The Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Macedonia has adopted a legal framework and established an institutional framework for the development of an effective internal audit system. In order to strengthen the administrative capacities of public sector internal audit, the Ministry together with the donors, USAID and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Slovenia, in cooperation with the CEF and CIPFA, implemented the Training of Internal Auditors in the Public Sector (TIAPS) from 2012 to 2016. 

The project consisted of three training and examination cycles involving 114 participants, out of whom 74 passed the exam successfully and received the international certificate for public sector internal auditor during the first two cycles. The third cycle is still ongoing and is expected to produce another 10 certified auditors.

As Head of the Central Harmonization Unit and active participant in the project, I can assure that TIAPS offered expert knowledge of internal auditing, financial management and control, and accounting and national legislation, thus significantly improving the skills and capabilities of Macedonian internal auditors.

The data for 2016 show that 97% of the central budget and 88% of the local budgets in Macedonia are covered by the internal audit function. In the last four years, the number of internal audit units has increased by 22%, the number of public sector internal auditors has risen by 27%, and that of heads of internal audit units by 36%.

The TIAPS project has significantly enhanced the role of internal auditors in the country in terms of monitoring national budget spending, and I expect that trend to continue also in the future.