The development of a regulatory framework which meets EU standards is a major concern in central and eastern European countries, and this not only to foster economic development but also to ensure the wellbeing of the citizen. To achieve this goal, it is important to create a sound institutional...

Central Bank Audit Practices describes common approaches, practices and trends relevant to the audit of central banks, with a view to supporting public administration reform efforts in central and eastern European countries. The study provides a basis for further discussion between...

While defining appropriate roles for political advisers is a highly relevant topic in most democracies and especially in EU NMS, as well as candidate and CARDS countries today, surprisingly little comparative information exists. To fill this gap, in Autumn 2005, the Sigma Programme launched a...

This chart compares the EC Procurement Directives and the UNCITRAL Model Law on Procurement of Goods, Construction and Services. Most central and eastern European countries used the Model Law as the basis of their public procurement laws in the early 1990s. Now that many countries of the region...

This checklist is intended to supplement the Civil Service Legislation Contents Checklist, (Sigma Papers: No.5 OCDE/GD(96)21, February 1996). The previous checklist was principally concerned with matters that could usefully be considered when a civil service bill (i.e. the draft of primary...

This study provides an analysis of the functions, structures and capacity of the central public procurement bodies of Member States. Twenty-two separate overviews of public procurement systems in the 22 participating Member States were produced on the basis of national responses to a detailed...

This paper focuses primarily on the issue of how to achieve high quality in the audit process. In addition to describing the types of procedures needed to achieve quality, however, it discusses basic principles and those matters of institutional management that create an environment that...

This paper is the result of a comparison of the audit practices with respect to the audit of secret and politically sensitive subjects by the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI’s) of France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Not only do the practices differ but the mandate and...

Central and eastern European countries have been and still are adapting their legal framework to the requirements of a Western market economy and the body of EU legislation, the acquis communautaire. As the harmonisation of the national legal framework to EU standards is one of the yardsticks...

Over the past decade, the European Commission, as the institution responsible for implementing the Community Budget, has taken an increasingly active interest in the effectiveness of the control measures applied by Member States to Community funds. Indeed, it is in the common interest of the...