A conference on public internal financial control (PIFC) at the state level was held in Sarajevo on Wednesday. The key message from the event was that implementation of internal financial controls supports the efficient and responsible management of public resources – this will benefit BiH citizens. It will also represent a fairer deal for BiH taxpayers.
“It’s in the interest of all BiH citizens to have strong internal financial control, and ministers and civil servants have to be responsible for this – that’s why we need control measures,“ said Johann Hesse, Head of the Operations Section for Economic Development, Natural Resources and Infrastructure at the EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He said that becoming a candidate for EU membership involves fulfilling a requirement regarding legislation on financial controls and arrangements for trained staff to implement the legislation.
“We will continue to provide support, and we hope that public internal financial control will be a priority, not because of us but because of the interests of the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina,“ said Hesse.
Public internal financial control is an important element in European law and a key to establishing institutions that can supervise the use of public resources efficiently. The goal of the Sarajevo conference was to raise awareness among financial control managers on public internal financial control as an important step in the European integration process.
BiH Treasury Minister Dragan Vrankić said that significant funds have been devoted to improving the quality of public financial management in Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of reforms related to fulfilling the country’s obligations under the Stabilisation and Association Agreement.
“Bosnia and Herzegovina is creating the foundations for a system that will operate at all levels of government and which will include adopting regulations in order to develop strong financial control, overview and independent systems of financial review, in accordance with best practice,“ Vrankić said.
He pointed out that the experience of others, and of Bosnia and Herzegovina itself, shows that it is not possible to implement a modern concept of reform unless those in management are responsible for the results.
PIFC Team Leader Robert de Koning told participants at the conference that PIFC should not be viewed as an expensive government obligation or as something that needs to be implemented simply because it’s an EU requirement. Instead it should be seen as a way of delivering real benefits to citizens.
Financial control instruments are standard in the private sector and are recommended by the EU as good practice in accession countries. The overall process of introducing adequate financial control can take between 5 and 7 years.
