About this learning event 

This online course will be highly participatory and delivered in three Learning Units consisting of webinars, video recordings of lectures and related presentations, supplementing reading materials (published research and consultation papers, books, studies/surveys, government documents, legislative framework documents, accounting standards, examples of financial reports, etc.), written assignments and peer review of submitted assignments. Participants will be expected to share their experiences and country practices based on in advance handed out questionnaires and presentation templates (course assignments) and discuss topics covered in the course.

The envisaged workload for the participants is about 4 to 5 hours per week. It will feature four webinars, a paced study of learning resources and peer-to-peer discussion. The presence is required only during webinars that will last up to 1.5 hours.

What will you learn

Respectable experts in the field will introduce international good practices and challenges in development of public sector assets management through a systematic and comprehensive overview of the international trends and achievements in the field and countries specifics. Together with participants they will discuss the importance of understanding the overall public sector assets and management reforms and processes (the strategic and institutional aspects) as well as the importance of accounting for public sector assets specifics (financial and non-financial information on and reporting for assets, the role of a comprehensive asset data bases and their use in the decision-making processes). 

By the end of this online course, participants will:

• Get a better understanding of the accounting system reforms function needed to support asset management processes and management decision-making from the international point of view
• Acquire better insight into the importance of the process of strategic planning, governance model setting and institutional development for a more efficient asset management and the way those need to be linked
• Acquire better insight into the importance of challenges related to accounting for and financial reporting of the assets to foster a more efficient asset management
• Learn, explore and discuss state assets regulatory frameworks, organizational and institutional aspects of public sector asset management, accounting and financial reporting issues related to the public sector assets, as well as practical solutions and further challenges in other respective audience countries and wider
• Have the opportunity to present their country cases, get a better understanding of how they correlate to other respective audience countries and wider (advanced reformers’ countries)
• Identify and discuss the roles and responsibilities of public sector asset custodians and the extent to which public sector asset  management is integrated into the public sector financial management processes (i.e. accountable and sustainable decision-making of public management and political structures)

Who should attend

The course is designed for public officials and experts employed and committed to the development, execution or supervision of the state asset management (reform) activities in their respected countries and involved in broader public sector financial management processes and across-the-government actions. More precisely, from CEF constituency countries we will invite:

• Senior government officials (Policy makers) employed at the Ministry of Finance or other line ministries,
• Managers and Directors in public institutions responsible for and engaged in public sector financial management processes,
• Senior staff employed in the institutions in charge of maintaining assets records and managing assets portfolio (asset custodians),
• Heads of finance and accounting departments in line ministries,
• State Audit Office employees.

Faculty

The online course will be delivered under the guidance of:

Gorana Roje, Head of a Division for Strategic Planning and Project Management, Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets, Croatia

Gorana has more than 10 years of experience in public sector accounting and public sector financial management. Her work is focused on international and comparative public sector accounting and financial reporting, international public sector accounting standards setting, and public sector financial management, with a particular focus on public sector asset management reforms domestically, regionally and worldwide.

In a period from 2014 to 2018, she hosted and participated in several workshops and round tables on topic related to public assets management as a part of the research project titled Accounting and financial reporting reform as a means for strengthening the development of efficient public sector financial management in Croatia. She was actively involved in developing a data model for upgrading the Central State Asset Registry. She has participated as a team member of several working groups referring to National development strategy CRO 2030 drafting and has been appointed as the coordinator for strategic planning of the public administration body, involved in preparation of long- and mid-term asset management strategic policy documents.

Suzanne Flynn, PFM Advisor for SEE, IMF

Suzanne is technical assistance advisor for public financial management in South East Europe and she has been based at the CEF since November 2016. At the CEF, Suzanne helps deliver learning programs related to her work. She joined the IMF eight years ago after six years working in East Africa with PwC and in the Ugandan treasury. She started her career in the UK public service in 1987, starting in central government, and qualifying as a CIPFA accountant in local government in 1991. Before embarking on her career in Africa, she spent 3 years working for CIPFA in London. She has also worked in a number of Asian and Central Asian countries, and worked with several governments in Europe. Her work is funded by the European Commission.

Jelena Poljašević, Associate Professor at the Department of Accounting and Business Finance and Manager of Master Course Finance and Auditing of Public Sector, the Faculty of Economics, University of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Jelena Poljašević is the chartered certified auditor and internal auditor in public sector in Republic of Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Since 2002, she has been engaged in the Professional Association of Accountants and Auditors of the Republic of Srpska to train accountants in public sector entities to implement accrual basis and IPSAS. As an expert, she contributed to the project Capacity building for the compilation of accounting data within the scope of General Government and public finance statistics financed by World Bank and cooperated with the Ministry of Finance of Republika Srpska in reforming financial reporting toward accrual basis. She participated at workshops and round tables on topic related to recognition and measurements of public assets within the project Accounting and financial reporting reform as a means for strengthening the development of efficient public sector financial management in Croatia (2014-2018).

Nives Botica Redmayne, Associate Professor, Massey University School of Accountancy, New Zealand

Nives’ main area of research and expertise is assurance, in particular the economics and production of assurance services. Other area of her research and expertise is in financial reporting and assurance; in particular, financial reporting in for-profit and not-for-profit/public sector, assurance services market regulation, varying levels of assurance and assurance in public and not-for-profit sectors as well as governance in for-profit and not-for-profit sectors, with a particular focus on public sector asset management.

Nives contributes to the development of professional standards, guidance and policies for practicing auditors and accountants in New Zealand by informing regulators, based on her research and expertise in financial reporting and auditing. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ) and she is the CAANZ Vice President. She is also a member of the Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, a member of the New Zealand Accounting Standards Board and a member of the New Zealand Financial Market Authority Audit Oversight Committee.

She participated at workshops and round tables on topic related to recognition, measurement and management of public assets within the project Accounting and financial reporting reform as a means for strengthening the development of efficient public sector financial management in Croatia (2014-2018).

Ivan Dionisijev, Teaching and Research Assistant, St. Cyril and Methodius", Faculty of Economics in Skopje, North Macedonia

Ivan Dionisijev is a Teaching and Research Assistant at the Department of Accounting and Auditing at the University "St. Cyril and Methodius" in Skopje, Faculty of Economics - Skopje. He has 6 years of work experience as a state auditor at the State Audit Office of the Republic of North Macedonia. The areas in which he has worked as a state auditor include the following: economy, transport, education, culture, construction, and local self-government.

During his work in the SAO, he has attended several important conferences, in which he participates as a moderator of several workshops, among which the most important are: 2nd Young EUROSAI Conference, Municipal Audit Semina, 3rd Young EUROSAI Conference, and many others. He was part of a Training Workshops on Strategic Audit Planning at the Twinning Project "Further Strengthening the Capacity and Efficiency of the State Audit Office for External Audit", and has taken an active part in a working group for preparation of IT procedures for the implementation of the Audit Management System (AMS) within the project Implementation of the Audit Management System (AMS), realized with the technical assistance of the Office of Audit Chief Auditor of Norway.

Partners

This learning initiative was supported by: