Dimitar Glavchev: AI will be among the key tools helping the BNAO to increase the effectiveness of public audit

Artificial intelligence (AI) will be among the key tools helping the Bulgarian National Audit Office (BNAO) to increase the effectiveness of public audit and will assist the institution in detecting violations and risks in the management of public funds. This was stated by Mr Dimitar Glavchev, President of the BNAO during the Annual Meeting of OECD Auditors-General and Heads of Supreme Audit Institutions that took place on 27-28 May in Paris.

Mr Dimitar Glavchev presented to the participants in the forum the AI ​​product ODIS, developed for the BNAO, based on the third version of BgGPT - the Bulgarian large language model of INSAIT. The first module of the system will assist auditors in public procurement inspections, and at a later stage it will also be used for processing large data and documents, conducting automated review of contracts and invoices, as well as in financial audits.

According to Mr Glavchev, the topic of using AI in auditing is already among the focus for the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) in the OECD countries and such systems are still in the pilot stage in most of the countries.

In his speech, the BNAO President also noted that the institution continues to expand its activities in terms of transparency and prevention of corruption, including through inspections of declarations of assets and interests, establishment of conflicts of interest and maintenance of public registers. He also pointed out the upcoming development of a register under the Transparency in Interest Representation Act.

During the forum were also presented the BNAO activities regarding audits of direct relevance to citizens – in areas such as healthcare, education, environment, digitalization and public resource management. Current audits include audits of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, water resources management in drought conditions and measures to prevent disasters caused by forest fires.

The Annual Meeting of OECD Auditors-General and Heads of Supreme Audit Institutions was opened by OECD Secretary-General Mr Matthias Cormann. During their speeches at the forum, representatives from the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) emphasized on independence, a fundamental principle for SAIs according to the Lima Declaration. The document states that SAIs can only carry out their tasks objectively and effectively if they are fully independent of the audited entities and are protected from external influence.