Regional Program “Public Financial Management in the South Caucasus” of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH has signed a co-financing agreement with the EU Delegation to Armenia for the “Strengthening the Independence, Effectiveness and Transparency of the Armenian External Audit system”. The contribution to the Program form EU is 880 thousands Euro which was equal to 458.576.800 AMD on date of concluding the contract. The overall objective of the above-mentioned cooperation between the Chamber of Control, the European Union and GIZ is strengthening the independence, effectiveness and transparency of the Armenian External Audit System. The specific objectives target at to align the processes of Performance Audit and Audit of the Government’s Annual Budget Execution Report as well as the related follow-up mechanisms with INTOSAI Standards and European good practice.

The cooperation to achieve these ambitious results is ongoing and necessary introductory steps have been carried out. The Chamber of Control, the EU Delegation and GIZ have agreed to create a structure for the joint steering and monitoring of the cooperation and hence to raise its effectiveness. The basis for the steering structure will be a Memorandum of Understanding assuring the close cooperation of all parties in all relevant areas of responsibility to achieve the following three accumulated results:

1. A standardized assessment that provides detailed information for future evidence-based reform planning as an output of the standard analysis and assessment of the external audit environment (legislative framework, key Public Financial Management  actors, communication between Executive, Parliament and Civil Society) and the Chamber of Control itself (capacities, procedures, regulations, etc.);
2. Capacity and methodology development to conduct INTOSAI Standards compliant audits;
3. Regulatory framework and practices of the external control system reviewed and aligned with INTOSAI Standards and European good experience.

The realization of the planned objectives is envisaged for the time period till March 2017 and regular steering meetings are preliminary scheduled on December 2015 and March, June, September and December 2016.