The introduction of the New system regarding the internal public financial auditing in Romania , at European Commission's advice, in what concerns Romania 's adhering to EU, is a long term process, which also involves its permanent actualization, according to the specific development of the system.
Even before the European adhering, Romania agreed with and used the elements of the control frame suggested through Model COSO 1 – American model for organizing the financial management and internal auditing systems, internationally accepted over the last decades.
The financial management and internal public auditing system is formed of: preventive financial auditing, audit and financial management systems, the basis internal auditing of public entities (self-auditing, mutual auditing, hierarchic auditing, patrimonial auditing, inspection) and INTERNAL AUDIT.
According to the existent norms, the Ministry of Economics and Finances is the authority of central public specialty administration which has the responsibility of preparing and introducing the policy in the field of financial administration.
With this object in sight, in MEF have been formed:
- The Central Unit of Financial Management and Auditing Systems' Harmonization – CUFMASH 2 , organism specialized in the coordination of strategy in financial management and internal auditing systems, in the elaboration of internal auditing standards, in harmonizing the methodological norms in the field by incorporating specialists in the auditing procedures and by strengthening the system of specialists' professional grounding, involved in financial management and internal auditing systems, with their own entities' necessities.
- The Central Unit for Harmonizing the Public Internal Audit – CUHPIA 3 , that ensures: the coordination of a unitary strategy in the field of public internal audit, the elaboration and development of methodologies and practical guides for functions that support the public entities, and assuring the internal auditors' professional training.
Through the introduction of the New system of internal public financial auditing, the following major changes have occurred:
- The public entities pursue achieving/ not achieving the goals set through the permanent supervision of internal and external risks that are above them. To evaluate and monitor the risks, the entities must create their own internal auditing systems, in order to remove the unacceptable risks and to establish the tolerance to risks, respectively the level of acceptable risks. This way, the internal auditing competences are no longer the task of auditing/control compartments or of revision compartments, but they become the concern of all public entity's employees, starting from the general management level to the last employee. This way, each person of the entity is responsible for his own control, established through the job's record and through the work operational procedures.
- The dissolution of distinct auditing and/or inspection compartments and the introduction of control activities on the flux of processes through the elaboration of operational procedures for the aggregate of activities that develop among public entities.
- The creation of internal audit compartments, under the subordination of general management, as its specific function, having the role of evaluation of the functionality of internal auditing systems and of general and line (directors, service, office leaders, etc.) management systems in order to improve them.
- The internal public financial auditing systems will be introduced into the entities where community funds are used , organized at the ministries' and national companies' level.
The introduction of internal public financial auditing systems into entities is a long term process that also requires the professional formation of those implied in the system.
The excellence center is integrated into a professional association and works on the basis of the principle of liberty of associations for the continuous professional forming of probationers in the field and of potential interested specialists.
The association is the juridical person of private right, without patrimonial purpose, that works as a professional organization, having as object the continuous professional formation and improvement of probationers in the field of financial management and internal audit, according to the European Commission's recommendations.
The main goal of the excellence center is represented by the offer of courses, seminars, experience exchange, and work-shops, on the interest fields of financial managers and internal auditors, supported by probationers and professors with recognized expertise.
The excellence center aims to attract into this system of continuous professional grounding the highest possible number of persons interested in the financial management and internal audit activity or of probationers in the field.
In order to reach these high goals, the Excellence Center will pay attention to the educators, so that it ensures a good quality level, according to the European standards and practice in the field.
The members of public entities, including the managers, besides some professional certificates at national level , will need a continuous professional grounding system in order to properly accomplish their responsibilities to implement and develop the internal public financial auditing system in their own entities.
The necessities of grounding and development of staff in order to ensure a continuous professional grounding of specialty represents the aim for which THE EXCELLENCE CENTER IN FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND INTERNAL AUDIT – ECFMIA – was created.
From the MEF's evaluations results that in the financial management and internal auditing system, in the public area in Romania, are involved almost 10.000 managers and 5000 internal auditors, without counting the variation of the staff in the field, who will also be interested in this continuous professional grounding, considering the evolution of these systems both in EU and on international plan.
For these reasons, we recommend you to constantly watch the courses and seminars to ensure the professional grounding of specialists in elaborating the financial management and internal auditing systems that we suggest you introduce and develop into your own public entities.
We mention that the entities in the private sector are not bound to introduce these systems, but they do represent an opportunity that should be considered, especially under the conditions of access to community funds.
ECFMIA executive director,
Univ. Prof. Dr. Marcel Ghita
