The webinar co-organised by the National Transparency Authority (NTA) and the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece (KEDE) was successfully concluded, on Thursday 10 June.
More than 300 mayors, local government officials and public sector executives participated in the webinar, which was held within the framework of the cooperation initiated by Central Union of Municipalities of Greece and the National Transparency Authority. The purpose of the webinar was to present the new data that will be implemented in the municipalities with the new internal audit system after the passage of the Law 4795/2021, which defines the internal audit system and the operation of the internal audit units in the public sector and in the municipalities.
The Minister of the Interior, Mr. Makis Voridis, welcomed the initiative of the National Transparency Authority and Central Union of Municipalities of Greece to present the extremely important issue of internal audit, noting that the new law provides the opportunity to build a stable, coherent and robust internal audit system throughout the public administration in order to establish a culture of transparency and integrity that will contribute to the improvement of the administrative product produced. At the same time, Mr. Voridis expressed the will "to be applied this system to the municipalities, so that they, in turn, acquire their own robust internal audit system, the positive impact of which will benefit both the operation of local government and Greek citizens".
The President of the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece (KEDE), Mr. Dimitris Papastergiou, emphasised in his speech the important role that the change of mindset plays both in the internal operation of local authorities and in the image of public administration, which must change for the benefit of the citizens. Mr. Papastergiou thanked the Governor of NTA, Mr. Angelos Binis, as well as the executives of the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece and Hellenic Agency for Local Development and Local Government (E.E.T.A.A.) for their cooperation in the design, implementation and development of the implementation plan of the mechanisms and elements of the internal control system in the municipalities, in particular with regard to the organisation of the Internal Audit Unit.
He also stated that "we welcome and accept the operation of the Internal Audit in the municipalities. For all of us who serve the first degree of local government, elected officials and employees, the concept of audit is part of our daily life. Transparency, protection of public property and efficiency are the basic principles of administration, principles that are achieved through the proper operation of an internal audit system. We want to serve the municipalities free from the image of the past, we want to isolate the practices that have created the image of poor administration, to put it elegantly, we want to have an ally to avoid mistakes and become more efficient.
The training of civil servants is always hampered by the lack of qualified staff, in municipalities where administrative mobility is depriving them of competent and experienced civil servants. That is why we will insist, as we did during the consultation phase, that the system should be compulsory in the large municipalities, but that there should be a transition period for the vast majority of municipalities, during which municipal employees will be certified as internal auditors, the design and implementation of the systems will be phased in, and the criteria and mode of operation will be specified based on the actual capabilities of the municipalities. I am sure that the outcome of the process we are undertaking with the NTA and the E.E.T.A.A. will reward us all".
The Governor of the National Transparency Authority, Mr. Angelos Binis, emphasised that this is the first time that all relevant bodies are working closely together to develop a modern internal audit system that will support the entire operation of a municipality. This is why, despite the challenges, the project will achieve all its objectives.
Three points must be absolutely clear about the internal audit system:
(a) it is a tool for good governance and sound financial management
(b) it is a valuable ally not only for the administration, but also for the municipal employees
c) it is a key guarantee of democratic accountability for citizens, providing answers to questions such as "how the fees they pay are used, how the municipality responds to their needs and what is the quality of the services they receive.
Mr. Grigoris Konstantelos, President of the KEDE Institutions Committee, member of the KEDE – NTA - E.E.T.A.A. Internal Audit Committee and Mayor of Vari - Voula - Vouliagmeni, stressed that the Internal Audit independently and objectively monitors the stages of the procedures and the internal procedures of each stage in order to identify possible errors, omissions, deficiencies and basically sounds the alarm to ensure the good and effective operation of the organisation without imposing sanctions.
Mr. Konstantelos also noted that the Internal Audit will monitor and evaluate the process, noting any deviations from it, in order to mitigate and remedy the irregularities, always in interaction with the services of the municipality. "It is an assistant and supporter to the administration and not a faceless inspector, and is an added value in improving the services provided to citizens," he said. He also referred to the work of the joint KEDE - NTA- E.E.T.A.A. committee, stressing that its aim is to create a common standard of audit procedures that can be adapted to the needs of each municipality (small, large, mountainous, island, rural). "We want to ensure the coherence of our services through standardised procedures for each competence and area of responsibility that we administrate," he said. The Committee has already worked out and completed twenty procedures, the largest and most difficult we have, which require a lot of attention and are common to all the municipalities".
Mr. Yiannis Karagiannis, General Director of the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece and member of the KEDE - E.E.T.A.A, stressed that the different types of audits carried out by different authorities have been a source of concern and criticism for elected officials over time, but also for KEDE. The monitoring of legality, which often borders on the monitoring of expediency, is an obstacle for local government and differentiates the role of the constitutional supervision of municipalities.
The proper exercise of internal audit is undoubtedly an independent, objective activity aimed at adding value and improving the operation of an organisation, especially a municipality. He also emphasised that KEDE has requested a three-year transitional period for the full implementation of the new internal audit framework for the majority of municipalities, given that many municipalities are experiencing a decline in services due to administrative mobility. KEDE believes in the need for Internal Audit to be properly implemented with the necessary staff and resources to make it an important ally of every municipality. The General Director of KEDE also expressed KEDE's concern that the allocation of responsibilities to the head of the unit (and in this case to the relevant mayor) could lead to confusion of responsibilities, since it is a coincidence that the same person is monitoring and being monitored.
Mr. Konstantinos Kostopoulos, Vice-President of the Hellenic Court of Audit, stated that "the recent Law 4795/2021 (A62), and in particular its first part (Articles 1-22), establishes a system of internal audit in the public sector and therefore in the municipalities throughout the country. It is part of the institutional effort made over the last five years to apply to the Greek legal system the reform that has taken place in the financial management of the European Union, its Member States and most of the countries of the international community".
Already, as he noted, from 2020, for reasons of transparency, implementation of best practices and for educational reasons (with the main beneficiaries being the audited entities), with a first regulatory decision of the Plenary of Session of the Hellenic Court of Audit (Government Gazette B 2424/18.6. 2020) and the accompanying multi-page document on "Definition of the Internal Control System within the Hellenic Court of Audit", which reflected the perception of the Supreme Financial Court on the content of internal audit and the bodies for its exercise, while a second plenary regulation (Government Gazette B 4938/9. 11. 2020) established the "Procedure for the Audit by the Court of Audit of the Existence, Operation and Effectiveness of an Internal Audit System in the Entities under its Audit Jurisdiction".
The Head of NTA’s General Directorate of Integrity and Accountability, Mrs Maria Konstantinidou, gave a detailed presentation on the new institutional framework (Law 4795/2021) and the innovations it introduces for the construction of the internal audit system, as well as on the practical steps for its development in the municipalities.
The audience attending the webinar had the opportunity to take part in an online vote via the "Mentimeter" online platform, the results of which stimulated an interesting exchange of views between the speakers.
You can watch the webinar at the link below.