IT audit is receiving importance since processes within organizations depend on IT systems. It is of prime interest of auditors to understand and underlying principles and standards, methodology and stages of IT audit. This workshop will focus on developing participants’ capacities in IT audit and will allow them to undertake basic steps of IT audit.

Producing successful documents (ranging from formal discussions of the country’s economic and fiscal programs that are required as part of the EU accession process to a number of national or sector reports) requires skillful coordination of contributors and reviewers, an effective structure, and writing that conveys clear messages to its intended audience. This workshop is designed to help report authors or contributors develop and hone their skills for producing effective documents. Through group work with examples drawn from participants’ documents and individual tutorials, participants learn to develop and strengthen the content of important documents.

The objective of the workshop is to help participants to better understand objectives and features of multi-year budgeting, to identify the challenges and bottlenecks in introducing and implementing medium-term budgeting and to share experiences with colleagues in other South East European countries about how to overcome these challenges. The workshop will address medium-term budget frameworks as a key tool in ensuring fiscal sustainability and achieving fiscal objectives. *This learning activity is delivered as part of the EU-funded Strategic Planning and Budgeting project. The overall objective of the project is to strengthen beneficiary countries’ capacities to design and implement medium-term macro-fiscal policies. Complete information on the project can be found at the website: www.cef-see.org/bcpdi/spb.

Growing pressure on budget cuts requires from public sector organizations to focus more on cost. Cost management is not straightforward operation since there are several measurement methodologies that include standard costing, project accounting, activity-based costing, and others. This workshop aims to help participants to understand how cost accounting can be used to assist management process and to distinguish between various cost concepts and methodologies of measurement. Focus will be on activity-based costing as means how to provide a valuable cost measure.

Research shows that an effective manager must have a combination of technical and managerial skills. The workshop covers the basic approaches to management and how to implement them successfully. Participants learn to develop their personal capabilities and contribute to their own organizations through efficient management of projects, individuals, teams and departments. The workshop helps understand the importance of good management and its successful implementation in everyday work. Participants practice planning, decision-making, solving conflicts, motivating, delegating and many other skills through role plays and other practical methods.

This workshop draws upon international experiences in the taxation of land and real property, offering a policy oriented analysis as well as practical approaches to the implementation of value-based taxes in countries undergoing economic transition. It includes a discussion of real property markets, the system development for value-based property taxation, management of information systems, market value and mass valuation methods as well as tax collection and taxpayer education and services.

The workshop discusses concepts of structural reforms, main issues of their integration into fiscal programming, country case studies of good practice, and fiscal implications of various kinds of structural reforms. It aims at strengthening coordination among ministries of finance and budget users (mainly budget-intensive line ministries) in preparing medium-term macro-fiscal frameworks, in particular with respect to integrating the fiscal implications of structural reforms.

Changes and reforms are an inevitable part of improving an organization’s infrastructure and developing national priorities. This workshop looks at how leaders, managers and professionals can take a systematic approach to preparing themselves, their colleagues and organizations for changes. The aim is to give participants the knowledge and tools that they need for planning and introducing effective changes in their organizations.

Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) is the instrument that offers technical and financial assistance to candidate and potential candidate countries with the aim to develop sustainability. IPA II, the new instrument, implemented for the period from 2014 to 2020, continues to support countries in their preparations for EU membership and the alignment of their institutions and economies with the standards of the European Union (EU). The workshop gives a detailed overview of the IPA II. IPA II will be discussed within EU financial framework 2014–2020, with the focus on programming, implementing, realizing, and evaluating the projects. Participants will present the institutional set-up of the IPA in their countries and work on a specific project during the workshop.

During fiscal cuts and greater demand for accountability of public spending, public sector entities must achieve their mission in the most effective, efficient, and economical (3E’s) way. Performance auditing plays a significant role in evaluating performance and management in terms of above 3E’s, and gives recommendations on how to improve performance. For junior and experienced performance auditors, other external and internal auditors that are new to performance auditing, this workshop will provide tools of efficient performance audit. By learning how to understand concept of 3 E’s, how to approach and conduct performance audit, public sector auditors will be able to upgrade audit techniques that will help them ensure that public sector organization is working toward improving performance.

The main objective of the workshop is to examine examples of various methodologies for measuring the tax gap, discuss different country experiences and to address challenges they encounter in estimating the figures. The workshop will be a mixture of presentations, group discussions, and case studies which will allow participants to conduct tax gap analysis and utilize the results in compliance management strategies.

This workshop will address and help SAI build institutional capacities and to work in line with good international practice. Countries of the Region are preparing and implementing strategic development plans (as well as SAI Laws) and therefore there is increased need to increase capacity for preparation and implementation. This workshop will also help countries to exchange experiences and help them plan and implement strategic plans.

The course introduces the steps required before and during the process of budget execution. It describes the organizations involved and the role of the treasury; system requirements; charts of accounts; comprehensive policies/procedures; and key terminology. Participants are familiarized with the treasury function (including cash and debt management) and the different types of treasury organizations, including the Treasury Single Account. The course is to a large extent based on the IMF publication “Public Financial Management and Its Emerging Architecture” as well as on the IMF Guidelines for Public Expenditure Management. *This learning activity is delivered as part of the EU-funded Strategic Planning and Budgeting project. The overall objective of the project is to strengthen beneficiary countries’ capacities to design and implement medium-term macro-fiscal policies. Complete information on the project can be found at the website: www.cef-see.org/bcpdi/spb.

The course will show how the developments in tackling VAT fraud are part of a wider EU Compliance Risk Management approach based on the idea of segmenting taxpayers into clearly defined segments based on risk criteria as well as applying a mixture of preventive and repressive measures to prevent VAT fraud happening, for early detection and decisive case handling. Specific aspects concerning the VAT carousel or missing trader fraud will also be covered. In this regard the course will highlight the harmful effects that result from lack of transparency and lack of effective exchange of information and will illustrate the procedures and controls to be implemented to combat the VAT carousel. It will combine presentations of recent VAT fraud schemes (national, international – EU and non EU area) and discussions on possible ways of combating them.

The workshop aims to prepare experts from line ministries (and other relevant budget users) to eventually become trainers themselves. The learning event would provide those experts an opportunity to help facilitating discussions and to share their expertise through (guest) lectures. The workshop would enhance participants’ skills to effectively share knowledge and discuss experience with colleagues within their own institutions, as well as other beneficiary institutions. To enhance the training knowledge and skills of experts, the workshop would aim to promote a general awareness of the specific cultural, economic and institutional needs that are applicable for South East European countries. Participants would be introduced to the relevant pedagogic and technical concepts and tools that help to effectively communicate their expertise to the audience. * This learning activity is delivered as part of the EU-funded Strategic Planning and Budgeting project. The overall objective of the project is to strengthen beneficiary countries’ capacities to design and implement medium-term macro-fiscal policies. Complete information on the project can be found at the website: www.cef-see.org/bcpdi/spb.