Article 9 of the Saudi Financial Control Law

This article opens Chapter Three on self-control, which, under Article 1, is a control method in which the government entity itself is responsible for controlling its operations in accordance with the laws, regulations and instructions.

Paragraph (1): the Ministry's role

To apply self-control, the Ministry does the following:

• Assessment: assessing the efficiency and effectiveness of the internal control systems, and assessing the information systems with a financial impact and the governance procedures used for them in the entity, and verifying their compliance with the laws, regulations and instructions.
• Quality assurance and advice: carrying out assessments to ensure the quality of the operations and activities of the departments concerned with control in the entity, giving them professional advice, and following up the implementation of recommendations, without prejudice to the jurisdiction of the oversight bodies.

Paragraph (2): scope of application

Self-control may be applied partly or fully, depending on the results of the assessment work mentioned. An entity that proves the efficiency of its internal control may be given a greater degree of self-control.

The logic behind the article is that self-control is not granted without verification: the Ministry assesses first, and the scope of self-control is then set according to the results. This ties in with Article 6, which gives the Minister or his delegate the power to determine and change the control method according to the criteria of the Implementing Regulations.

Article 10 follows, which requires the government entity, when self-control is applied fully, to carry out the legal requirements assigned to the financial controller. Anyone working in a government entity that is seeking self-control can consult a lawyer specialized in administrative cases.