From summer workshops to daily practice: customs auditors complete EU4PFM internal audit course

On 7 October in Kyiv, EU4PFM held the final session of its internal audit course for State Customs Service specialists. The course was developed at the request of the Service’s Internal Audit Department.

The training was practical from start to finish. EU4PFM international experts Manfred van Kesteren and Markus Erlmoser showed how internal audit works in EU Member States and which of those approaches the State Customs Service could adopt. Participants highlighted the practical value of the training and shared how they had already started applying the knowledge gained in their day-to-day work.

The closing session focused on strategic and annual planning, the assurance mapping, audit procedures and external quality assessment — the topics selected by the auditors for more in-depth discussion and exploration during the final meeting.

Markus Erlmoser walked participants through strategic and annual planning, using current documents of Austria’s Federal Ministry of Finance as examples.

External quality assessments, a requirement under the Global Internal Audit Standards (GIAS), got special attention. These are independent reviews by external professionals to check whether an internal audit function meets professional standards and identify where it can improve. The experts placed particular emphasis on peer review as an approach to external quality assessment. Manfred van Kesteren first outlined how the peer review system works in relation to GIAS, before Markus Erlmoser illustrated it with the Austrian example. They explained how peer reviews can assess conformance with the standards and support continuous improvement of the internal audit function.

The course gave auditors more than a look at European practice. It gave them a basis for putting that practice to work in their daily tasks.

EU4PFM continues to support its partner institutions in strengthening the internal audit function and aligning its practices with international standards.