COURT OF ACCOUNTS – A LEGAL AND ANALYTICAL STUDY IN LIGHT OF THE ALGERIAN CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT OF 2020 AND PREVIOUS CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS

Abstract

Public funds constitute a fundamental pillar for the survival and progress of the State. Hence, the State ensures their protection by entrusting supervisory institutions, foremost among them the Court of Accounts. This institution has been granted a distinctive constitutional status, reflected in its supervisory role over public finances to guarantee sound management and to combat the misappropriation of public funds, thereby ensuring transparency and efficiency. The role of the Court has evolved gradually throughout the successive Algerian constitutions: it moved from a judicial supervisory character to an institutional dimension, and later to a new functional scope established by the 2020constitutional amendment, which entrusted it with evaluative functions in addition to ex-post oversight. This study seeks to analyse the constitutional role of the Court of Accounts in safeguarding public funds by tracing its development in previous constitutions and examining its position under the 2020 Constitution, in an attempt to assess the extent of the effective implementation of its prerogatives in practice.