Ukraine-Germany: preparations for a parallel audit on the digitalization of education in schools have begun

On March 27, 2025, as part of a working visit of the delegation of the Accounting Chamber led by the Head of the Accounting Chamber Olga Pishchanska to the Federal Republic of Germany to hold working meetings in Potsdam with the leadership of the Federal Accounting Chamber of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Accounting Chamber of the Federal State of Hesse, the Head of the Accounting Chamber Olga Pishchanska and the President of the Federal Accounting Chamber of Germany Kai Scheller signed a joint report on the results of an international coordinated performance audit on the topic of «Housing for internally displaced persons: promoting the integration of families in a new place of residence with the support of the Federal Republic of Germany under martial law».

The joint control measure was completed by the Ukrainian auditors last year. It was established, in particular, that due to the imperfection of the candidate selection system, only one of the six candidates selected to receive a preferential mortgage from among internally displaced persons was ultimately able to apply for a loan. Thanks to the  implementation of the recommendations provided following the audit, the lending system has been improved, so now more citizens can apply for preferential loans within the framework of the program.

Also, the Head of the Accounting Chamber Olga Pishchanska and the President of the Accounting Chamber of the Federal State of Hesse Dr. Walter Wallmann signed a joint statement on conducting a parallel audit on the topic of  «Digitalization in general secondary education institutions». During the national audit, the Accounting Chamber plans to analyze the effectiveness of individual measures related to the digitalization of general secondary education institutions, in particular, the use of subventions from the state budget to local budgets for the purchase of computer and multimedia equipment, including within the framework of the "New Ukrainian School" reform.

Colleagues from the Hesse Federal Court of Auditors will in turn investigate the effectiveness of the process of ensuring school digitalization within their territory.

The auditors of the Court of Auditors, who are part of the control group for this audit, have been holding working consultations with their German colleagues over the past few days. In particular, key audit issues were agreed upon and the process of future surveys of teaching staff and parents of schoolchildren was discussed.

«The audit institutions of the Federal Republic of Germany are currently our main partners in this format of interaction. International audits allow for the exchange of professional experience and have a significant social effect, in particular by creating «added value» in the form of research results on audit issues in the countries of partner supreme audit institutions. We highly value our cooperation with the Federal Court of Auditors of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Court of Auditors of the Federal State of Hesse, and express our readiness to continue the work and fruitful dialogue within the framework of future joint events, – noted the Head of the Accounting Chamber Olga Pishchanska.

Furthermore, during working meetings organized by the Office of the Federal Accounting Chamber of the Federal Republic of Germany, the delegation of the Accounting Chamber headed by the Head of the Accounting Chamber Olga Pishchanska discussed potential topics for the next joint (coordinated) audits.

Olga Pishchanska separately told her German colleagues about how the supreme audit institution of Ukraine works after updating the relevant legislation.