Auditor General Maksim Acevski participated in the panel discussion on Accounting and audit professions against corruption and fraud, organized by the Accounting and Auditing Department of the Faculty of Economics at St. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje in cooperation with the Institute of Certified Auditors of RNM (ICARNM).
In his presentation on “The role of institutions in the fight against corruption”, Mr. Acevski emphasized SAO role in the fight against corruption, the contribution of state audit in strengthening financial management systems of public institutions and the effective measuring of results, aimed at creating preventive environment in the fight against corruption and other types of wrongdoing.
The State Audit Office attaches great importance to its transparency, accountability and information sharing through timely and public issuance and dissemination of audit reports to a large number of stakeholders (mailing list of 943 stakeholders) with the aim of raising and strengthening public awareness of illegal actions. Hence, the monitoring carried out by the Agency for Protection of the Right to Free Access to Public Information in 2022 ranked SAO as an institution with high level of transparency at 13th place out of 120 institutions.
SAO also strives to make constant improvements to the methodology for identifying and fighting irregularities, and to focus on professional development of employees for increasing skills and knowledge for identifying and assessing potential irregularities. The process of certification for ISO 37001 Anti-bribery management systems, ISO 27001 Information security management systems, and ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems is underway.
In addition, Auditor General emphasized the cooperation with the competent institutions and their action toward safeguarding public funds and protecting citizens’ interests, thus increasing the trust in public institutions.
Representatives from the Faculty of Economics, the Public Revenue Office and the State Commission for Prevention of Corruption also took part in the panel discussion.
