Annual conference was held on July 21, 2015 on the Reform of Public Internal Financial Control (PIFA) in Georgia – Internal Audit.

It was organized with an initiative of the Ministry of Finance and support of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) at Rooms Hotel in Tbilisi.

H.E. Nodar Khaduri, Minister of Finance of Georgia and Mr. Martin Homola, Country Director of GIZ Office in South Caucasus welcomed the event participants.

Public Internal Financial Control system has been reformed for the last 5 years to cater the needs of one of the most priority directions of the public sector – effective and efficient management of public funds allocated from the State Budget.

Internal Audit units are primarily mandated to accurately assess the performance of public institutions, issue recommendations for management units on how to correct and improve the system with an aim of more effective achievement of goals set by such public institutions.

Conference participants discussed measures implemented for the development of internal audit units and results attained on the grounds of the past performance of the Harmonization Centre of the Ministry of Finance of Georgia.

Two keynote methodologies developed by the Harmonization Centre have been presented at the conference: Internal Audit Methodology and Systemic Audit Guidelines.
In this context Harmonization Centre of the Ministry of Finance has been supported by international experts contracted by GIZ. The referred documents are in line with international standards and best practices of EU countries. Their endorsement is planed after the internal auditors use-test them in their daily work. International experts, State Audit Office and Harmonization Centre officials presented papers at the conference on the performance of the reform and challenges ahead.

Second part of the conference was dedicated to internal audit units of central and local authorities, along with the results of projects implemented by them.

By the close of the event, conference participants were given new manuals developed by the Harmonization Centre: Internal Audit Methodology and Systemic Audit Guidelines.