ROMANIA: Digital Transformation of the Romanian Court of Accounts

The Romanian Court of Accounts has laid the foundations and developed a computer application that functions on the SQL Server platform. The developed application aims to be an integrator of the financial data sets reported by all public institutions in Romania to the Ministry of Finance. These data sets, used exclusively in the internal analysis of the Romanian Court of Accounts, aim to show the budget execution regarding the revenues and expenditures made by the public institutions.

The data sets are analyzed by the specialists of the Supreme Audit Institution of Romania with the help of the computer application IDEA, by connecting it directly to the server that manages and stores the data.

In order to include in the work program of the Romanian Court of Accounts the entities to be verified through financial/compliance audit procedures, the specialists within the institution tried to integrate some of the data sets reported and stored on the internal platform. Thus, the Romanian Court of Accounts is trying to take the first steps in developing a computer application for risk analysis.

It is important to mention here the institutional transformation effort that the Romanian Court of Accounts is currently making in order to adapt its activity and procedures to the standards of modern auditing.

In this context, the planning of audit missions according to risk criteria is a component that we consider essential in the transformation process, as it will increase the level of relevance and quality of the products we provide to citizens, entities and policy makers.

Planning based on risk analysis is an approach that has not yet been found in a structured way, in the legislation and regulations governing the activity of the Romanian Court of Accounts. However, we fully realize its importance and we want to implement it successfully as soon as possible. In our endeavor, we strive to learn good practices from partner SAIs that base their audits on identified risks.

Therefore, in order to develop the IT application that will generate the risk ratings, the Romanian Court of Accounts concluded a Capacity Building Agreement in IT audit with the Supreme Audit Institution of Turkey, respectively a Memorandum of Understanding with the Embassy of the Kingdom of Denmark in Romania.

By signing the collaboration agreement with the Supreme Audit Institution of Turkey, the Romanian Court of Accounts aims to share the experience of external public auditors in the field, by providing detailed information on the theoretical context of IT audit, international standards and framework in field of IT audit. Within the agreement, the Romanian Court of Accounts also attended the presentation of the computer application for risk analysis developed by experts from Turkey. Moreover, the specialists from the Supreme Institution of Turkey will support the steps started by the Romanian external public auditors specialized in IT for reviewing and updating the checklists developed for the IT audit, depending on the current requirements.

The memorandum concluded with the Embassy of the Kingdom of Denmark in Romania is an opportunity to take examples of good practices from Denmark, a country that has taken important steps in the field of digitization. Thus, the external public auditors in Romania and the experts in Denmark will work together to develop a strategy on the use of data (Data Strategy), to guide the activity of data collection and capitalization, as well as to create the necessary information systems. Working groups will also be organized to establish the premises for building a data communication platform with the audited entities.

The newly developed platform will allow the exchange of data in electronic format, as well as the assistance of the entities to respond more easily to the requests of the Romanian Court of Accounts.