Membership of the Body of Expert and Licensed Accountants of Romania – CECCAR

Interview with Mister Robert Aurelian Sova, CECCAR President

EEEI : Can you tel us the very briefly the history of the Body of Expert and Licensed Accountants of Romania?

Robert Aurelian Sova: The Body of Expert and Licensed Accountants of Romania is the professional organization that manages the Romanian accounting profession, operating in accordance with Government Ordinance No. 65/1994 on the organization of the accounting expertise and licensed accountants’ activity, republished, with its subsequent amendments and supplements. With 99 years of history, CECCAR was first established in 1921 by a Royal Decree of King Ferdinand I.

As known fact, in the period after the World War two, Romania was led by the communist regime which had restrained the activity of accounting profession hence, the only activity practiced during this period was the judicial expertise.

EEEI : What are the major developments since then 

R.A.Sova: After the communist regime was overthrown, in 1992, the Body of Experts and Licensed Accountants of Romania (CECCAR) was established as an association and in 1994 was established, in accordance with Government Ordinance No. 65/19 August 1994, as a public purpose, independent legal entity, with a vital role in the management and training of professional accountants. As a national professional organization, CECCAR played a vital role in the reform of the Romanian accounting system, in the context of the transition to a market economy.

EEEI : How is CECCAR organized now ?

R.A.Sova: The Body of Expert and Licensed Accountants of Romania (CECCAR) is represented through territorial branches in all the 41 counties of Romania and in the city of Bucharest. CECCAR has national coverage, as all its 42 branches have their own headquarters in the capital cities of the counties, and their own employees who ensure the logistics countrywide.

Anchored in the current internal and external realities, the Body is reputed to be the strongest professional organization in South-Eastern Europe, with numerous members, among which around 3800 are judicial expert accountants.

According to the provisions of Art.24 of Emergency Ordinance no.2, January 2000, regarding the organization of the activity of judicial and extrajudicial technical expertise, with its subsequent completion and additions, approved by Law 156/2002:’’Judicial accounting expertise can only be performed by licensed accountants recognized in accordance with the law’’.

EEEI : It is therefore a protected title. In what way and are there any sanctions for the misuse of it?

R.A.Sova: The system itself does not allow the misuse of the title given that the judicial experts are designated only from the official registry publicly available on the Ministry of Justice’ website. However, if this should happen and professional accountants who do not have the right to deliver a judicial expertise are discovered they can face disciplinary actions according to CECCAR regulations and the International Code of Ethics for professional accountants.

EEEI : What qualifications are required to become a judicial expert accountant?

R.A.Sova: In order to become a judicial expert, licensed accountants have to pass a specific exam. After becoming judicial accounting experts, members have to participate in the continuous professional development mandatory program of 40 hours/year and, every two year, they are reevaluated. (3rd paragraph above).

In this sense CECCAR has issued the Professional standard no. 35 which establishes the professional working, reporting and behavior standards for the licensed accountants in performing judicial and extrajudicial accounting expertise engagements.

Also, for the proper organization and monitoring of this activity CECCAR has internal structures, both at headquarter and at its territorial branches, that manages the evidence of the official judicial experts and who closely cooperates with the Ministry of Justice.

Judicial accounting experts have the obligation to respect and comply with the regulations issued by CECCAR, the National Code of Ethics for the Professional Accountants and the Professional Standard no.35.

CECCAR keeps a separate register for the judicial accounting experts that is publicly available on the website of the Ministry of Justice.

EEEI : This is therefore a highly controlled activity subject to real quality control

R.A.Sova: Professional accountants constantly face increasing expectations regarding their knowledge and skills. Both they and their professional organizations are faced with unprecedented investigations related to the quality of their internal control and company governance, and the need to be competitive also increases the role and responsibilities of professional accountants in all types of entities, including the judicial system whether of public or private interest.

In this regard CECCAR is constantly involved in the process for adoption and development of best practices in the judicial system by working closely with all the related institutions with attributes in this field, both at national and at European level.

EEEI : Can you give us some examples ?

R.A.Sova: Our system of quality control allows us to verify the compliance with the procedure for preparing the legal expertise and the reports delivered by our members but, in order for us to promote and develop best practices in this area we need the feedback from the users of the legal expertise. So, to this end we have started a project in cooperation with the judicial system to verify the quality of the expertise delivered by the judicial accounting experts. CECCAR as a professional organization can not verify the quality/relevance of the expertise for the litigation but the appointed judge can and so, by creating a common IT system were the judge can evaluate the expertise delivered by the expert we can achieve the objective of improving the quality of the works provided by our experts.

Some links:

and the recording of a broadcast of the YouTube channel of the CECCAR on the theme of the European perspective of judicial expertise, with the participation of Dr Robert-Aurelian Sova and Mr Silviu Barbu Gabriel.