International Journal of Management and Economics Fundamental
45
https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ijmef
VOLUME
Vol.05 Issue 05 2025
PAGE NO.
45-47
10.37547/ijmef/Volume05Issue05-09
The Role and Significance of The Accounts Chamber of
The Republic of Uzbekistan in Implementing State
Financial Control
Ibragimova Gulchexra Tohirovna
Acting Associate Professor of the Department of Economics at University of Science and Technology, Uzbekistan
Sattorova Mehriniso
3rd-year student of the Finance and Financial Technologies program at the University of Science and Technology, Uzbekistan
Received:
26 March 2025;
Accepted:
22 April 2025;
Published:
30 May 2025
Abstract:
The Accounts Chamber of the Republic of Uzbekistan (ACRU) is the country’s supreme audit institution
and a keystone of the national architecture of public-sector accountability. Since the 2013 adoption of the Law
“On the Accounts Chamber,” successive reforms—most recently the creation of the “State Audit” e
-platform and
the extension of external audit to the consolidated budget
—
have expand
ed the Chamber’s mandate and
methodological arsenal. This article analyses the ACRU’s evolving legal foundations, organisational model, audit
methodology, and practical results through the prism of the IMRAD framework. Drawing on legislative acts, official
reports, and comparative INTOSAI guidance, it demonstrates that the Chamber has moved from ex-post
verification of budget execution to a risk-based, results-oriented system encompassing financial, compliance, and
performance audits. Empirical findings based on 2018-2023 data show a pronounced increase in the scope of
audited public expenditure, a measurable rise in detected irregularities, and a notable improvement in the
recovery of misallocated funds. The discussion highlights persisting challenges
—
limited access to extra-budgetary
funds, fragmented internal audit in line ministries, and the need for further digital integration
—
while
underscoring the Chamber’s role in fostering fiscal transparency and public trust.
Keywords:
Accounts Chamber; supreme audit institution; state financial control; public finance; Uzbekistan;
performance audit; fiscal transparency.
Introduction:
Against the backdrop of Uzbekistan’s
transition from a centrally planned system to an open,
market-oriented economy, the integrity of public-
finance management has emerged as a strategic
precondition for sustainable growth, social equity, and
investor confidence. Within this architecture, external
state audit serves as the definitive mechanism that
translates constitutional principles of accountability
into measurable fiscal discipline. The Accounts
Chamber of the Republic of Uzbekistan (ACRU)
occupies this pivotal position. Constituted in its modern
form by the 2013 Law “On the Accounts Chamber” and
reinforced by successive amendments, the ACRU was
mandated not merely to verify budget execution ex
post, but to provide independent, risk-based assurance
to the Oliy Majlis and society that public resources are
mobilised and applied in line with the nation’s
development priorities.
Over the past decade the Chamber has pursued an
ambitious modernisation agenda that mirrors, and in
several dimensions anticipates, global INTOSAI
standards. Legislative reforms have expanded its remit
from the republican budget to the entire consolidated
public sector, encompassing off-budget, debt-financed,
and externally funded programmes whose aggregate
weight in the expenditure mix has grown markedly
since the launch of the “Uzbekistan
-
2030” strategy.
Organisationally, the Chamber has institutionalised
performance and compliance audits alongside
traditional financial checks, adopted a risk-oriented
International Journal of Management and Economics Fundamental
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https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ijmef
International Journal of Management and Economics Fundamental (ISSN: 2771-2257)
planning matrix, and introduced a competency-based
professional development system aligned with ISSAI
150. Technologically, it has rolled out the “State Audit”
e-platform, integrating audit workflows with the
Treasury’s information systems and enabling near real
-
time publication of findings
—
an innovation that
positions Uzbekistan among the frontrunners in digital
public-sector auditing in Central Asia.
These reforms coincide with a broader governmental
drive to curb corruption, enhance fiscal transparency,
and attract foreign investment through credible
governance safeguards. Yet questions remain
regarding the Chamber’s access to extra
-budgetary
entities, the consistency of internal-audit quality across
line ministries, and the practical enforcement of audit
recommendations. This study therefore examines the
evolving role and significance of the Accounts Chamber
in Uzbekistan’s state
-financial-control ecosystem,
evaluates empirical evidence of its effectiveness
between 2018 and 2023, and identifies the institutional
and technological levers required for the Chamber to
fully realise its mandate in the coming decade.
The study rests on an interdisciplinary review of
primary and secondary sources. The core legal
instruments
—namely the Law “On the Accounts
Chamber” (2013, amended 2021) and the Law “On
Audit Activity” (2021)—
provide the statutory
framework. Presidential Decree No. ПП
-123 (2024)
supplies policy directio
n, while the Chamber’s Annual
Report 2023 offers empirical evidence of outputs and
outcomes. Supplementary data derive from IFAC
country diagnostics, INTOSAI case studies, and peer-
reviewed Uzbek and international publications.
Methodologically, the article combines qualitative
content analysis of legal texts with quantitative
examination of audit statistics for 2018-2023. To
capture dynamic change, year-on-year growth rates in
audit coverage, identified violations, and financial
restitution are computed. Comparative benchmarking
is achieved through reference to INTOSAI Performance
Measurement Framework (PMF) indicators and to
practices in neighbouring SAIs in the CIS region.
The 2013 Law defined the ACRU as an independent
div reporting to the Oliy Majlis; amendments in 2021
bolstered its functional autonomy by granting direct
access to the Single Treasury Account and establishing
audit standards fully aligned with ISSAI principles [1].
Presidential Decree No. ПП
-123 (2024) further
broadened the Chamber’s re
mit by tasking it with the
external audit of the consolidated budget, a domain
that previously lay partly outside its jurisdiction [2].
Between 2018 and 2023 the ACRU transitioned from
predominantly ex-post financial audits of budget
execution to a diversified mix of financial, compliance,
and performance audits. The adoption of risk-based
planning enabled a sharper focus on high-impact
sectors such as health, education, and infrastructure.
The “State Audit” e
-platform, operational since mid-
2023, now serves as the single entry point for
registering all public-sector control activities, thereby
reducing duplication and facilitating real-time data
analytics [5].
Data extracted from the Chamber’s 2023 report show
that audited expenditure volumes rose from UZS 42
trillion in 2018 to UZS 145 trillion in 2023, an average
annual growth rate of 27 percent [3]. Over the same
period, the value of detected financial violations
increased by a factor of 4.6, reaching UZS 2.8 trillion in
2023. Importantly, recoveries and restitutions
recorded in the treasury system climbed from UZS 320
billion in 2018 to UZS 1.9 trillion in 2023, indicating
growing
remedial
effectiveness.
INTOSAI-PMF
benchmarking places Uzbekistan’s SAI above the
regional average on dimension 7 (audit quality
management) but identifies gaps on dimension 12
(stakeholder communication), reflecting limited
dissemination of audit findings to civil society.
The Chamber’s strengthened mandate has coincided
with broader governmental efforts to increase fiscal
openness, as evidenced by the integration of audit
recommendations
into
annual
budget-policy
statements and the live-streaming of parliamentary
hearings on audit reports [6]. These steps have
enhanced legislative oversight and public scrutiny,
corroborating empirical research that links transparent
audit practices with higher ratings in the Open Budget
Index. Although the Chamber’s sanctioning powers
remain restricted to issuing binding prescriptions,
collaboration agreements with the Prosecutor-
General’s Offic
e and the Anti-Corruption Agency have
accelerated the enforcement of audit findings,
particularly those involving procurement violations and
the misuse of targeted funds.
Despite notable progress, several constraints persist.
Audit coverage of extra-budgetary funds and state-
owned enterprises remains limited, primarily because
the legal definition of the consolidated budget is still
under revision. Internal audit units in spending
agencies vary widely in capacity, which affects the
reliability of control environments assessed by the
Chamber. Furthermore, the digital interface between
the “State Audit” platform and the Ministry of Finance’s
information systems is not yet fully interoperable,
impeding real-time data exchange. Addressing these
issues requires synchronised legal amendments,
capacity-building for internal auditors, and the
accelerated deployment of machine-learning tools for
International Journal of Management and Economics Fundamental
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International Journal of Management and Economics Fundamental (ISSN: 2771-2257)
anomaly detection within the audit process.
CONCLUSION
The transformative trajectory of the Accounts Chamber
of the Republic of Uzbekistan attests to a broader
paradigm shift in the country’s public
-finance
governance. By institutionalising risk-based planning,
embedding ISSAI-compliant procedures, and digitising
audit workflows through the “State Audit” platform,
the Chamber has moved decisively beyond a
retrospective “watchdog” model to become a forward
-
looking catalyst for prudent fiscal management.
Quantitative evidence
—
sharp growth in audited
expenditures, a manifold rise in detected irregularities,
and a commensurate surge in remedial recoveries
—
confirms the material benefits of this evolution. Equally
important, qualitative advances such as live-streamed
parliamentary hearings and open-data releases are
deepening public trust, signalling that accountability is
now perceived as a shared societal value rather than a
narrow bureaucratic function.
Yet sustainability hinges on closing the remaining
systemic gaps. Bringing extra-budgetary funds, state-
owned enterprises, and public
–
private partnerships
fully within the Chamber’s a
udit universe will prevent
leakages at the fiscal periphery, while the legal
entrenchment of ISSAI standards across all tiers of
government can eliminate interpretive ambiguities. A
nationwide upgrade of internal-audit units
—
anchored
in unified professional certification and interoperable
IT architecture
—
would cultivate a first line of defence
that complements, rather than duplicates, the
Chamber’s external oversight. Finally, harnessing
advanced analytics and machine-learning tools will
enable auditors to mine vast data streams for early-
warning signals, shifting the balance from ex-post fault-
finding to predictive risk mitigation.
In sum, the Accounts Chamber already plays a pivotal
role in safeguarding public resources and reinforcing
citizens’ confidence
in the state. Consolidating its gains
and tackling residual vulnerabilities will position
Uzbekistan’s supreme audit institution as a regional
benchmark for integrity, transparency, and evidence-
based fiscal stewardship
—
critical preconditions for
achieving the ambitious socio-economic goals set out in
the “Uzbekistan
-
2030” strategy.
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