Albania : Country Financial Accountability Assessment
Despite Albania's significant progress in establishing a legal and institutional base, and its strong commitment to reform - placing the country in a good position to develop a sound fiduciary infrastructure - there are however, several issues that need to be addressed: weak institutional capacity; weak internal controls, including cash management, and internal audit functions; and, absence of solid bases for internal audit in the public sector. In the area of private sector accounting, and auditing, issues need to address: differentiation between the banks, insurance companies, listed and non-listed companies, and other entities, for determining accounting standards; in addition to weak audit capacity, and experience in implementing international standards in auditing. Recommendations include the enactment of the Law on Public Sector Internal Audit; strengthened internal controls, including in the Treasury - specifically, the Treasury cash management function - by establishing daily reconciliation of district treasury payment requests, with the reimbursement by the Bank of Albania to Agent Banks, as well as reconciliation between revenue collections, transferred by the agent banks, with the taxpayer-filled payment forms. Further recommendations include strengthened internal audit capacity, by establishing the methodology for conducting internal public sector audits, and providing training; capacity building to the Ministry of Finance's Accounting Department; strengthened internal audit capacity within the Social Insurance Institute, introducing computerized pension and accounting systems in districts; and, strengthened systems at the Parliamentary Commission on Economic, Finance and Privatization (EFP).