,,Audit Committees: Prospects for Future Development” - a webinar was held within the frames of the EU Twinning Project

The EU Twinning Project Enhancing Accounting and Audit Quality in Georgia, with the support of SARAS and the National Bank of Georgia hosted another webinar titled “Audit Committees: Prospects for Further Development” on December 15, 2020.

This time, audit committees of the banking sector, serving auditors of and representatives of the Georgian Banking Association attended the event. 

The webinar aimed to overview the recent trends in enforcement and regulatory actions taken by EU (including Greece) and Georgian oversight bodies with regard to the financial information of public interest entities, as well as to emphasize the important role of audit committees in the quality assurance of the audit of financial statements and promoting better protection of the users of financial information.  

Opening remarks were delivered by the Vice-President of the National Bank of Georgia, Mr. Papuna Lezhava. The webinar was led by speakers from the Hellenic Accounting and Auditing Standards Oversight Board (HAASOB), the Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC), the National Bank of Georgia and SARAS. In her speech, the representative of the National Bank of Georgia discussed the main directions of banking supervision in terms of reporting and auditing, the important aspects of effective cooperation with audit committees, external auditors, and SARAS.

For more information on discussed topics, view the attached presentations below: 

Communication between Audit Committees and regulatory bodies (the best practice of EU) / Audit Committees functioning (the experience of Greece): 

Panagiotis Giannopoulos - deputy chair of HAASOB; 

Costas Cotsilinis - former deputy chair of HAASOB, PIER audit committee member.

Main Findings of the Financial Statements Review of Greek Listed Companies:

Nikos Papadimos - Division of Listed Companies - Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC). 

NBG approaches and plans regarding improvement of financial reporting | Cooperation with SARAS:

Teona Kontridze - Head of Supervisory Policy Department of the National Bank of Georgia;

Davit Mchedlidze – Head of the Accounting and Reporting Supervision Department of SARAS.