrators, the Anti-Corruption Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and its territorial bodies.
Starting in 2025, budget monitoring began to cover salary payments in the fields of culture, healthcare, physical culture, and sports.
On April 23, 2025, the Department of Internal State Audit for Karaganda Region ( hereinafter – the Departmen t) held a meeting with regional budget program administrators and representatives of the departments of education, culture, archives and documentation, physical culture and sports, and healthcare to explain the ongoing monitoring of salary payments and its results.
At the meeting, it was noted that during the period ( from 11.01.2024 to 04.16.2025), the Department covered 2,093 payments in the amount of 873.2 million tenge through CBM, of which the risks were confirmed for 400 payments in the amount of 18.5 million tenge, of which 8.6 million tenge was reimbursed to the budget, the remaining amount is reimbursed on schedule.
Violations were identified according to the following risk profiles:
Under the profile “ Risk of overpayment exceeding 800,000 tenge ” monitoring revealed two cases of unjustified salary payments totaling 536.6 thousand tenge due to wrongful actions by payroll accountants, including 336.6 thousand tenge in the Education Department of Aktogay District and 200.0 thousand tenge in Gymnasium No. 45 in Karaganda city;
- Under the profile “Mismatch of the individual’s bank card account,” two cases of unjustified salary payments totaling 508.6 thousand tenge were also identified, including 324.3 thousand tenge in the Education Department of Shet District and 184.3 thousand tenge in the Zhakyp Akbayev General Education School in Karaganda. These violations occurred due to salary payments being made to employees’ bank cards that were previously blocked because their validity period had expired. Since the employees did not receive the funds, the salary was paid again to new bank cards. However, the previously transferred funds remained in the second-tier banks and were only unblocked and recovered into the budget after the Department’s intervention.
Other violations relate to the profile “ Information on payments within one month to the bank card of an individual from different state institutions ” where numerous violations of the Labor Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan regarding part-time employment were identified. According to Article 68 of the Labor Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated November 23, 2015, No. 414-V ZRK, the total duration of daily work at the main job and part-time job must not exceed the daily work duration norm established in paragraph 4 of Article 71 of the Labor Code by more than 4 hours, i.e., part-time work is allowed for no more than 1.5 full-time equivalents. However, cases were found where accountants were employed simultaneously in several schools for 2 or more full-time equivalents, which is clearly unacceptable.
It should be noted that the position of an accountant, like other positions in the public sector, is paid based on hours worked, with working hours recorded in timesheets, even if the employee was hired for remote work.
Response letters (notifications) are sent to monitored entities regarding the need to provide supporting documents confirming the legitimacy of salary payments, with notification of the budget program administrator, the Anti-Corruption Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and its territorial bodies on paper. If risks are confirmed, to prevent unjustified use of budget funds, the monitored entity is recommended to independently eliminate the risks within 10 working days. If not addressed, the possibility of conducting an unscheduled audit will be considered. So far, no unscheduled audits have been opened, as all notifications have been fulfilled.
Currently, the OBM functionality is being improved, risk profiles are being updated based on the effectiveness of their application, and in the future, notifications regarding triggered risks will be sent electronically.