Press Release issued on on 24th February 2003

EuroMed Workshop – Auditing and Accounting

A three day workshop on ‘Auditing and Accounting’ started this morning at the Portomaso Suite, Hilton Malta, St Julian’s, in the framework of the “Regional Programme for the Promotion of the Instruments and Mechanisms of the Euro-Mediterranean Market” (EuroMed Market Programme). This programme was launched in May 2002 by the EuropeAid Cooperation Office of the European Commission in the framework of the EU Euro-Mediterranean policy. To carry out this programme which is funded by the EU MEDA Programme, the EuropeAid Cooperation Office appointed the European Centre for the Regions (ECR), Antenna of the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) in Barcelona, as the Programme Management Unit (PMU). 

For the organizational aspects of this workshop the PMU relied on the assistance of the National Audit Office (Malta).

The workshop was officially opened by His Excellency Mr. Alfred Zarb, Ambassador of Malta in the EuroMed Committee, and by Mr. Eduard Sanchez Monjo, Director of the European Centre for the Regions, who is also Supervisor of the Programme Management Unit. The participants are representatives from the public and private sectors working in accounting and auditing; from accounting and auditing associations; and from National Court of Auditors or Supreme Audit Institutions. They hail from the 12 Mediterranean Partners namely Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and Malta. The Malta delegation headed by the Auditor General, Mr. Joseph G. Galea, is composed of members coming from the academic, public and private spheres.

Presentations were made by representatives of the EU Member States, namely Austria, Belgium, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom as well as from the European Commission. 

The major topics covered by the workshop are “General Principles/Legal Framework: harmonisation of accounting and statutory auditing in the EU”; “Accounting and Auditing rules and practices and legal accounts control in the EU Member States”, both followed by a debate.  The speakers come form leading European accounting and auditing bodies, both at Community and at National level.

The afternoon session was shared by all the Mediterranean Partners whose representative of the competent Ministry of each country spoke briefly on the accounting and auditing practices in their respective country.  A debate followed.

On the second day participants will be split up into three working groups held concurrently, followed by a debate which will be concluded after lunch. The themes of these workshops are “Proposals on harmonisation and cooperation in accounting”,  “Proposals on harmonisation and cooperation in the field of auditing in the public sector” and “Audit in the private sector:  Access to and regulation of this professional and ethical control rules”. Mr. Joseph G. Galea will be the keynote speaker for the second working group. He will be presenting a paper on the theme in question as a prelude to a discussion that will follow on the subject.

The last day will be dominated by the presentation of the reports of the working groups of the previous day. This session will also be chaired by Mr. Joseph G. Galea, followed by a debate.

The final session of the workshop will be taken up with a presentation of guidelines and foreseen actions in the working plan for the second phase of the Programme. A representative of each Mediterranean Partner is to make a presentation on his country’s priorities in the fields of  training, further studies of particular interest to his country, requests for expert missions for targeted technical assistance, study visits and networking.

The workshop will close with a final declaration on selected topic priorities and type of action to be taken as the official position of all participating countries.

The EuroMed Market Programme carries out regional activities in two phases in the following 8 priority field:

·       Free Movement of Goods
·       Customs, Taxation and Rules of Origin
·       Public Procurement
·       Financial Services
·       Intellectual Property Rights
·       Protection of Personal Data and E-commerce
·       Auditing and Accounting
·       Competition Rules

 The first phase is centred on obtaining as much information as possible about the situation in the EU countries and in the Mediterranean Partners in the above fields.  It is of a 12 month duration with 2 conferences and 8 workshops. The second phase concentrates on training and networking. It will be carried out over a period of 24 months, through study visits, targeted technical assistance, tailor-made training activities, training of trainers, twinning actions, setting up networks and the third closing conference.