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Creation of the Regional Accounting Chamber in Łódź

Case study

Regional accounting chambers were announced by the Act of March 8, 1990 on local government, but they were established only by the Act of October 7, 1992. In the following years, the activity of the chambers was also sanctioned in the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. Initially, there were seventeen of them, and since 2000 (after the administrative reform of the state) there are sixteen of them. The Regional Accounting Chamber in Łódź, together with three branches in Sieradz, Piotrków Trybunalski and Skierniewice, launched its activities at the turn of 1993 and 1994. 

I started organizing the activities of the Lodz Chamber as the manager of the Chamber’s Office. My tasks included technical preparation of the rented building, equipment of rooms, creation of organizational structures, development of procedures and management documentation, purchase and installation of a network IT system, as well as personnel and administrative matters related to maintaining the current activities of the Chamber. When I started its creation, I already had my first, pioneering experiences related to the creation of self-government structures in the new political reality. I participated in the restructuring of the City Hall in Aleksandrów Łódzki and performing other tasks related to the activities of organizational units of that municipality. 

Origin of Polish local government and financial supervision institutions

Local self-government appeared at the end of the 18th century in several European countries. Over the next two hundred years, it became a common form of decentralized local authority in Western European countries. The institutions of Polish local government go back to the Middle Ages, but they were shaped in their modern form only in the years 1919-1939 and 1944-1950. After 1950, territorial self-government was abolished and replaced with a uniform, hierarchical system of state power. Attempts to restore local government were made in 1980-1981, but the real chance for its reactivation appeared only in June 1989. The process of restoring the institution of local self-government was launched on May 27, 1990, introducing several fundamental legal regulations. The Constitution of the Republic of Poland was amended and the acts on local government and the electoral law for commune councils were passed.

The term “chamber of accounts” was used for the first time in the 13th century in Paris, as the name of a college of several people responsible for controlling royal finances. By 1789, there were fourteen accounting chambers in France. The first Polish chamber operated in the years 1807-1866. It was the Main Accounting Chamber, established on the basis of the political assumptions formulated by Napoleon I in the Constitution of the Duchy of Warsaw of 1807. It gave rise to the history of modern financial control in our country. This administrative tradition was continued in various institutional forms during the partitions and in the Second Polish Republic. It was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II and the political model of the Polish People’s Republic introduced after it. 

Challenges​

The biggest challenge in organizing the Regional Accounting Chamber in Łódź was the need to create an efficient financial supervision institution from scratch over local government units that were gathering their first experience. In the situation of deep changes in the state system, insufficient and unstable legal regulations, as well as the lack of proven institutional models, it was an extremely pioneering undertaking, requiring the simultaneous coordination of many projects of a legal, organizational and technical nature. 

In 1990, self-governing communes and regions were established, equipping them with independence and responsibility for performing their own tasks. Their activity was conditioned on the one hand by effective internal control mechanisms, and on the other by independent and objective supervision carried out by regional accounting chambers. The chambers did not become an element of the institutional system of local government, but a specialized agency of state supervision. 

Communes in the Łódź Voivodeship under the supervision of RIO in Łódź with branches in Sieradz, Skierniewice and Piotrków Trybunalski

The principle of limited trust in relation to decision-makers in the area of collecting and spending public funds was empowered in the institution of French accounting chambers as early as in the 13th century. These organizations became the prototype for later similar institutional solutions in other European countries, including Poland.

Małgorzata Kwiatkowska

Scope of work performed

Launching and developing the activity of RIO in Łódź was carried out in stages, over a period of several months, at the turn of 1993-1994. Subsequent tasks were performed simultaneously at the headquarters of RIO in Łódź (initiating and coordinating) and in its branch offices in Piotrków Trybunalski, Sieradz and Skierniewice. The following works were carried out at individual stages:

  • The original organizational structure of RIO was designed;
  • The office spaces were renovated and adapted to the needs of RIO employees;
  • The administrative procedures and instructions for managing RIO documentation were developed;
  • The registers of resolutions, contracts, applications, reports and company archives were created;
  • The Chamber was equipped with appropriate office technology;
  • The IT network and individual computer workstations were launched;
  • The HR, financial and accounting documentation was prepared;
  • The statute and organizational regulations of RIO were developed.

The first years of activity of the reborn local government were characterized by enthusiasm and striving to stabilize the new structures of the state as soon as possible. It had an undoubted influence on the creation and launching of this new state institution. Despite the lack of systemic continuation, in a relatively short time it was possible to create appropriate conditions for the Łódź RIO to perform its supervisory, control, analytical and training functions. One of the souvenirs from that pioneering period is my logotype, which serves the Chamber until now.

RIO w Łodzi schemat organizacyjny EN
Organizational chart of RIO in Łódź

Source: www.bip.lodz.rio.gov.pl