Together against disasters: the 11th meeting of the EUROSAI Working Group, chaired by the Chamber of Accounts, began in Rome
On May 20, the XI Meeting and Seminar of the EUROSAI Working Group on the Audit of Funds Allocated for Disaster Prevention and Mitigation began in Rome (Italian Republic). The event is organized by the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine together with the Supreme Audit Institution of the Italian Republic (Corte dei conti).
The meeting is attended by representatives of supreme audit institutions of 12 European countries, in particular, the Head of the Accounting ChamberOlga Pishchanska, the President of the Accounting Chamber of the Italian RepublicGuido Carlino, auditors of SAIs of the member countries of the Working Group and other participants.
The theme of this year's Working Group meeting - "Together against disasters: from preparedness to innovation" - aims to encourage broad discussion and the formation of new approaches to auditing based on professional dialogue in the face of modern challenges. Opening the event, Olga Pishchanska outlined the importance of the Working Group's activities in preventing crises:
«No country is able to effectively confront disasters alone. Climate crises, man-made accidents, pandemics, wars, threats to critical infrastructure - all this requires strong international cooperation, joint strategic thinking, and updating approaches and methods in the field of state control and audit. The EUROSAI Working Group has already established itself as an important platform for professional cooperation in this direction», – noted Olga Pishchanska.
The event summarized the results of the Working Group's activities for the previous period, in particular the implementation of the Working Group's Strategic Plan for 2021-2024, and discussed key areas of work for 2025-2027: developing professional skills of auditors, strengthening disaster prevention measures, and effective communication regarding audit results.
SAI representatives also shared their own experience conducting audits in the areas of civil protection and disaster response and audit findings in these areas. For example, the auditor of the Accounting Chamber,Lilia Prudivus, spoke about the importance of critical infrastructure preparedness for emergencies and the role of auditing in shaping the resilience of this infrastructure. Her colleague,Iryna Yurshevska, presented the results of an international parallel audit of civil protection in schools to the participants of the event. And the Director of the Department of Civil Protection of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine,Viktor Vitovetsky, told the participants of the meeting about how critical infrastructure security measures are implemented in practice and the features of responding to emergencies in the context of the challenges of war online.
Also during the event, experts from the supreme audit institutions of the participating countries shared practices for assessing the preparedness of states for various emergencies. The focus of their audits is the protection of critical infrastructure, the effectiveness of emergency management and the functioning of shelter systems, etc.
Thus, experts from theSAIs of the Republic of Serbia andRomania presented the results of their audits related to the management of shelters. They identified shortcomings in the regulation and financing of the mentioned area.
A representative from theSAI of the Republic of Estonia presented the results of the audit of the security of critical infrastructure, which revealed the absence of systemic requirements for the security of energy facilities in the country.
At the same time, theSAI of Georgia presented the audit conclusions on the assessment of the effectiveness of the anti-hail systems and their impact on reducing the consequences of natural disasters.
And the auditor of theSAI of the Italian Republic told, in particular, about the audit of flood risk management measures, and the audit of flood elimination measures in 2023 at the regional level.
The invited expert – A representative of the Italian Republic's Civil Protection Service spoke about emergency management mechanisms, the role of central and local authorities in this process, coordination between them in the process of disaster relief, etc.
The interactive Flash Talk session "One lesson we learned" attracted particular attention of the meeting participants, during which, in the format of short speeches, the speakers spoke about effective tools that have influenced state policy.
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The day before, as part of the working trip of the SAI delegation of Ukraine, a bilateral meeting between the Head of the Accounting Chamber, Olga Pishchanska, and the President of the Corte dei conti, Guido Carlino, also took place. The heads of the SAIs discussed the possibility of conducting joint audits and current cooperation: opportunities for sharing experience in conducting real-time audits**, in particular, supporting the Supreme Audit Institution of the Italian Republic in updating the regulatory framework of the Chamber of Accounts necessary for conducting such audits. The parties also discussed the possibilities of familiarizing the auditors of the Accounting Chamber with the best practices of audits during emergency situations.
The Head of the Accounting Chamber, Olga Pishchanska, thanked her Italian colleague for the warm welcome and comprehensive assistance in organizing the XI Meeting of the EUROSAI Working Group on the Audit of Funds Allocated for the Prevention and Elimination of the Consequences of Disasters, as well as for the efforts of his institution to develop innovations in the field of auditing.
On May 21, during the second day of the 11th meeting of the Working Group, participants will discuss innovative approaches and digital solutions in the audit of funds allocated for the prevention and liquidation of the consequences of disasters.
* The EUROSAI Working Group on the Audit of Funds Allocated for the Prevention and Liquidation of the Consequences of Disasters was established in 2014 at the initiative of the Accounting Chamber. The Working Group brings together 17 supreme audit institutions. Its goal — strengthening the capacity of states in the field of auditing funds aimed at combating the consequences of disasters, as well as promoting innovative approaches to public finance control.
** The SAI of the Italian Republic leads the Project Group on the Benefits and Methodologies of Real-Time Auditing, which was established in 2023 within the framework of EUROSAI Strategic Objective 1 (SG1).
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