In focus – Ukraine: Auditing in challenging conditions
Despite severe external pressures, the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine – the country’s equivalent to the Swedish National Audit Office – continues to audit the use of public funds in Ukraine – a task that has become increasingly important. The vulnerability that has characterised the country for some years does not seem to have impeded the Accounting Chamber’s progress – rather the opposite. It is perhaps this very uncertainty about what tomorrow may bring that has fuelled developments of both the organisation itself and its capabilities.
Olga Pishchanska heads the activities of the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine. Here, she talks about the conditions that, in her view, underpin continued positive developments, and how they will be able to pursue development to build capability and equip themselves to face future challenges.
While the war rages on, auditing of public administration continues. Public auditors may now have a particularly heavy burden of responsibility to ensure control over use of public funds. However, the fact that the country is under attack, with all the uncertainty and disorder this brings, is not the only change that has affected them.
“Following the recent legislative amendment that gave the agency a partly updated remit, we’re the only independent institution to perform auditing of our authorities and the public funds they manage. This presents new opportunities for us – but also comes with a responsibility. We must ensure that we continue to develop both our auditing and organisation if we’re to contribute to more stable central government administration in Ukraine, and ultimately to reducing corruption.”
Defence and welfare areas in focus
In addition to the strengthened independence of the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine, its auditors face other changes that affect their duties. Audit focus in particular has been affected.
“For the past two years, much of our efforts have naturally focused on defence. This has been out of necessity since a large share of the central government budget is allocated to it. Besides, it’s important for us to be in control of how the extensive support we receive from abroad is used. It’s paramount for us, through transparency and insight, to help build up the trust of the public and donors.”
“We also focus a lot on health and welfare areas, which is a partly new situation for us. There are currently many internally displaced people in Ukraine, which leads to new needs among inhabitants. In the longer term, this places demands on us and our work, and further ahead we also see how we will be involved in the restoration process that will begin sooner or later.”
Corruption in Ukraine has long been widespread. However, despite difficult external pressures, and with corruption having been normalised in most sectors of society, they do not find that authorities in general are exploiting the chaos.
From inspection to audit
In defiance of the hardships, there is powerful faith in the future and a sense of optimism. Both the auditing activities and the organisation are managed with a clear focus on development, and the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine is showing progress in several areas. Since Olga Pishchanska took up her post a year and a half ago, she has sought to push for a change in audit implementation. She considers this change to be essential for becoming the modern supreme audit institution they are expected to be in the future. They have a strategy to guide them and help them reach their goal.
“We have several signs showing that we’re on the right track. One of the first signs was our transition from inspection to auditing activities. This placed some demands on our employees as they’ve had to readjust. In this regard, our efforts to introduce and apply international guidelines have been important, and cooperation with various international institutions and actors has been absolutely crucial. Without any possibility of meeting to learn and exchange experiences in order to develop, we would have been in a different place than we are today, in terms of skills and as an organisation.”
“At the same time as we adjusted our approach to auditing, we worked on making our reports clearer and easier to understand. While we know that we have some way to go, we’re nevertheless seeing more quotes and comments in various media as well as from public institutions. We believe the reason for this increase is that more people are reading and understanding our material, and we’re seeing greater trust from the media. At the same time, we’re modest and aware that this is something we need to continue to work on purposefully and intently in order to maintain trust.”
Progress despite challenging conditions
“Although most parts appear to be operating as usual, quite a lot of our activities have been altered, which we need to take into account.”