After three years, the Supreme Audit Office hands over the EUROSAI Presidency to Israel

PRESS RELEASE ON THE END OF THE EUROSAI PRESIDENCY – 27 May 2024


After three years of chairing the European Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (EUROSAI), the Supreme Audit Office (SAO) President Miloslav Kala will hand over the Presidency to the Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) of Israel on Monday 27 May 2024. SAI Israel will take over the leadership of the organisation at the two-day online XII EUROSAI Congress.

"These were difficult years, full of challenges and events that none of us could have anticipated. The three years of our Presidency have convinced me that EUROSAI is not only a huge reservoir of knowledge, but that it grows with the challenges it faces. I was proud of the united stand we took on the Russian aggression in Ukraine. It has been a great pleasure to see how we are learning to react faster and more flexibly to what is happening around us and to translate the expectations of the public and ourselves into our common work," summed up the period of the Czech EUROSAI Presidency Miloslav Kala.

The Extraordinary Governing Board of EUROSAI reacted to the Russian aggression in Ukraine, which started on 24 February 2022, already on 3 March, when it adopted a Statement on Ukraine, in which it unanimously suspended cooperation with the SAIs of Russia and Belarus and expressed support for Ukrainian colleagues. "And it didn't just stop at words. Employees of a number of authorities organised financial and material collections, and some national audit offices, including the SAO, sheltered refugees," Kala added.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kala emphasised the usefulness of international cooperation: “The pandemic has not only affected the health of the population, but has also had a significant impact on the management of public funds. Paradoxically, it has become a rare opportunity for us - the audit institutions. We were given a common theme with huge international potential. And within the framework of the BIEP project, we were able to exchange and compare information.”

Thanks to the BIEP project, Czech auditors were able to compare the prices at which personal protective equipment was purchased in the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom during the pandemic in 2020. And it turned out that, for example, respirators were bought in the Czech Republic for an average of more than CZK 102, while the UK bought them for less than CZK 74. "The exchange of information helps to improve national audits. Thanks to this, we can offer audited entities an objective comparison with practices abroad," President Kala emphasised.

The BIEP project was initiated by the SAO and is designed to exchange information between foreign SAIs. The BIEP portal is used by more than 500 employees of national audit offices from a total of 51 EUROSAI members. It covers 68 topics.

"We entered the Presidency with a vision of the 3Cs - communication, cooperation and comparison. Our aim was to encourage the creation of informal and flexible working networks, where auditors get quick and, more importantly, seamless access to information from other SAIs. And in this, I dare say, we have succeeded," concluded SAO President Miloslav Kala.

Communication Department
Supreme Audit Office

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