Thanks to the generous hospitality and invaluable support received from the Croatian Military Police Department, the Conference was conducted in Brijuni (Croatia) and was opened by the Croatian MP Department Head – Colonel Tihomir ZEBEC, whose personal engagement significantly contributed to the overall success of the event. The audience comprised representatives of 21 COEs, two MOD level institutions (POL and DEU) and one unit from the NATO Force Structures (the HQ Multinational Corps North East).
The Conference was principally dedicated to current and future COE Financial Controllers (FINCON) scope of activities and responsibilities. Furthermore, its intent was to establish a Community of Interest in order to foster interoperability, and create a forum for the exchange of best practices and lessons learned regarding financial aspects of COEs’ administrating and operating.
The attendees had as well a unique opportunity to hear ACT Command Auditor – George CHRISTIE, who provided presentations as a guest speaker. The Conference was successfully and smoothly moderated by the HQ SACT representative – Tony WEDGE (NATO Lead for COE Establishment and Accreditation).
The following issues were discussed during the Conference:
-    Audit in COEs,
-    COEs’ credit cards,
-    Internal Control,
-    Procurement Regime,
-    Suspense Accounts,
-    Accounting System (Common) in COEs,
-    Financial Reporting based on IPSAS,
-    Community of Interest’s e-platform,
-    Best practices and challenges in COEs.
The prime goal of the event was fully achieved and a template for a COEs’ Financial Administrative (Accounting) Procedures was created – from now on the Centres of Excellence  are in possession of a document which can be easily referred to.

All the Conference Participants unanimously identified the need for organising a similar meeting at least once a year.