"We have all the possibilities to turn the Accounting Chamber into a powerful institution", said Olha Pishchanska at the meeting with SIGMA Mission

The forthcoming update of the legislation on the Accounting Chamber and the improvement of its activities, the guarantees of the institutional independence of the Accounting Chamber and the audit of consolidated financial statements at the state level were discussed at the meeting with the representatives of the SIGMA mission: Alastair Swarbrick, Senior Policy Advisor and PFM Team Manager, and Ferdinand Pot, Senior Policy Advisor.

The SIGMA program was established by the OECD and the European Union to assist EU member states and the European Neighborhood countries in planning and implementing reforms, particularly in the areas of public administration, financial management, external audit and public procurement. To this end, SIGMA conducts periodic assessments of the public administration systems of the neighboring countries. In Ukraine, such an assessment was last conducted in 2023 and covered the activities of the Accounting Chamber.

SIGMA representatives held separate meetings with the Chairwoman of the Accounting Chamber Olha Pishchanska, Members of the Accounting Chamberand representatives of the departments.

During the dialog, Olha Pishchanska thanked the partners for their cooperation so far and noted that the Accounting Chamber is using the SIGMA results as a roadmap for implementing changes.

The Chairwoman of the Accounting Chamber acquainted the partners with the main provisions of the draft law amending the Law of Ukraine "On the Accounting Chamber" (No 10044-d), which was adopted in the first reading, pointing out such positive innovations as a special procedure for consideration of the Accounting Chamber's budget request, extension of its mandate to audit local budgets, state and municipal enterprises and extra-budgetary funds, obligatory consideration of the Accounting Chamber's audit reports by the committees of the Verkhovna Rada, and so on.

At the same time, Olha Pishchanska noted that before the first reading, the draft law No. 10044-d did not take into account all the proposals and comments of the Accounting Chamber. 

In addition, the Chairwoman of the Accounting Chamber informed the partners about the steps taken by the institution in the process of improving its activities: the application of modern methodologies, the introduction of a new system of competencies, result-oriented process management, the creation of a quality management system, the improvement of strategic and annual planning processes, the translation into Ukrainian of certain standards of the INTOSAI system of professional documents, which is a key stage in their implementation in the institution's activities, etc.

"The new approaches are being systematically implemented and we are now developing a sequence and prioritization of actions. In general, there are no legal restrictions on our audits in accordance with international standards. And if the draft law No. 10044-d is adopted, we will be able to turn the Accounting Chamber into a powerful institution in a short time", summarizes Olha Pishchanska, emphasizing the important role of SIGMA in the successful implementation of the reform.

During the meeting with the Members of the Accounting Chamber, the representatives of the SIGMA mission also asked for their opinion on the reform of the institution, discussed the process of implementation of the strategic planning system in the Accounting Chamber and new approaches to quality control. The Members of the Accounting Chamber emphasized the need to take into account the position of the institution in the process of amending the legislation and noted that currently the most negative impact on its work is caused by insufficient technical support and lack of funding.

At the meeting with the Directors of Departments and Heads of Divisions of the Accounting Chamber, the representatives of the Mission focused on discussing practical issues of implementation of new approaches in the work of the institution and the effectiveness of the practice of exchange of experience among auditors.

Following the meetings, the parties agreed to continue cooperation, in particular, SIGMA representatives intend to present their own position on the planned changes in the legislation on the Accounting Chamber.