Companies of public interest would be subject to tighter financial supervision scrutiny if changes to the Financial Auditing Act prepared by Bulgaria’s Finance Ministry are passed, Bulgarian newspaper Monitor reported on April 29.

Such companies are all utilities, gas companies, telecommunications operators, the Bulgarian railway operator, insurers, banks and commercial holdings issuing securities.

The audit teams will oversee the efficiency of internal audit and management systems of enterprises. The auditors would be appointed either by the general assembly or by the owner of the respective enterprise.

The audit team could be the company’s board of directors or supervisory board if the company has staff of 250 people at most, assets of up to 86 million leva and net revenues of up to 100 million leva, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

Auditors’ work, in turn, will be overseen by a Public Oversight Commission, another change to the act reads.

The commission will also be in charge of controlling the Institute of chartered certified accountants.

It will consist of a chair person and six members. Its make-up will comprise appointees of the governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, the finance minister, the head of the Audit Chamber and the head of the Financial Supervision Commission.

Another change sees the creation of a new public registry of auditors certified to perform independent financial audits. The information will only be available online.