In the second part of April 2016 the Public Accountants Certification Training (PACT) has officially started with kick-off event in Podgorica. It will enable training of up to 40 public sector accountants in Montenegro. The project is financially secured by our Public Finance for Development (PFD) programme (funded by MF Slovakia and implemented by UNDP for Europe and CIS).
PACT training is implemented by the Center of Excellence in Finance (CEF) in cooperation with Chartered Institute for Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) and it is part of the Montenegrin government’s efforts to build and strengthen professional qualifications for public sector accountants. PACT emphasizes the importance of establishing and observing international public sector accounting standards and helps countries raise the status of the accounting profession in line with EU member states.
According to Ms Jelena Mrdak (local UNDP representative): “This PACT activity is very important for developing capacities for transparent and accountable public finances in Montenegro, and should be continued for at least two more generations of participants – the first one should include more public accountants at national and the second one should include accountants from all 23 municipalities in Montenegro.”
Training of students will be conducted in three modules: two international modules, on financial accounting and management accounting, that were developed by CIPFA and the third national module focused to local legislation and taxation, which was developed by experts from the MF Montenegro. Each module takes approximately two to three months and it will be completed with successfully passed exam. You can read more about project’s opening here and about the PACT training here. You can also download press material about PACT training (in Slovak language) here.