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External Audit
SIGMA supports partner countries in building and strengthening their supreme audit institutions (SAIs) to enable them to progress towards full compliance with good European audit practice and with international standards for public external audit. Following a peer assistance review process, SIGMA supports the development of a Strategic Development Plan (SDP) which sets out prerequisites for the establishment of a well functioning external audit body.
At the multi-country level, SIGMA has since 1998 and in co-ordination with the European Court of Auditors, provided assistance to the meetings, working groups, expert groups, audit activities (both joint and pilot audits), and technical workshops of the networks of partner country SAIs. This support includes joint activities of the SAI network SAI network of EU candidate and potential candidate countries and the SAI network of EU Member States.
SIGMA Papers on Supreme Audit Institutions
Achieving High Quality in the Work of Supreme Audit Institutions (No 34, 2004)
Relations between Supreme Audit Institutions and Parliamentary Committees (No 33, 2002)
Financial Control
SIGMA activities in financial control focus on two main areas: public internal financial control (PIFC), including internal audit, and the development of anti-fraud structures to protect EU financial interests.
Public internal financial control
In supporting the development of public internal financial control (PIFC) systems and procedures, including internal audit arrangements, SIGMA applies the same processes used to strengthen audit institutions: peer reviews and peer assistance. The peer review assesses the strengths and weaknesses in PIFC, with a view to addressing the gap between current practices of control and audit in spending-units and existing, or newly adopted, laws (or other framework documents). SIGMA work focuses on:
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Drafting and re-drafting of PIFC legislation and regulations
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Preparation and implementation of PIFC policy papers and Strategic Development Plans (SDPs)
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Financial management and control systems within budget spending-units
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Central functions to harmonise methodologies on internal control and internal audit
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Internal audit
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Risk management
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Financial control activities at central and local levels
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Budget control and accounting
Anti-fraud systems and structures
At the request of the EC's Directorate General Enlargement and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), SIGMA carried out in-depth assessments of anti-fraud systems and structures - in particular the Anti-Fraud Co-ordinating Service (AFCOS) - in EU candidate countries.
As a follow-up to the multi-country project to assess anti-fraud systems, SIGMA has assisted partner countries in drafting anti-fraud strategies and project fiches and in improving legal frameworks to strengthen their AFCOS. The strengthening of anti-fraud structures represents a follow-up to SIGMA work in support of the process of decentralising the management of EU pre-accession funds.
An important element in the anti-fraud chain of measures to project EU funds, the recovery of assets was the focus of SIGMA work in Bulgaria and Romania.To further strengthen capacity in this area, SIGMA prepared a policy paper "Recovery of Unduly and Wrongly Paid Sums" that focused on the recovery of debts in cases of fraud concerning the state budget and EU funds from various points of view (administrative recovery, civil actions for freezing and confiscating assets, and criminal procedures).
Public Expenditure Management
SIGMA's expertise in public expenditure management covers two main areas: treasury and budget and resource allocation. More specifically, SIGMA focuses on:
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Budgetary development and analysis
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Medium-term budgetary framework
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Budget development systems
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Budget execution
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IT support for budget execution
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Government accounting systems
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Cash management
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Debt management
Collaboration with the Centre for Excellence in Finance
SIGMA collaborates with the Centre for Excellence in Finance (CEF) in Ljubljana (Slovenia) since 2003. The centre provides short-term training services for CARDS countries (and Bulgaria, Romania and Moldova) in various aspects of public management. SIGMA has participated in meetings of the CEF Advisory Board and has provided trainers and materials for several seminars topics such as internal control, public procurement, and internal audit. The high level of participation in these seminars is an indication of the need in the region for a better understanding of public finance issues and for training in public expenditure management.
Other OECD sources of information on external and internal audit & financial control issues: Gov's work on budgeting and public expenditures.
More audit & financial control websites.
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