On 5 September 2016, the Court of Accounts of the Republic of Moldova (CoA) held a closing conference of the Twinning Project "Strengthening and enhancing the public audit in the Republic of Moldova", implemented with the support of the European Union in the period September 9, 2014 - September 8, 2016.
The main beneficiary of this project was the Court of Accounts. The general objective of the implemented activities was the improving of the accountability and public financial management in the Republic of Moldova by strengthening the capacity of the external audit in accordance with the international auditing standards, recognized in accordance with the best practices.
At the opening event the President of the Court of Accounts, Mr. Untila, stressed the importance of the project for strengthening the Supreme Audit Institution. Ms. Urszula Pallasz (Head of Politics and Economics of the EU Delegation in Moldova), Mr. Stefan Creanga (Chairman of the Committee on Economy, Budget and Finance of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova), Ms. Päivi Pohjanheimo (Ambassador of Finland to Romania and Moldova) and Mr. Pedro Arostegui (Deputy Head of mission, Embassy of Spain in Romania and Moldova) attended the closing conference.
Former members of the Plenum of the Court of Accounts, Mr. Serafim Urechean, Mr. Gheorghe Trocin, Mr. Tudor Şoitu and Mr. Valeriu Chitan also attended the event.
The experts of the Project: Mr. Reijo Lindt, Mr. Enrique Alvarez Tolchev, Mr. Ari Sihvola, Mr. Esco Mustonen reported briefly about the achievements obtained during the 2 years.
The project was focused on the implementation of activities listed in 4 components:
1. Strengthening the capacity of audit of the Court of Accounts;
2. Reform of the legal framework;
3. Human Resources Management Reform;
4. Strengthening interaction with Moldovan authorities and increase the impact of the Court.
The implementation of the activities envisaged in the Project Action Plan was one of the main objectives of the management and the institution employees in the past two years, which, alongside with the foreign experts, have contributed substantially to the development and modernization of the Court of Accounts.
At the Component 1, for the employees of the Court of Accounts were held numerous training sessions on performance audits, system audits and EU funds. Within some specialized trainings, was strengthened and trained a team of trainers of the institution that will ensure the continuity of training and education.
The pilot audits that were organized with the support of the Twinning experts contributed to the development and capacity building of the Court of Accounts to perform quality audits in accordance with the new methodological norms and regulations.
Of a major importance for the institution's work were the activities implemented within the Component 2, by conceptualizing and revising the legal framework of the Court. In this context, were organized meetings with experts from six European Union countries and were carried out actions for drafting the new Law of the National Audit Office of the Republic of Moldova. Also, with the support of the foreign experts were reviewed and adjusted a number of internal regulations in accordance with the changes in the legal framework. It was also developed the Regulation on the role of the auditor in identifying/determining the elements of fraud and corruption and the Regulation on finding the facts of contravention.
The Component 3 was focused on the implementation of modern activities procedures of human resource management in line with EU standards, assessment and review of existing procedures as well as the management training on modern methods of management and promotion of employees being conducted numerous workshops work in this regard. Project was developed within the new concept of human resource management strategies.
A particular importance has been given to the actions implemented under the Component 4, being made numerous actions with various factors of responsibility and activity partners of the Court of Accounts as audited authorities, civil society and the media, representatives of the Ministry of Finance and of the Economy, Budget and Finance Committee of the Parliament of Moldova. The team of the institution, with the support of the external experts, have been drafted the Communication Strategy of the Court of Accounts for the next 5 years. In this strategy, the communication is used as a tool for stimulating the positive changes, the promotion of reforms, the facilitation of performing the assignment of the institution and the promotion of an effectively dialogue with stakeholders.