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During the week representatives of Management Systems International (MSI) will be sharing the experience with specialists of the Accounting Chamber how to develop a reliable audit system of public funds. Experts will tell Ukrainian auditors about the most effective methods of this process by the case of the Supreme Audit Institution activity of the United States of America – GAO.
Strengthening the independence of the Accounting Chamber, improving the evidence-based audits quality and improving the auditors qualifications are issues which have been discussed by the Chairman of the Accounting Chamber Valeriy Patskan and the Senior Vice President of MSI Joseph Christoff before starting the working meetings with the specialists of the Institution.
Chairman of the Accounting Chamber Valeriy Patskan said that in the year since the renewal of the Accounting Chamber, steps have already been taken for improving the efficiency of the Institution. He recalled that an external functional assessment was conducted for the first time during the years of functioning of the Accounting Chamber. Based on its results, the Strategy of the Accounting Chamber's activity for the next 5 years is already being finished. At the same time, Valeriy Patskan emphasized, before the updated new staff of the Accounting Chamber, there had been a challenge not only to the new quality of the Institution activities, but also to the improvement of the Institution independence. "I immediately stated that policy and politicians would not influence on the Accounting Chamber activity. Of course it is difficult, but we are succeeding now", the Chairman of the Accounting Chamber said. In addition, he added, all auditees should clearly understand that the Accounting Chamber were a partner and were ready to provide clear recommendations on improving the efficiency of spending taxpayers' funds. "But we are interested in experience of our foreign partners. After all, the more effective and quality our work will be, the more public trust in us will be", Valeriy Patskan said.
For his part, the Senior Vice President of Management Systems International (MSI) Joseph Christoff admitted that he knew all the difficulties of the auditors work in practice. After more than 30 years he was working at the Supreme audit institution of the USA – the Government Audit Office (GAO). He emphasized that there were a difference between both SAIs work as the Accounting Chamber, unlike the GAO, were a collegial body. At the same time, he noted, the both institutions had a common task – to check what governments were doing to meet people's needs. In addition, Joseph Christoff added that the audits made by Supreme audit institutions should have a clear and comprehensive evidence base. During the meeting, Valeriy Patskan and Joseph Christoff also discussed GAO's approaches to the strategic risk-oriented audit planning and the development of audit criteria selection audit topics as well as other current issues.
Working meetings are holding within the framework of the USAID project "Support to Anti-Corruption Champion Institutions" Program in Ukraine.
