I attended the training of internal auditors and received the certificate of internal auditor in the public sector, issued by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy in cooperation with the CEF, at the very beginning of my internal audit career when this profession was in its infancy in Montenegro. Becoming a certified public sector internal auditor has certainly improved the quality of my work.

My professional development was particularly affected by the on-the-job training (OTJ workshop), which was a truly positive experience.

The training was organized in groups of three or four members to conduct a horizontal audit. In addition to mentors and representatives of the Directorate for Harmonization of Internal Audit, we also had full-time support from experts from Slovenia, representatives of the CEF. The first two days were planned as an introduction where all groups defined the first steps and aim of the audit. After that, the groups had some time to perform a detailed audit by stages, and later on they met again and, together with the mentor and a CEF representative, discussed the findings and recommendations to be presented in the audit report.

This proved to be a very good working method, as during the entire audit the auditors could communicate, exchange experiences, and discuss how the system (in this case business travels) could be additionally improved.

I have been applying the acquired knowledge in my everyday work ever since. Furthermore, I have kept in touch with the other workshop participants, which is ultimately the greatest benefit, as internal audit is a profession where networking with people who are on the same mission is very important.

Vanja Janković
Senior Internal Auditor
Internal Audit Department
Ministry of Finance
Montenegro