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The delegation of the Accounting Chamber headed by the Chairwoman Olha Pishchanska takes part in the 22nd meeting of the Europe Working Group (WG Europe), which takes place in Darmstadt ( the state of Hesse, Germany). The meeting is hosted by the Hessian Court of Auditors.
The Europe Working Group meeting is an annual congress of representatives of the audit institutions of the federal states of Germany and the Federal Court of Auditors of Germany, which is the organiser of the event. Traditionally, German auditors and invited special participants share their experience and discuss issues of cooperation. This year's meeting is attended by representatives of the European Court of Auditors.
The agenda of the meeting of the Europe Working Group includes the audit of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, current trends in the application of the European Public Sector Accounting Standards (EPSAS), as well as the discussion of the results of cooperation between the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine, the Federal Court of Auditors of Germany and the Hessian Court of Auditors.
In her opening speech, the Chairwoman of the Accounting Chamber Olha Pishchanska thanked the German colleagues for their support and stressed the high efficiency of cooperation with the German auditors.
‘We highly appreciate the long-term partnership with the German audit institutions, the results of which are significant for both our countries. The Federal Republic of Germany is one of the key strategic partners of Ukraine, a reputable friend who provides support in the most difficult times for our country,’ the Chairwoman of the Accounting Chamber said.
Olha Pishchanska also told her colleagues about the expansion of the mandate of the Accounting Chamber due to the recent legislative changes and outlined the priority issues in the work of the institution: proper preparation of the institution for the exercise of new powers, in particular, audits of local budgets, increasing the coverage of audits of consolidated financial statements of public sector entities and budgets, strengthening cooperation with the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and maintaining a dialogue with Ukrainian society.
As part of the event, Olha Pishchanska also met with Kay Scheller, President of the German Federal Court of Auditors, and Dr Walter Wallmann, President of the Hessian Court of Auditors. They summed up the results of the joint audits and discussed plans for further cooperation.
Last year, the Accounting Chamber conducted a coordinated audit with the German Federal Court of Auditors on the programme ‘Housing for Internally Displaced Persons’ and a parallel audit on ‘Civil Protection in Communal Institutions of General Secondary Education’ with the Hessian Court of Auditors. As for the latter audit, the Chairwoman of the Accounting Chamber and the President of the Hessian Court of Auditors are planning to sign a Joint Statement on the results of this audit.
It is also planned to conduct a joint audit on the digitalisation of school education with the colleagues from Hesse in the future.
During the meeting, Dr Walter Wallmann stressed the special importance of direct contacts between the auditors of the two countries and noted that the topic of the new joint audit on the digitalisation of education is relevant for Germany in general and Hesse in particular.
In her response, the Chairwoman of the Accounting Chamber expressed her gratitude to Dr Walter Wallmann for his support and emphasised the special importance of the exchange of experience between the auditors of both intitutions, which, according to her, stimulates Ukrainian specialists to professional growth and application of the best audit practices in their work. Olha Pishchanska told her colleague in detail about the current changes in the internal work processes at the Accounting Chamber, in particular, in the sphere of development and personnel management.
Also, during the meeting of Andreas Bolkart, Principal Manager of the European Court of Auditors, with Olha Pishchanska, they discussed, in particular, the practice of the European Court of Auditors in strategic and operational planning, resource allocation, organisational structure, interaction between departments and other experience that the Accounting Chamber seeks to adopt to improve its activities.
On 21 January, the Europe Working Group will discuss cooperation between the SAIs of Ukraine and Germany, as well as summarise the results of joint audits.
