Shifting on-line in the challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic

When the XI Congress was postponed to 2021 due the COVID-19 pandemic and the Presidency period of the TCA was extended for an additional year, the remarkable coordination of the TCA and the Secretariat together with all the GB members proved to be guiding for all EUROSAI key players and members to keep their commitment to their activities reshaping their working methods into a virtual format. In this context, the launch of a virtual videoconferencing tool -Blackboard Collaborate-, by the Secretariat which IDI had made freely available for EUROSAI was so helpful to the demanding members in terms of the organization of their seminars, meetings and workshops.

In this extended period to the Congress, two GB meetings were held on this platform in order to take the urgent administrative and financial decisions. In the latest GB meeting, with the approval of the full membership of Kosovo National Audit Office, EUROSAI family has become the regional organization with the largest number of members within INTOSAI.

Furthermore, despite all the challenging circumstances during the pandemic period, numerous training events and technical meetings brought EUROSAI auditors together for the exchange of experiences and best practices, while cooperative audits and other joint projects offered them the opportunity of working together and, thus, learning by doing. In this regard, especially the PG on “Auditing the Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic” led by the SAI United Kingdom and SAI Finland, brought 113 auditors from 32 SAIs and the ECA together being a successful example of smooth remote cooperation.