She said that, in line with the Public Financial Management Reform Programme Action Plan, the Committee had set up the Subcommittee for the Consideration of Reports on Audits Conducted by the State Audit Institution which is to soon establish procedures for the consideration of said reports through public hearings on the State Audit Institution’s findings.

Tomic also spoke about the projects concerning the Parliamentary Budget Office and Public Finance Supervision Portal the National Assembly is co-realizing with the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, UN Development Programme and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

The World Bank expert team tasked with preparing a report on the enhancement of public sector financial reporting, presented the project the World Bank is conducting with the help of the Swiss Agency for Development in support of measure 17 of the Public Financial Management Reform Programme – gradual transition to accrual accounting based on the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS).

The project’s developmental goal is to help strengthen accountability and financial reporting in the public sector. The ultimate objective is to improve decision-making and management of budgetary funds, property and obligations, as well as enhance transparency. The project also aims to improve the assessment of national financial results and make them comparable with EU countries.

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards are introduced to achieve transparency and uniformity of the financial reports on any auditee regardless of their scope and country of activity so as to facilitate the understanding of financial reports, and enable harmonization of different accounting regulations concerning the preparation and presentation of financial reports used for economic decision-making.

The transition to accrual accounting in the public sector will impact on future fiscal policy and require considerable financial and human resources, as well as the development of adequate monitoring systems. Choosing not to transition would have practical consequences on the information used to improve the distribution of resources, accountability and transparency of the overall expenditure of resources for state business.

That is why the reform in this area should be gradual and planned for the medium/long term to allow for the preparation of detailed implementation plans, drafting of accounting policies and the implementation and testing of new systems.

The expert team also emphasized how important it is that the Committee take active part in all the activities concerning the transition to accrual accounting which is why they had begun their series of meetings with the representatives of the different authorities taking part in the project with the Chairperson of the Committee on Finance, State Budget and Control of Public Spending.

The Chairperson of the Committee on Finance, State Budget and Control of Public Spending said she hoped the Committee members would justify the World Bank expert team’s trust and follow the coming activities.