Western Balkans

The knowledge sharing event on "Good Practices in Audit Oversight and Enforcement: Insights from the Polish Agency for Audit Oversight" took place on October 3-4, 2023, in Warsaw. This event, organized by the World Bank Centre for Financial Reporting Reform, was part of the regional project The Road to Europe Program of Accounting Reform and Institutional Strengthening for Small and Medium Enterprises (REPARIS for SMEs).

The inaugural meeting of the Regional Audit Quality Assurance Forum was held in Vienna on May 16-17, 2023. The event was organized under the Road to Europe Program of Accounting Reform and Institutional Strengthening for Small and Medium Enterprises (REPARIS for SMEs) and for representatives of competent authorities responsible for public oversight and quality assurance in the Western Balkans countries. The event was attended by 60 participants including from public oversight bodies, professional accounting organizations (PAOs), and ministries of finance.

The event convened stakeholders of accountancy education from STAREP and PULSAR beneficiary countries from European Union (EU) Eastern Partnership and Western Balkan countries.

Building on the success of the previous event on May 19, this SIT continued the discussion by exploring additional international models for Public Sector Accounting education and reviewing the local and regional approaches to promoting accounting education in the Public Sector from PAOs prospective. During the session, members had the opportunity to learn from one country outside of the region (Zambia) as well as two PULSAR countries (Albania and Georgia) and compare these experiences to other relevant models in the CoP member countries.

This SIT aimed at exploring different international models for Public Sector Accounting education and reviewing the local and regional approaches to promoting accounting education in the Public Sector from PAOs prospective. During the session, members had the opportunity to learn from a number of countries outside of the region (specifically South Africa, Philippines and Vietnam) and compare them to relevant models in the CoP member countries.

The private equity market in the Western Balkans is at a very early stage of development and there is currently limited investment opportunity. The main source of financial capital available for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) throughout the region currently is through banks; by obtaining lines of credit, bank loans and other forms of debt. Alternative sources of capital are either non-existent or in very low supply.

The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), with the support of the Small and Medium Sized Practices (SMPs) Committee that acts as its strategic advisor, supports the SMP sector through a number of initiatives. These initiatives are designed to raise the profile and build the capacity of SMPs globally, as well as increase awareness about their role and value, especially in supporting small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

On 26 November, 2018, the World Bank’s Centre for Financial Reporting Reform (CFRR) held the Senior Officials’ Workshop in Vienna, including senior officials from the Ministries of Finance and audit oversight institutions from the six Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia), to discuss and reflect upon the status and implementation of their financial reporting reforms.

The series of Internal Audit Training of Trainers (IA ToT) workshops within the SAFE program continues, and the IA ToT Community of Practice met in Vienna during June 4-7, 2018 when then Advanced Module was delivered. The overall aim of the Program is to develop the capacity of public sector internal auditors to deliver high-quality internal audit training within their countries/institutions, based on the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing (ISPPIA) and international good practices in public sector internal auditing.

As part of the Serbia Тechnical Assistance for Reform of Corporative Financial Reporting (STAR-CFR) project funded by a generous grant from Switzerland, the World Bank CFRR delivered a three-day workshop to existing and future providers of continuing professional development to accountants and auditors in Serbia from May 16th to May 18th 2018.