​​​​​​​The Bulgarian National Audit Office and the State Audit Office of the Republic of North Macedonia exchange experience on communication with stakeholders

Goritsa Grancharova-Kozhareva, Acting President of the Bulgarian National Audit Office, and Toshko Todorov, Vice-President of the Bulgarian National Audit Office, took part in the Conference on Exchange of Experience in SAIs Communication Process – Opportunities and Challenges, which was held in the period 26-28 November 2024 in Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia. The event was dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the SAI of the Republic of North Macedonia and brought together heads of EUROSAI audit institutions, representatives of the authorities in the Republic of North Macedonia, diplomats, NGOs and media.

In her speech, Ms Grancharova emphasised that the main asset of the Supreme Audit Institutions is the trust of the citizens, and this trust is built with transparency in the work of the audit institutions. Therefore, the SAIs' aspiration should be to publish all the results of their activities, subject to the specific restrictions on information protected by law, she added.

Goritsa Grancharova also pointed out that the main challenge for an effective communication of SAIs with the citizens is to find the right balance when presenting the results of the audits, so that the public receives accessible, quick and easy to understand information on the management of public funds, supported by a sufficient amount of analytical information, without impeding communication with unnecessary details that can be found in the reports concerned.

Ms Grancharova presented a good example of a case study of the Bulgarian National Audit Office, which produces an Annual Summary Report on the results of all financial audits. Although this report is not an explicit legal obligation of the Bulgarian National Audit Office, it is useful to the stakeholders as it systematises common accounting weaknesses in the audited organisations, the Acting President of the Bulgarian National Audit Office said.

In a conversation with Afrim Gashi, President of the Parliament of the Republic of North Macedonia, and Maxim Acevski, General State Auditor at the State Audit Office of the Republic of North Macedonia, Goritsa Grancharova highlighted the excellent professional collaboration between the Bulgarian National Audit Office and the SAI of North Macedonia, which is complemented by a very good personal relationship between the heads and auditors of both institutions.

The Bulgarian National Audit Office and the SAI of the Republic of North Macedonia successfully implemented two twinning projects within which the auditors from our south-western neighbouring country had the opportunity to get acquainted with the audit practice of the Bulgarian National Audit Office, to develop their capacity and to explore good European audit practices - necessary steps for the country's preparation for EU accession.