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External evaluations confirm the credibility and performance achieved by the Court of Accounts

  • 23.02.2023
  • 797

In recent years, the Court of Accounts of the Republic of Moldova (CoARM) has been subjected to several national and international evaluations, some of them being launched at the request of the CoARM, and others - initiated by various interested parties, both in the country and abroad (World Bank, Transparency International – Moldova, International Budget Partnership, European Commission, OECD, the Center for Analysis and Prevention of Corruption, etc.).

The Court of Accounts has shown openness and cooperation in these exercises, because the evaluations generate benefits and premises for the further improvement of the institution's activity. These evaluations are of vital importance for the Court of Accounts, in the context of the implementation of strategic objectives and the drawing of priority directions of activity. The findings and recommendations of the evaluators provide an opportunity to compare the CoARM's vision of strategic directions and the opinion of stakeholders in this context, to confirm the approaches of the supreme audit institution and to adjust them, if necessary.

The multitude of evaluations also shows the interest of the civil society, donors and development partners in the quality of the activity of the Court of Accounts and its alignment with the international profile standards – INTOSAI Framework of Professional Pronouncements.

In accordance with the international standards INTOSAI-P 1, NTOSAI-P 12, INTOSAI-P 20, which outline the principles of the supreme audit institution on credibility, accountability, transparency and information to interested parties, we publish the summary of the findings of the main evaluations and the links to the full documents.

  • The report "Quality of audits of the Court of Accounts of the Republic of Moldova: a review of compliance with the International Standards of the Supreme Audit Institutions" (2019)

The purpose of the review carried out by the World Bank (WB) was to assess the quality of the audits carried out by the SAI on the projects financed by the WB, through the objective of compliance of the audit with the international standards of INTOSAI, to confirm confidence in the findings made by the SAI in the audit of WB-financed operations.

Thus, the institutional and organizational capacities of the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) were evaluated in the following assessment areas: (1) independence of the SAIs, (2) quality control, (3) planning, conducting and reporting audits.

In the report, the World Bank mentions that CoARM's audit methodology corresponds to the INTOSAI standards, emphasizing that compliance with international audit standards is an important component of audit quality and is absolutely necessary in maintaining the SAI’s credibility. At the same time, the evaluation recommends the CoARM to establish a system of continuous improvements by developing and implementing a robust systematic process, to ensure that lessons learned from audits and practice are identified, understood, disseminated and incorporated into study and development programs as well as audit guidelines and methodology.

Link: https://www.ccrm.md/ro/rapoarte-de-evaluare-3586.html

  • Study (survey) "Central public authorities: opinions and experiences regarding communication with the Court of Accounts, professionalism, integrity of auditors and the implementation of the Court's recommendations (2021)

In the process of evaluating the Court of Accounts through the lens of the National Integrity System, the NGO Transparency International – Moldova conducted a survey in the central public authorities audited by the CoARM. The purpose of the survey was to analyze the opinions and experiences of their representatives about the communication and relations with the auditors during the audits, the behavior, professionalism and integrity of the auditors, as well as the implementation of the recommendations of the Court of Accounts. The results of the survey demonstrate a positive picture on the aspects included in the study.

Link: https://www.ccrm.md/ro/rapoarte-de-evaluare-3586.html

On the Transparency International Moldova page http://www.transparency.md/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/TI_Moldova_Sondaj_APC_Curtea_Conturi.pdf

  • Open Budget Survey (2022)

The 8th edition of the Open Budget Survey (OBS), conducted by the International Budget Partnership, covers 120 countries. The Republic of Moldova officially participates in the OBS since 2017, being in the 3rd edition. The OBS findings and recommendations relate to issues such as the level of citizen participation, transparency of the budget process and budget oversight capacity, with each country scored on a scale of 0 to 100 based on 18 equally weighted indicators.

For the budget supervision indicator, the Republic of Moldova accumulated a common score of 63 out of 100 possible. An important contribution to the results of this indicator comes from the Court of Accounts, which demonstrated an individual score of 83 out of a possible 100. The result recorded by the supreme audit institution significantly improved the common score per country. The experts appreciated this positive result, a trend maintained by the Court of Accounts throughout all the surveys conducted.

Link: https://www.ccrm.md/ro/rapoarte-de-evaluare-3586.html

On Open Budget Survey’s page https://internationalbudget.org/open-budget-survey/country-results/2021/moldova

  • Public Expenditure Performance and Financial Accountability Assessment Report (2022)

The report was developed and published in July 2022 by the World Bank team based on the results of the Public Expenditure and Financial Responsibility Evaluation (PEFR) of the central administration of the Republic of Moldova. The main purpose of the PEFR 2021 assessment was to provide the Government of the Republic of Moldova with an objective and up-to-date diagnosis of the performance of public financial management at the national level, based on the latest internationally recognized PEFR methodology.

The evaluation of the performance of public expenditure and financial responsibility included seven pillars of the performance of public finance management: budget credibility, transparency of public finances, asset and liability management, budget strategy and policy-based budgeting, predictability and control in budget execution, accounting and reporting, and external control and auditing. Each indicator was evaluated according to the score contained in dimensions from A to D.

The last pillar, external control and audit, analyzes whether public finances are reviewed independently and there is a follow-up by the Executive of the implementation of the recommendations offered by the Court of Accounts. Thus, the Court of Accounts was evaluated through the prism of 4 indicators: audit coverage and standards, submission of audit reports to the Legislature, external public audit follow-up and independence of the supreme audit institution. According to the PEFA report, the Court of Accounts received a maximum score for the first three indicators, accumulating 3 "A" and 1 "C" for the independence indicator. The experts mentioned that Organic Law 260/2017 provides for the organizational, functional, operational and financial independence of the CoARM, but in practice there is a limitation of financial independence by the Executive, by approving the budget of the Court of Accounts within the budget cycle, managed by the Ministry of Finance.

Link: https://www.ccrm.md/ro/rapoarte-de-evaluare-3586.html

  • Peer review of the Court of Accounts (2022)

The international assessment exercise was carried out at the request and initiative of the CoARM, during 2020-2022 by a group of international experts led by SIGMA – the joint initiative of the European Commission and the OECD. The purpose of the exercise was to assess the current situation on a number of strategic dimensions, such as: independence and legal framework; governance; financial audit: process and quality, reporting and achieving results; as well as stakeholder relations. As a result, the International Assessment Report was produced, presented in autumn 2022, which contains findings and recommendations to increase the performance of the supreme audit institution on the analyzed dimensions and to adjust the normative-legal framework in the context of the European Agenda of the Republic of Moldova.

Carrying out the international peer review evaluation proves that the Court of Accounts of the Republic of Moldova is doing everything to be the most reliable, professional and relevant institution for its country.

Link: https://www.ccrm.md/ro/peer-review-3587.html

  • The evaluation report on the implementation of the National Integrity and Anti-Corruption Strategy (NIAS) 2017-2020 (2022)

The evaluation exercise of the implementation of the National Integrity and Anticorruption Strategy (NIAS) 2017-2020 was carried out, between May and November 2022, by the NGO Center for Analysis and Prevention of Corruption (CAPC), within the project implemented by the German International Cooperation Agency.

According to CAPC’s findings, the impact of the CoARM’s activity at the end of 2020, compared to 2017, has increased significantly. 52 sanctions for acts of corruption found on the basis of the information sent by the Court of Accounts were applied in the period 2017-2020 and a damage of over 5 billion lei caused to the state was recovered, which demonstrates the impact of the CoARM's activity, but also the efficiency of working with the authorities responsible for investigating and sanctioning corruption, is mentioned in the evaluation report.

The report also states that there is a divergence between society's perception of the activity of the Court of Accounts. Thus, the Court of Accounts is often seen as an institution with punitive functions, which, in fact, do not fall under the mandate of a supreme audit institution and are not provided by the relevant International Standards.

In the aspect of ensuring integrity and fighting corruption, the Court of Accounts has the role of preventing such phenomena, detecting in its audits suspicions of fraud and corruption and informing the bodies empowered with investigative functions. Achieving tangible results in this regard is possible only in close cooperation with the legal bodies, the Government and the Parliament, through their control attributions.

Link: https://www.ccrm.md/ro/rapoarte-de-evaluare-3586.html

On CAPC’s page https://www.capc.md/publicatii/raport-evaluarea-strategiei-nationale-de-integritate-si-anticoruptie-2017-2020-si-planului-de-actiuni/

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