2008

New! The Audit Commission in England is planning its work programme for next year and would be interested in hearing from any auditors interested in a secondment or anyone relocating to England and looking for a temporary job opportunity.

The Audit Commission is particularly interested in newly qualified auditors and anybody who is interested must have an accountancy qualification recognised in the UK and a good grasp of English language.

If you would like to discuss the possibility further please contact Stephen Taylor, Head of Audit (Southern) at:

s-taylor@audit-commission.gov.uk

New! 113 delegates coming from 16 different countries attended the international seminar on the audit of public subsidies which took place on 17th October in Innsbruck (Austria). The event was hosted by the Court of Audit of Tyrol in cooperation with the Court of Audit of Upper Austria. If you wish to consult the collected papers of the seminar, please click here!

Photo 1 Photo 2

Within this context the General Secretariat of EURORAI asks all seminar delegates to complete the feedback questionnaire which you can find under the corresponding link. Thank you very much in advance!

On occasion of the seminar the members of the EURORAI Management Committee came together for a meeting which took place on 16th October at the Rokoko hall of the regional Parliament of Tyrol.

Photo 1

New! The President of EURORAI, Christian Melly, participated in the third edition of the Spanish National Congress of Public Sector Auditing, which took place last 1-2 October in Pamplona. The organisation of the event was taken charge of by the Audit Office of the Foral Community of Navarre and the Foundation for Training and Research in Public Sector Auditing FIASEP. The Congress is one of the most significant events gathering professionals devoted to public finance auditing, both those who work in public sector audit offices and those who perform this task in private firms of accountants. The lectures presented at the Congress dealt with the main subject of transparency in public governance. Many representatives coming from the Spanish regional audit institutions –all of these latter members of EURORAI– attended the event along with representatives from the European Court of Auditors and the State Audit Institutions from Spain, Andorra, and Germany. The President of the Federal Court of Audit in Germany, Dieter Engels, took part in the Congress giving a speech on public finance auditing in the German Federal Republic.

Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3

Audit Commission Trip to Lithuania: Report

Participation of EURORAI in the EUROSAI Congress held in Krakow

As agreed by the EURORAI Management Committee at its meeting held on 31 March 2008 in Santiago de Compostela, a delegation made up of Christian Melly, Stephen Taylor, Joan Colom and Peter Schnyder, took part in the VII EUROSAI Congress held in Krakow on 2 – 5 June 2008 (www.eurosai2008.pl) with the aim of making some contacts with representatives of supreme audit institutions (SAIs) from countries which could be interested in our Association.

More than 200 delegates attended the Congress and its organization by the Supreme Chamber of Control of Poland, under the presidency of Jacek Jezierski, was excellent. As new President of EUROSAI Jacek Jerieski has replaced Prof. Dieter Engels, President of the Federal Court of Audit in Germany.

The President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, attended the Congress and made a remarkable opening speech before the assembly. Having been himself President of the Supreme Chamber of Control in Poland, he spoke in favour of supreme audit institutions and the task these perform. The President also emphasized the significance and the role played by these institutions at state level.

The following three main themes were discussed at the Congress:

• Establishing an audit quality management system within a supreme audit institution

• Audit of social programmes – audit of programmes in the field of education

• Audit of social programmes – audit of programmes for professional integration of the disabled.

Several SAIs presented their respective way of acting in the matter of auditing for each of the abovementioned themes. All presentations were of a high quality level.

Since EURORAI wishes to promote the joining of the regional sections of the Court of Audit in Italy, the delegation held a meeting in Krakow with the President of the Corte dei Conti, Tullio Lazzaro, and the Counsellor of the Court’s International Relations Office, Ennio Colasanti. The EURORAI delegation is certain of having awaken the interest of the Italian delegation and having found the basis for intensifying contacts.

So as to maintain a good participation of the French-speaking members within EURORAI, the delegation had the opportunity of speaking with the First President of the French Court of Audit and Chairman of the United Nations Board of Auditors, Philippe Séguin, and the Counsellor for International Relations at the Cour des comptes, Danièle Lamarque.

The delegation also had the chance to meet and talk with the new President of the European Court of Auditors, Vitor Caldeira.

Furthermore, the President of EURORAI, Christian Melly, had a short meeting with Sergey V. Stepashin, Chairman of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, in order to discuss the situation of EURORAI members in Russia.

The EURORAI delegation made other interesting contacts with several representatives of SAIs, in particular, with Manuel Nuñez Pérez, Secretary General of EUROSAI and President of the Spanish Court of Audit, Tim Burr (Comptroller and Auditor General in the United Kingdom), Saskia Stuiveling (President of the Netherlands Court of Audit), Carlos Santacreu Coma (President of the Court of Audit of the Principality of Andorra), Antonio Mira Crespo (Member of the Board at the Portuguese Court of Audit).

Contacts were also made with representatives of state audit offices in Belgium, Ukraine and Rumania.

The personal exchanges with the presidents of the supreme audit bodies developed in a warm and friendly atmosphere. The participation in the Congress enabled the EURORAI delegates to profit some interesting springboards which make possible to promote EURORAI interests and activities.

Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3

95 delegates coming from 15 different countries attended the international seminar on the institutional status of public sector audit institutions which took place on 9th May 2008 in Majorca. The event was hosted by the Audit Office of the Balearic Islands. If you wish to consult the collected papers of the seminar, please click here!

Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3 Photo 4 Photo 5 Photo 6 Photo 7 Photo 8 Photo 9 Photo 10

Within this context the General Secretariat of EURORAI asks all seminar delegates to complete the feedback questionnaire which you can find under the corresponding link. Thank you very much in advance!

The President of EURORAI, Mr Christian Melly, and the former President Mr Joan Colom, represented our organisation at the Public Sector Audit FORUM organised by ACAG (Australasian Council of Auditors-General) and CCOLA (Canadian Council of Legislative Auditors) in Melbourne from 7 to 10 April 2008. It should be noted that Canada is an observer member of EURORAI and displayed an interest in exchanges and collaboration in this capacity. This conference allowed the President of EURORAI to introduce our European organisation's structures and objectives, bringing to the fore the special features of a structure that represents regions from numerous countries, and in particular to illustrate the context within which every member is free to express itself and to share its concerns, in particular giving representatives from smaller regions an equal opportunity to be heard. New! Forum material available here!

Three top issues were addressed in addition to the presentation given by each regional body on its audit approach and resources, plus conferences on various topics of interest to the public sector audit offices, and these gave rise to a working group and exchanges of information, namely:

1. How to maintain key stakeholder relationships when expectations are increasing at the same time as audit capacity is constrained and public sector complexity is increasing?

2. How to meet the challenge of recruiting and retaining the right staff in an era of global talent shortage?

3. How to maintain audit quality when changes to accounting and auditing standards and legislative and compliance requirements are rapidly increasing?

A conference dinner attended by 62 delegates provided participants and guests with an opportunity to hear Professor John Halligan from the University of Canberra speak on the subject of "Public Sector Reform and implications for Accountability – Comparative Perspectives".

A communique was prepared for release at the end of the Forum. You can read it by clicking on this link.

Our delegation was welcomed by the Auditor General of Victoria, Mr Des Pearson, who organised the Forum, and the Auditor General for Australia, Mr Ian McPhee.

Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3

At its last meeting held on March 31st in Santiago de Compostela the EURORAI Management Committee approved, among others:

- the final income and expenditure account of the Congress in Crans-Montana,
- the request for joining as full member presented by the Accounts Chamber of Leningrad Region, and
- the working programme for 2009, which includes in principle two seminars to be held in Spain (Alicante and Barcelona; dates still have to be determined).

Other matters dealt with at the meeting included the preparation of those activities planned for 2008, relationships with the European Court of Auditors, EUROSAI and the Council of Europe as well as audit exchanges among member institutions.

Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3 Photo 4

2007

The President of EURORAI Christian Melly participated in a colloquium which took place on 13 December in Montpellier on occasion of the 25th anniversary of the setting-up of the Regional Audit Chamber of Languedoc-Roussillon, a member of EURORAI since 1997. The conference was held within the framework of the 200th anniversary of the French Court of Audit and in the course of it Mr Melly had the opportunity, together with his French colleague within the Management Committee of EURORAI Jean-Louis Beaud de Brive, to meet the President of the Court Philippe Seguin, who invited him to Paris in order to discuss more in detail matters related to EURORAI. The theme chosen for the colloquium - which was moderated by Michel Bouvier, Professor at the University of Paris I - revolved around the history of the French Court of Audit and the man who is seen behind the creation of this prestigious institution, Joseph Cambon. In his excellent presentation on the role of the French Cour des comptes, the President of the Regional Audit Chamber of Languedoc-Roussillon Nicolas Brunner outlined the importance of the work performed by regional public sector audit institutions and their audit staff.

Photo 1 Photo 2

Audit Exchange between the Upper Austrian Court of Audit and the Audit Commission in England: Report

170 experts in public sector auditing coming from audit institutions in 17 different countries have attended the VI EURORAI Congress which has taken place from 21 to 23 October at the Congress and Exhibition Centre “Le Régent” in Crans-Montana (Switzerland).

The overall theme of the congress has been “The audit facing new forms of financing and outsourcing of public activities” and the event has been hosted by the Financial Inspectorate of the Valais Canton and its Director Christian Melly who has assumed the presidency of EURORAI for the next three years.

New forms of financing and outsourcing of public activities are frequently referred to as Public-private partnerships (PPP or P3) and describe the procurement of public services and infrastructure by a partnership of public bodies and one or more private sector companies. The challenge that public sector audit institutions confront with the implementation of different types of PPP over the last years has been at the heart of debates at the congress. Please click on the following link if you would like to access to the presentations that the different lecturers (from Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom) made at the event.

Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3 Photo 4 Photo 5 Photo 6 Photo 7

Within the framework of the VI EURORAI Congress the members of the Association came together for a General Assembly last 23 October which was attended by 32 full members with right to vote, 6 associated members without right to vote and one observer. With regard to the items on the agenda of the meeting, the following agreements were adopted, being the results of the votation as follows:

1. Unanimous approval of the annual accounts 2004-2006

2. Unanimous confirmation of the joining of the following new members:

Full members

Austria - Landesrechnungshof Tirol; Salzburger Landesrechnungshof
Netherlands - Rekenkamer Amsterdam
Russia - Chamber of Control and Accounts of Rostov Region; Accounts Chamber of the Republic of Tatarstan
Spain - Sindicatura de Cuentas del Principado de Asturias
Switzerland - Inspection des finances du canton de Genève
United Kingdom - Wales Audit Office

Associate members

Cyprus - Audit Office of the Republic of Cyprus
Poland - Regional Chamber of Audit in Wroclaw
Russia - Accounts Chamber of Taimyr Region

Observer

Lithuania - Association of Comptrollers for Local Authorities

3. Appointment of the new president and the other members of the Management Committee as well as their respective substitutes

President: Christian Melly - Head of the Financial Inspectorate of the Canton of Valais
Substitute: Peter Schnyder - Assistant to the Head of the Financial Inspectorate of the Canton of Valais

Vice-president: Stephen Taylor, Head of Audit (Southern), Audit Commission of England
Substitute: Mick Waite, Head of Health (Northern), Audit Commission of England

Secretary General: Rafael Vicente Queralt, President of the Audit Office of the Autonomous Community Valencia
Substitute: there is no need to nominate a substitute according to article 9 paragraph 2a of the statutes in force

Other members of the Management Committee:

Joan Colom Naval, President of the Audit Office of Catalonia
Substitute: Alexandre Pedrós Abelló, Member of the Board of the Audit Office of Catalonia

Helmut Brückner, President of the Court of Audit of Upper Austria
Substitute: Klaus Mayramhof, President of the Court of Audit of Tyrol

Jean-Louis Beaud de Brive, President of the Regional Audit Chamber of Midi-Pyrenees
Substitute: Olivier Ortiz, President of the Regional Audit Chamber of Alsace

Ralf Seibicke, President of the Court of Audit of Saxony-Anhalt
Substitute: Andreas Fhr. von Gall, Vice-president of the Court of Audit of Hesse

4. Appointment of the Audit Office of the Balearic Islands as auditor of EURORAI's annual accounts for the next three years

5. Likewise, the General Assembly took note of the agreed general working programme and approved unanimously the draft budget for the next three years. Both the working programme and the draft budget will be specified for each particular year by the new Management Committee during its periodically held meetings.The following activities have already been announced for the forthcoming year:
- Seminar in Mallorca on the status of regional public sector audit institutions (date: 8 and 9 May 2008; host institution: Audit Office of the Balearic Islands)
- Seminar in Innsbruck on the audit of subsidies and grants (date: 17 October 2008; host institution: Court of Audit of Tyrol in co-operation with the Court of Audit of Upper Austria).

Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3 Photo 4 Photo 5 Photo 6 Photo 7 Photo 8 Photo 9 Photo 10 Photo 11 Photo 12 Photo 13 Photo 14 Photo 15

On 10 July, the President of EURORAI, Joan Colom, gave a presentation on the association to representatives from the audit institutions of a number of countries in the Euro-Mediterranean Market who were taking part in a seminar on auditing and accountancy organised by the European Institute of Public Administration. Part of the community programme for the promotion of the instruments and mechanisms of the Euro-Mediterranean Market (Euromed), the seminar was held in Luxembourg between 9 and 12 July.

The conference brought together more than fifty audit and accountancy experts from Mediterranean countries (including Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Turkey, Syria and Lebanon), either members of external audit institutions or representatives of professional associations in the auditing and accountancy sector.

In his presentation on the organisation’s aims and programme of activities, the EURORAI President, Mr Colom, took the occasion to publicise EURORAI’s policy of opening-up, which has, in recent years, had particular impact on Central and Eastern European countries with the incorporation of Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, the Ukrainian region of Crimea and the Russian regions of Moscow, Rostov and Taymir.

The seminar saw debate on the regulatory reforms of auditing and accountancy that affect the public and private sectors and the different experiences of the countries in the Euro-Mediterranean arena in the field of external auditing.

Visit by a EURORAI delegation to the Accounts Chamber of Crimea (Ukraine)

The EURORAI delegation was led by the President of the Association, Joan Colom, and the Vice-President, Christian Melly. The programme of the visit included the participation in a seminar organised by the Accounts Chamber of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, which was also attended by representatives from a number of chambers of control and accounts from the Russian Federation, some of them members of EURORAI and others seeking membership of the Association in the near future. At the conference held in Simferopol and Yalta on 14 and 15 June, such diverse subjects as the regional funding system in Ukraine and Russia, the problems facing the regional public sector audit offices in these countries in conducting their audit work and the importance of strengthening the ties with regional audit institutions in other countries through EURORAI were debated. Within the framework of this last subject, a number of possibilities for improving the cooperation mechanisms with EURORAI were also discussed.

During their visit to Crimea, the members of the EURORAI delegation also visited the offices of the Accounts Chamber of Crimea, where they were received by its Chairman, Vladymyr V. Polishchuk, and where they held a series of interviews with the regional and local authorities, most notably the President of the Crimean Parliament, Anatolyi Grytsenko, the President of the Autonomous Government, Viktor Plakida, and the Mayor of the city of Yalta.

The Management Committee of EURORAI approved the visit by a delegation to Crimea at its meeting held in November of last year in Portsmouth in response to the invitation, made on a number of occasions, by the Chairman of the Accounts Chamber of Crimea to get to know this member institution and to see how the ties of cooperation between EURORAI and its members could be improved.

Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3 Photo 4

At its meeting held on 23rd April in Barcelona, the Management Committee of EURORAI approved the accounts relevant to the year 2006 which were presented by the General Secretariat. Likewise, the committee intensified the preliminaries for the next Congress to be held in Crans-Montana as well as those for the General Assembly of Members which will take place within the framework of this event.

Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3 Photo 4

The European Federation of Accountants (FEE) has published recently two interesting papers, the first one on 1 December 2006 entitled The New Public Management: A Perspective for Finance Practitioners and the second one on 30 January 2007 on Accrual Accounting in the Public Sector.

Both papers are available from the FEE website (http://www.fee.be/publications/default.asp?library_ref=4; http://www.fee.be/news/default.asp?library_ref=214&content_ref=637). Hard copies are also available on demand from the FEE Secretariat. FEE welcomes any feedback on its papers.

Recently, the General Secretariat of EURORAI has updated the information on accountancy bodies available on the website, especially in what concerns their role in developing international accounting and auditing standards and the endorsement of these standards at EU level:

► please find more details under "Public finance & accountancy bodies" after clicking on "Other links of interest"
► have a look also at the EU Statements on Accounting and Auditing under "Others"

Also available on the website under "Supreme audit institutions & associations": a direct link to the "Government Auditing Standards January 2007 revision" issued by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Fraud and governance: please click here below to find an interesting article written by an Audit Commission staff member for EURORAI.

The Anti Fraud Culture of Public Sector Organisations - Measuring Improvement in the UK, and beyond?

2006

The President of the Court of Audit of Rhineland-Palatinate, Volker Hartloff, took part in his capacity as member of the EURORAI Management Committee in the Conference of Presidents of Austrian Courts of Audit, which was held on 27 and 28 November in Linz. During his speech before the presidents of the regional audit institutions and the representative of the Federal Court of Audit (also attended the meeting as special guests the President of the European Court of Audit, Dr. Hubert Weber, and the President of the Conference of Presidents of the German Courts of Audit, Manfred Plaetrich), the representative of EURORAI made a presentation about the Association, emphasized the advantages of a membership in EURORAI and encouraged all audit institutions of the Austrian federate states which are not yet members of the Association to participate in EURORAI.

75 delegates coming from 13 different countries attended the EURORAI seminar on risk based audit which took place last November 10 in Portsmouth. The event was hosted by the Audit Commission of England. If you wish to consult the collected papers of the seminar, please click here!

At its meeting held on 9 November on the occasion of the Portsmouth seminar, the EURORAI Management Committee approved the requests for joining presented by the following institutions and associations:

Associate member:
Regional Chamber of Audit in Wroclaw (Poland)
Observer status:
Municipal Controllers Association of Lithuania

On the other hand, the committee has begun with the preparations for the next EURORAI Congress, which will take place from 21 to 23 October 2007 in Crans Montana (Switzerland). The congress will deal with the new forms of financing and outsourcing public activities and the challenge this supposes for public sector audit institutions.

Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3

At a meeting held in Madrid on 15 June 2006, the presidents of the courts of audit of the Spanisch Autonomous Communities decided to found the “Conference of Public Sector Audit Bodies At Regional Level”. The purpose of this initiative is to increase the co-operation among the conference members in order to promote a geater and more efficient audit of public funds. The courts of audit of the autonomous regions aim, in particular, to exchange information, experiences and auditing methods as well as to adopt an homogeneous position in what concerns those issues which affect the control of the accounts and arrangements of regional and local authorities. In Madrid it was decided as well that the Conference would have two ordinary meetings per year and that its presidency would be changing periodically in accordance with a pre-established rota based on the date of founding of the member institutions. EURORAI activities will be reported to the conference members at each meeting among other items on the agenda.

At its first meeting held on 19 October 2006 in Pamplona, the Conference decided to adopt a document, called “The Declaration of Pamplona”, which refers to the situation of public sector audit in Spain and in which the signatories commit themselves to give priority to the audit of the most important sectors from a budgetary point of view, such as health and education, for example. Likewise, a special attention will be given to those areas which are regarded as high-risk areas, such as grants, public works and town planning.

Last 15th September the President of EURORAI, Joan Colom, appeared before the meeting of the Conference of European Regional Legislative Assemblies (CALRE) which was held at the seat of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.

In his speech, the President of EURORAI defended the task performed by courts of audit as guarantee of "democratic transparency" within regions and encouraged the representatives of regional parliaments to foster and promote the participation of their respective audit institutions in EURORAI. Likewise, Mr Colom emphasized that EURORAI may be a useful tool to strengthen the control and the confidence in the governments which have been set up in the new democracies of Central and Eastern Europe.

The CALRE-Chairman, Ricardo Nencini, invited Joan Colom to take part in the meeting of presidents of European regional parliaments - which will be held shortly - in order to discuss how to improve regional democracy in Europe and also to prepare the next meeting of presidents of legislative assemblies, which will take place in Florence.

Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3 Photo 4

The President of EURORAI, Joan Colom, took part in a meeting of the Committee of the Regions of the European Union held on 30 June 2006 in Brussels. In his speech before the Commission for Constitutional Affairs, European Governance and the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice, Mr Colom explained the activities carried out by EURORAI and, within the framework of initiatives taken to increase the number of members in the organization, he invited the representatives of the European regions to participate in EURORAI, and particularly those countries of Eastern and Central Europe that have recently joined the EU, which can find in EURORAI a useful tool to strengthen their internal transparency and consolidate their respective governments.

Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3