Accounting Chamber and EUROSAI Cooperation

European Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (EUROSAI) was established in 1990 with the aim of ensuring the INTOSAI goals achievement at the regional level, while allowing the opportunity to its members for focusing on specific issues to their region.

Now membership stands at 51 SAIs (the SAIs of 50 European States and the European Court of Auditors).

The Accounting Chamber is a full member of EUROSAI since 1999 and responsible for fulfilling the commitments according to its membership in this organization, as indicated in the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 13 September 2002 No. 1371 "On the Procedure for Central Executive Bodies Participation in International Organizations Activities, the member of which is Ukraine".

According to Article 1 of the EUROSAI Statutes the organization has the main purpose – to promote and facilitate the exchange of information and documentation among the EUROSAI members, as well as the dissemination of publications on matters coming within their competence to stimulate the creation of public audit University Professorships and to secure the unification of terminology in the sphere of audit of public finances.

EUROSAI undertakes its activity through three bodies: the Congress; the Governing Board; the Secretariat.

There are five official languages in EUROSAI: English, Spanish, German, Russian and French .

The Congress is the supreme body of EUROSAI and meets in ordinary session every three years. The Congress reviews the results of the EUROSAI working bodies and approves work plans for the next three years.

The Governing Board is composed of 8 EUROSAI members and 4 observers. All members are the Heads of the SAIs of European countries. The main task of the Governing Board is to provide the functioning of EUROSAI, in accordance with the guidelines established by the Congress.

In 2008–2014 the Accounting Chamber was the member of the Governing Board.

The Secretariat of EUROSAI is held permanently by the Tribunal de Cuentas of Spain (the Spanish Court of Audit), which is also the EUROSAI headquarters. The Secretariat is also responsible for preparing the sessions of the Governing Board, preparing and implementing the budget of EUROSAI, carrying out the decisions of the Congress and the Governing Board. The Secretariat coordinates EUROSAI’s Magazine and EUROSAI Newsletter, it builds and updates the database of statutes and publications of SAIs members.

Containing EUROSAI’s mission, vision and values the EUROSAI Strategic Plan for the period 2017–2024 (hereinafter – the ESP 2017–2024) was developed. It contains two Strategic Goals:

  • Strategic Goal 1 (SG 1): Supporting effective, innovative and relevant audits by promoting and brokering professional cooperation.
    • Co-led by the SAI of Lithuania (Governing Board member) and the SAI of Germany.
       
  • Strategic Goal 2 (SG 2): Helping SAIs deal with new opportunities and challenges by supporting and facilitating their institutional capacity development.
    • Co-led by the SAI of Poland (Governing Board member) and the SAI of Sweden.

The Strategic Plan also places special emphasis on an enhanced EUROSAI Governance and Modus Operandi, defining the guiding principles and some key enhancements.

As established in the General Procedures for the EUROSAI Strategic Plan 2017–2024, Working Groups are set up by the Congress to deal with a variety of issues that are of mutual interest for member SAIs, as well as with professional issues relating to wider audit practice. Regarding Task Forces,they are set up by the Congress or the Governing Board for a limited period of time, to deal with specific assignments or tasks of either a technical or organisational nature. 

These structures feed into the implementation of the two Strategic Goals of the EUROSAI Strategic Plan 2017-2024 and EUROSAI members participate in these bodies on a voluntary basis. 

EUROSAI currently has three Working Groups, one Task Force and one Network:

The Accounting Chamber takes part in realization both of the Strategic Goals in the framework of the ESP 2017–2024.

Contribution to the achievement of strategic goals is ensured through the chairmanship of the Accounting Chamber in the Working Group on the Audit of Funds Allocated to Disasters and Catastrophes (WGAFADC) and active participation in three EUROSAI working groups:

  • Working Group on Information Technology (ITWG);
  • Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA);
  • Task Force on Municipality Audit (TFMA).

EUROSAI develops partnerships with other regional organizations of supreme audit institutions, including ASOSAI, ARABOSAI, AFROSAI, CAROSAI, OLACEFS and PASAI. The Accounting Chamber ensures the participation of its representatives in the work of individual committees, working and special groups, as well as training events, conferences, seminars organized under the auspices of EUROSAI (seminars, distance training programs, etc.), the topics of which are relevant to the Accounting Chamber.

More information about EUROSAI https://www.eurosai.org/.