“In today’s rapidly changing world, continuous professional development is crucial for each public servant. The concept of lifelong learning is relevant and vital for all professions, internal auditors among them. In accordance with the Code of Ethics, internal auditors should continually improve their proficiency and the effectiveness and quality of their services.

The Center of Excellence in Finance (CEF) is an international organization with the mission to support capacity development for finance officials. This year, I attended three events organized by the CEF in the area of auditing: two webinars “Applying Insights from Behavioral Science to Internal Audit” and “Data Visualization in Audit Reporting”, and an online course “Risk-based Annual Planning”.

For the employees of our, CHU is responsible for policy-making in the area of public internal control – PIC), attending PIC-related learning and knowledge sharing initiatives is really important and valuable for the further development of the Public Internal Control system in Ukraine because it gives opportunities to obtain relevant insights and implement international best practices in our country. I always share the main ideas with my colleagues from CHU after each CEF event.

Participating in CEF learning events has given me different advantages. Firstly, I have gained new knowledge that I can use in day-to-day work, for example when preparing methodology and guidance in internal auditing in the public sector of Ukraine, or organizing and conducting trainings for internal auditors. Secondly, I have met with colleagues from other countries with whom to address common challenges in internal auditing.

At the end of April, I together with my colleagues from CHU organized a webinar “Writing an audit report and its key characteristics” for more than 400 public sector internal auditors of Ukraine. I shared some useful insights on why and how to illustrate audit reports, which I learned at the CEF webinar “Data Visualization in Audit Reporting”. This helped me contribute to implementing such best practice also in the Ukrainian public sector.

Last week, I completed the online course “Risk-based Annual Planning”, which is especially relevant in the current changing environment. Risk-bаsed planning is a key precondition for adding value to an institution. At the same time, it is one of the hardest tasks for internal audit units. At the beginning of this course, all participants were engaged in an inspirational session “The base for a risk dialog”. From my point of view, this is a good practical tool for facilitating the risk management process. During this course, I had the opportunity not only to go step by step through the entire process of annual internal audit planning but also to hear a lot of useful advice and receive materials from international experts in this area.

For me personally, CEF learning events are an excellent opportunity for professional development and for implementing the best international practices of internal auditing in the Ukrainian public sector.

I would like to express my warmest thanks to the whole CEF team for their efforts in providing valuable events and making an impact in the field of internal auditing as a part of public financial management.”