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W6nnews.com ==== وطن === تاريخ النشر – 2026-07-21 21:57:00
The specialist in public finance affairs, Badr Mishari Al-Hammad, prepared a peer-reviewed scientific study on financial control and oversight of employment affairs in entities with independent budgets in Kuwait, in which he discussed ways to develop the financial and administrative control system, in order to achieve greater integration and coordination in the exercise of its powers. The study was published in the Journal of Arab Research and Studies, Issue No. 84, June 2026, and Al-Jarida is republishing a summary of it because of its diagnosis and conclusions that deserve attention… The following is its summary: When talk is raised about protecting public money, attention often turns to oversight of contracts, tenders, and public expenditures, as they are the areas most closely linked to government spending. However, the practical reality reveals another aspect that is no less important, which is the administrative decisions that entail a financial obligation, most notably the decisions related to employment matters. The decision to appoint an employee, promote him, or grant him a compensation or a financial advantage, does not have a limited impact on modifying his job position, but rather creates a financial obligation that may continue throughout the period of his service, and its effects may extend beyond that. Hence, the protection of public money is not limited to spending control, but rather begins from the moment of making the decision that creates this obligation. This fact represents the starting point for the peer-reviewed scientific study that dealt with financial control and the control of employment affairs in agencies with independent budgets, which sought to analyze the relationship between these two types of control, and to determine the extent of their complementarity in protecting public money, in light of Kuwaiti legislation and practical application. Appointment, promotion, bonuses, allowances, and benefits create obligations that make them directly linked to public money. Why did this issue gain ground? Its importance? During recent decades, the state’s administrative apparatus has witnessed a remarkable expansion in the establishment of bodies and institutions with independent budgets, granting them a degree of financial and administrative independence consistent with the nature of their jurisdictions. These entities now manage an important aspect of public spending, including spending on human resources and the associated salaries, allowances, and job benefits. Although these entities are subject to an integrated system of financial oversight, the study raises an important question: Are job decisions that have a financial impact subject to institutional oversight to the same degree? This question does not stem from questioning the performance of oversight bodies, but rather from a legislative observation that says that the development that financial oversight has witnessed has not been accompanied by a similar development in organizing oversight of employment affairs within relevant institutions. Independent budgets, even though functional decisions have become among the most influential decisions on the volume of public spending. The traditional separation between financial and administrative oversight is no longer sufficient to keep pace with developments in public administration. An established oversight system. The analysis conducted by the study reveals that Kuwaiti legislation has established an advanced system of financial oversight based on a clear distribution of powers among a number of agencies, so that each of them exercises a specific role within an integrated framework to protect public money. The Audit Bureau undertakes subsequent oversight of financial transactions, while the Ministry of Finance is responsible for setting the rules. And the systems regulating financial management, while the Financial Controllers Authority exercises prior financial control aimed at preventing violations before they occur, and ensuring the soundness of financial connections before arranging any obligation on the entities subject to its supervision, including those with independent budgets. The study believes that this regulation reflects legislative maturity in building the financial control system, and keeps pace with modern trends that are based on integration between preventive control and subsequent control, in a way that enhances the soundness of public money management. “Financial Controllers” registered during the year 467 Violations against independent budget agencies, compared to only 8 recorded by “Accounting.” Where does the problem lie? The study does not go on to say that there is an absence of oversight over agencies with independent budgets, nor does it consider that there is a deficiency in the performance of oversight bodies. Rather, it indicates that the problem lies in the incomplete integration between financial control and employment control when dealing with job decisions that have a financial impact. While financial control extends to all entities with independent budgets, employment control does not extend to it with the same clarity, as the current organization is limited to ministries, government departments, and entities with attached budgets, while institutions with independent budgets enjoy a different organization for their job affairs. The study shows that this situation may lead to treating the job decision from the perspective of its financial impact only. Or from the standpoint of its functional legitimacy only, according to the jurisdiction of the supervisory authority, while the nature of these decisions requires that they be viewed as administrative and financial decisions at the same time. When administration and finance overlap, one of the most prominent ideas presented by the study is that decisions related to employment affairs are no longer purely administrative decisions, but rather have become one of the most important sources of financial obligations in public entities. Appointment, promotion, bonuses, allowances, and job benefits are all decisions that create financial obligations whose effects extend for years, which makes them directly linked to money. From this standpoint, the study believes that the traditional separation between financial oversight and administrative oversight is no longer sufficient to keep pace with the developments witnessed by public administration, and that the need has become present to enhance integration between oversight agencies, ensuring that these decisions are dealt with in a comprehensive manner that takes into account all their dimensions, without prejudice to the jurisdiction of any party or diminishing the independence of institutions with independent budgets. The complex nature of job decisions requires the existence of a supervisory system in which the specializations are integrated. What does a careful reading of the legislation reveal? The study reveals that Kuwaiti legislation paid great attention to protecting public money, and distributed the supervisory specializations among a number of agencies, in a way that achieves a balance between preventive oversight and subsequent oversight, and prevents the concentration of supervisory authority in one party. This approach has contributed to building a cohesive oversight system that has been appreciated by many specialized studies in the field of public financial management. However, the study draws attention to the fact that the development of public administration over recent decades, and the accompanying expansion in the establishment of institutions with independent budgets, created a new institutional reality that was not present in the same way when some legislation regulating oversight was put in place. These institutions enjoy administrative and financial independence, manage large budgets, and issue daily decisions related to employment, salaries, allowances, and benefits, which are decisions that entail financial obligations that are no less important than obligations arising from government contracts or purchases. Hence, the study believes that the institutional development witnessed by the state calls for a parallel development in control tools, ensuring keeping pace with the administrative and financial reality, and enhancing integration between regulatory authorities when dealing with decisions that mix administrative and financial aspects. The practical reality… What does it say? Numbers? The study was not limited to analyzing the legal texts, but rather sought to test them in light of the practical reality, by reviewing the reports of the regulatory authorities and the indicators they included that reflect the nature of the actual practice of oversight in institutions with independent budgets. The study highlights that the Financial Controllers Authority recorded during the fiscal year 2023/2024 a large number of observations and violations in entities with independent budgets amounting to 467 violations, while the Audit Bureau recorded only 8 violations in this area during the same period. The study does not provide These numbers are a comparison between the two agencies, as they confirm that each of them has a different supervisory nature. The Financial Controllers Authority exercises prior preventive oversight over the implementation of financial obligations, while the Audit Bureau exercises subsequent oversight aimed at verifying the integrity of financial transactions after their implementation. However, at the same time, these indicators confirm the importance of prior oversight in discovering violations before arranging their financial effects, and highlight the need for greater integration between the various oversight tools, in order to achieve more effective protection of public funds. The entities that exercise it. A career decision that has a financial impact should not be viewed from a financial angle only, nor is it sufficient to review it from an abstract administrative angle. Rather, the complex nature of these decisions calls for the existence of a regulatory system in which competencies are integrated, so that the different agencies work according to a common vision that achieves the basic goal, which is protecting public funds while respecting the administrative independence of public institutions. The study confirms that integration between the regulatory agencies does not mean merging their competencies or eliminating the boundaries separating them, but rather it means clarity of roles, ease of exchanging information, and coordination of procedures, in a way that prevents overlap, duplication, or the existence of oversight gaps when dealing with decisions of a complex nature. A vision for developing the regulatory system based on what At the end of the study, the researcher presented a number of proposals aimed at developing the regulatory system to keep pace with the developments witnessed by the state’s administrative apparatus, without prejudice to the independence enjoyed by institutions with independent budgets. Among the most prominent of these proposals is to reconsider the scope of oversight of employment affairs, allowing it to be extended to institutions with independent budgets in accordance with a legislative framework that takes into account the privacy of these entities, and at the same time ensures that job decisions with a financial impact are subject to specialized and integrated oversight. The study also called for the development of an institutional framework that defines coordination mechanisms. Between the various regulatory bodies, and preparing a unified procedural guide that explains how to deal with decisions in which administrative and financial aspects overlap, in addition to strengthening joint training programs for workers in the regulatory agencies, which contributes to unifying concepts and raising the efficiency of supervisory performance. An important step to consolidate governance and transparency and raise the efficiency of public spending. The study concludes that protecting public money is not only achieved through monitoring spending after it occurs, but rather begins from the moment the administrative decision is taken establishing the financial obligation. Therefore, developing the oversight system in the State of Kuwait does not require rebuilding oversight institutions, as much as it requires completing the legislative and regulatory structure that governs the relationship between these institutions, in a way that achieves greater integration and coordination in the exercise of their powers. The study confirms that enhancing integration between financial oversight and employment oversight represents an important step towards consolidating the principles of good governance, raising the efficiency of public spending, and enhancing transparency and accountability, which contributes to protecting public money and supporting the process of administrative reform in the State of Kuwait.
