Whom Will Parliament Entrust with Selecting Candidates for the Accounting Chamber?

A vote is expected soon on the composition of the Advisory Group of Experts (AGE), which will be responsible for selecting candidates for the Accounting Chamber. This is part of the new procedure for filling vacant positions in the institution, introduced within the framework of a comprehensive reform of the Accounting Chamber.

To ensure maximum transparency, three international experts will be included in the AGE during the transitional period — the next eight years. The other three seats will be filled by experts nominated by parliamentary factions and groups.

You can read more about the different stages of selecting members of the Accounting Chamber under the new procedure in the full article.

Three international experts

On May 30, a draft resolution to establish the Advisory Group of Experts was registered on the parliament’s website. It revealed the candidates nominated by international and foreign organizations:

–       Igors Ludboržs (Latvia) — member of the European Court of Auditors,

–       Pascal Mounier (France) — honorary magistrate of the French Court of Auditors,

–       Lee Summerfield (United Kingdom) — Director of Responsive Audit and Investigations at UK National Audit Office.

All three have relevant experience and competencies. There are no concerns regarding the international experts.

Ukrainian experts: Who is in the running

The draft resolution also lists the candidates proposed by MPs, from whom Parliament will choose three:

•     Oleksandr Rozhko — Doctor of Economics, Professor at the Department of Finance, Faculty of Economics, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (18 years of experience in economics),
•     Serhii Nizhynskyi — Adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister on European and Euro-Atlantic integration (over 10 years of legal experience),
•     Oleksandra Betlii — Leading researcher and project coordinator at the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (22 years of experience in economics and finance),
•     Myroslava Masliak — Assistant consultant to a Member of Parliament, PhD in Philosophy, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Public Administration, Public Policy and Economic Policy at Semen Kuznets Kharkiv National University of Economics (over 10 years of experience in finance),
•     Iryna Ivanova — Honored Economist of Ukraine, PhD in Economics, member of the Accounting Chamber in 2015–2024,
•     Inna Solodka — State Secretary of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine in 2019–2024 (25 years of overall work experience).

Analysis of candidates

The law sets several requirements for experts who will select members of the Accounting Chamber. They must have at least five years of experience in public oversight (audit), economics, finance, or law, as well as an impeccable professional reputation, high professional and moral standards, and public credibility.

According to our assessment, at least two of the listed candidates do not meet the statutory requirements.

According to media reports, former Ministry of Health official Inna Solodka was involved in a scandal during a ministerial leadership change in 2019. Colleagues reported that she unauthorizedly brought individuals into the ministry who threatened other staff and demanded access to confidential documents. Therefore, she does not meet the requirement of having an impeccable professional reputation.

There are also grounds to question the compliance of former Accounting Chamber member Iryna Ivanova. In 2018, we analyzed and found her report on public procurement in 2017 to be biased and unprofessional. Some conclusions were contradictory, while others simply did not reflect reality. Thus, concerns remain about her reputation and professional integrity.

Also, Iryna Ivanova currently has a pending lawsuit against the Accounting Chamber in the Kyiv District Administrative Court seeking to challenge the legality of the Chamber’s actions. This raises doubts as to how a person in litigation with the institution could objectively select its new members.

Two more candidates — Serhii Nizhynskyi, adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister, and Myroslava Masliak, assistant to an MP, are affiliated with those in power. Although the law does not prohibit advisers or assistants from serving on the AGE, their inclusion raises concerns about political influence over the selection process. This could undermine trust in the competition and defeat the purpose of the AGE as an independent safeguard meant to protect the process from subjectivity and government pressure. Moreover, the selected Accounting Chamber members may later audit the very state bodies with which these experts are affiliated, compromising the objectivity of both the selection and subsequent audits.

Two candidates, however, meet the legal requirements and raise no such concerns: Oleksandr Rozhko and Oleksandra Betlii. Both have experience in economics and finance, which is directly relevant when evaluating candidates’ professional competencies.

Of course, the fact that half of the AGE will consist of international experts offers some reassurance. This mechanism is intended to ensure the objectivity of the process. But this does not mean that Parliament can nominate just anyone for its quota.

It is now critical for Parliament to consider both the experience and reputation of all candidates and select the best possible ones. These individuals will choose six members of the country’s supreme audit institution — the majority of the body. The effectiveness of the Accounting Chamber in the coming years will largely depend on their decisions.