Director of the Directorate

 Nikolay Ignatov

Contact details:
102 “G. S. Rakovski” Str.
1040 Sofia, Bulgaria
telephone: (+359) 2/9859 5251

The Control Methodology and Internal Audit Directorate was created with the Structural Regulations of the Ministry of Finance adopted by Council of Ministers' Decree No 353 of 14 December 2016 (prom. SG, issue No 100 of 16.12.2016).

Directorate's main task:

To support the Minister in the coordination and harmonization of the internal audit and control in public sector organisations as well as in the establishment and functioning of adequate and effective financial management and control systems at the Ministry; the Directorate is directly subordinate to the Minister.

To implement the internal audit function of all structures, programmes, activities and processes in the Ministry, including the EU-funded ones, and the administrative structures whose heads are lower-level spending units which do not have an internal audit unit, commercial corporations with more than 50 percent state participation in the capital where the state's property rights are exercised by the Minister of Finance and the commercial corporations whose capital is owned by the above commercial corporations which do not have an internal audit unit, as well as the state-owned enterprises pursuant to Article  62, paragraph  3 of the Commerce Law which do not have an internal audit unit.

The Directorate has two Divisions:

Control Methodology Division

• Assists the Minister of Finance in pursuing the government policy in the area of internal control and internal audit in the public sector, by preparing draft statutory instruments and strategies;
• Elaborates and updates a single methodology for internal audit and control and assists in its implementation in public sector organisations;
• Systematically monitors the implementation of the legislation and the methodology for financial management and control and internal audit in accordance with the requirements of the Financial Management and Control in the Public Sector Law and the Public Sector Internal Audit Law;
• Prepares drafts of annual consolidated reports on internal control in the public sector, which includes summarized information on the state of the financial management and control and the internal audit in the public sector;
• Exercises monitoring and control during the execution of external assessments in order to ensure the quality of the audit activity of internal audit units at public sector organisations;
• Organises and carries out examinations for acquisition of a public sector internal auditor certificate;
• Supports and updates a public database for public sector internal audit units, as well as a public register of the auditors who have successfully passed the exam for internal auditor in the public sector;
• Checks the submitted requests and documents related to the appointment and discharge of the head of the internal audit and the internal auditors in the organizations under Article 12, paragraph 2, items 1, 3, 4 and 5, paragraph 3 and paragraph 4 in connection with the requirements of Article 21, paragraph 5 of the Public Sector Internal Audit Law;
• Checks the submitted documents when determining and coordinating the composition of the audit committees at the Ministries and the State Fund “Agriculture” – Paying Agency;
• Performs analysis of the activities of the audit committees at Ministries, municipalities and State Fund “Agriculture” – Paying Agency, on the basis of the submitted annual reports on their activity;
• Coordinates and assists the delivery of vocational training in the field of financial management and control and internal audit;
• Cooperates with institutions and individuals in the areas of financial management and control, internal and external audit from the country and abroad.

Internal Audit Division

• Plans, conducts and makes reports on its activities in compliance with the Public Sector Internal Audit Law, the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing, the Code of Ethics of Internal Auditors, its Statute and the public sector internal audit methodology endorsed by the Minister of Finance;
• Provides, through the results of the conducted audit assignments and the relevant recommendations, an independent and unbiased opinion on the status of the financial management and control to the Minister and the heads of audited structures;
• Consults the Ministry's management upon their request by providing advice, opinion, training, etc. in order to improve the processes of risk management and control;
• Submits to the Minister an annual report on internal audit activities at the Ministry and the administrative structures managed by second-level spending units to the Ministry which have internal audit units in line with Article 40 of the Public Sector Internal Audit Law;
• Provides an opinion on the consistency of the information in the report and the questionnaire on the status of the financial management and control systems at the Ministry for the relevant year with the results from the audit reports and the findings from the conducted audit assignments;
• Prepares and provides to the Audit Committee of the Ministry of Finance the necessary information in connection with the exercise of its powers.