Agenda of the webinar co-organised by SIGMA and the Network of Supreme Audit Institutions of EU candidates and potential candidate countries, being held on 17 February 2021. This event will explore the audit of COVID-19 related expenditures.

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Network of Supreme Audit Institutions of EU Candidate and Potential
Candidate Countries and the European Court of Auditors
Audit of COVID-19 related expenditures
Virtual Workshop – 17 February 2021, 10:00 to 12:15
1. Welcome and Introduction 10:00 – 10:15
 Welcome and event objectives –Alastair Swarbrick and Bianca Brétéché, SIGMA
 Setting the scene –Providing assurance on COVID-19 related programmes through compliance audits–
Martin Sinclair, SIGMA expert - Mr Sinclair will provide a brief overview of the use of compliance audits
to enhance the accountability and transparency of urgent expenditures to address the COVID-19
pandemic
2. Compliance audit case studies 10:15 – 11:15
 Latvian experience - Marita Salgrave, SIGMA expert, former Latvia State Audit Office Council Member and
Head of Strategy - Ms Salgrave will present how the Latvian State Audit Office used compliance audit(s)
to provide assurance on COVID-19 related expenditure: the process of audit selection, audit approach,
findings and reporting mechanisms, responding to stakeholder expectations. This will include examples of
audits conducted.
 North Macedonia - The State Audit Office of North Macedonia will present what can be disclosed at this
stage about their recent Covid-19 related compliance audits, especially concerning the process of audit
selection, audit approach and the lessons learned
 General discussion including questions and answers on presentations
 Conclusions about opportunities and challenges (Martin Sinclair)
3. Delivering effective audit while working within the restrictions imposed as a result of the pandemic
11:15 – 12:10
 Panel Discussion - the panel discussion will explore how the Latvian and Turkish SAIs adapted their work
to respond to the restrictions introduced to mitigate the impact of the pandemic
‒ Moderator - SIGMA
‒ Latvia - Marita Salgrave
‒ Turkey - Aysun Celebci, Senior Auditor, Turkish Court of Accounts
 General discussion - representatives of each SAI are invited to provide a brief overview of the
opportunities and barriers presented by restrictions introduced to mitigate the societal impacts of the
pandemic
 Conclusions (Martin Sinclair)
4. Conclusions and Next Steps 12:10 – 12:15
 Next steps – Alastair Swarbrick and Bianca Brétéché, SIGMA