The 19th Session of the Council of Heads of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) of the Member States of the Community of Independent States (CIS) was held today, March 26, by teleconference. The event was attended by SAI leaders and representatives from 9 Council member countries.
The Court of Accounts of the Republic of Moldova (CoARM) was represented by Marian Lupu, President of the institution, Marina Covali, Member of CoARM, as well as by Violeta Balan, Head of the External Relations and Communication Section.
The event included the thematic session "The role of SAIs in achieving sustainable development goals in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic". In his context, the President of the Court of Accounts made a presentation on the SAI's activity in the pandemic situation, rethinking the way it interacts with key partners and stakeholders, both nationally and internationally, to ensure the key role of external audit in strengthening the parliamentary oversight function over the use of public funds in times of crisis, in order to ensure the sound management of public money.
Marina Covali, Member of the Court of Accounts, spoke about how the pandemic affected and changed the activities of the Court of Accounts of the Republic of Moldova, as well as provided details about planned audits in the context of the pandemic and SAI's efforts to conduct a complex analysis of the situation regarding the government's response to the pandemic crisis.
Also, the member of the Court of Accounts informed about the inclusion in the Program of activity of the institution for 2021 of 3 compliance audit missions of social and medical interest: Compliance audit of the management and use of health resources to prevent and combat the spread of Covid -19; Compliance audit of systemic measures to limit the spread of infection and financial motivation of staff involved in the prevention, detection and treatment of Covid-19 infection; as well as the Compliance Audit of the process of granting/receiving leave for temporary incapacity for work, including the allowances allocated to combat the COVID -19 pandemic. Also, in 2021, the CoA's Audit Program was completed with a fourth mission: compliance of grant costs, granted by the European Union "Emergency response to COVID-19 in the Republic of Moldova", informed Marina Covali.
The agenda of the session also included a number of important aspects of the Council's work: examination and approval of the Council's progress report between the sessions and future plans, the progress report of the Working Group on Financial Control Standards of the States, CIS members, examining the program of activities planned for the 30th anniversary of the CIS, amending the statutory documents, etc.
We mention that the SAI Board of Directors of the CIS member states was created in 2000. It is an apolitical organization, being organized on the principles of professionalism and exchange of experience in the field of external public audit. The Court of Accounts of the Republic of Moldova became a member of the Council in 2000.