Accountability Audit and State of Central Government Accounts

Every year the Netherlands Court of Audit examines the accounts presented in ministerial annual reports and the ministers’ operational, financial and material management in order to determine whether they meet requirements. The requirements and the Court of Audit’s tasks are laid down in the Government Accounts Act 2016. The Court publishes the results of its Accountability Audit in respect of the previous year on the third Wednesday in May. Accountability Day 2025 is Wednesday 20 May 2026.

What do we audit

At every ministry, we examine whether:

• money is received, spent and accounted for in accordance with the rules, 
• operational management is in order, 
• government policies have achieved their intended results.

The Court also examines whether the accounts in the Central Government Annual Financial Report comply with the requirements set for them. The results of this examination are presented in the State of Central Government Accounts.

The overarching theme of the 2025 Accountability Audit will be announced at a later date, as will the individual audits that will be carried out within the theme.

The Court of Audit will examine operational management in central government with regard to security. The topics we will examine are:

• coordination of security strategy, 
• Customs’ IT systems, 
• drone procurement, 
• security of the Netherlands’ energy supply. 

Other audits being conducted by the Court include: 

• the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Authority’s supervision of plant protection products, 
• declarations of admissibility for special needs education , 
• economy measures at Foreign Trade and Development Aid, 
• the recovery of box 3 income,
• information management in central government,
• the use of algorithms by Customs and the police,
• the impact of temporary service interruptions at central government shared service organisations: SSC-ICT and DICTU.
• non-financial central government accounting information, with specific reference for 2025 to tax revenue from small and medium-sized enterprises owing to the prevention of misuse and improper use.

Why are we carrying out these audits?

Accountability Day underpins democracy. Without accountability there is no democracy. Accountability Day makes the government reflect on the plans and budgets it presented on Budget Day and explain what it did with them and why. Accountability Day helps the government learn from what went well and what could have been better.

Do you want to contribute to this audit?

We welcome all information you may care to share regarding our audits and investigations. We appreciate your contributions, knowledge and experiences on the topics we examine. You can share information with us by sending an email to feedback@rekenkamer.nl.

We read all emails carefully and treat them in confidence but are unable to reply to all contributions we receive.