Public Accountants Certification Training in Montenegro

STRONG COOPERATION
WITH LOCAL INSTITUTIONS
public accountants. Numerous applications for the training
course in 2016 showed that the interest of accountants
exceeded the training capacity. After the completion of
the first year of training, it was continued for the second
generation of accountants in 2017 and for the third
generation in 2018.
Quality accounting information is crucial for
public finance management (PFM). Bearing
in mind that accrual accounting increases the
comprehensiveness and quality of accounting information,
and with the intention to converge towards the principles
of accrual accounting, in 2015 the Government of Montenegro
adopted the Strategy for Transition to Accrual-Based
Public Accounting.
With the adoption of the Strategy, it became apparent
that training public accountants is one of the pillars of the
accounting reform. In the same year, the Ministry of Finance
started the Public Accountants Certification Training (PACT),
recognizing the Centre for Excellence in Finance (CEF) as
a strong partner in developing capacities in accounting.
Applying the methodology of the Chartered Institute of
Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) from the UK, it
was clear from the outset that all the preconditions for the
success of this project had been created.
In an effort to preserve the sustainability of the project, the
Ministry of Finance, together with the CEF and the Human
Resources Management Authority (HRMA), immediately
started to work on localizing the training program, so that
after providing international support, the project would
become a national training and certification program for
To promote the accounting reform in the public sector,
in 2018 the Ministry of Finance and the CEF organized
regional conference Transition to Accrual Accounting.
Prominent experts from the country and abroad attended
the conference. In the same year, the Ministry of Finance
started to develop the Law on Public Sector Accounting.
The goal was to integrate the reform efforts of the
Government of Montenegro in this area and create the
basis for the implementation of accrual-based accounting
in the public sector.
In parallel to the training of the third generation of
accountants, one of the most relevant laws in the area
of public finances has been under preparation, which will
bring accountants numerous novelties and challenges in
their work. In order to be well prepared, two workshops
were organized within the PACT project that addressed
international accounting standards that the Ministry of
Finance thought would be the most challenging to apply.
In November 2019, the Law on Public Sector Accounting
was adopted and the training of the third generation of
certified accountants was successfully completed. The
international certification training may have come to an
end but at the same time this is a new beginning for the
start of local training and implementation of the public
sector accounting reform.
MARIJA ULJAREVIĆ
Head of the Division for Budgetary Accounting and Reporting
Ministry of Finance, Montenegro
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