Phil Tarling: From Latvia with love.

A Southampton accountant has been officially recognised by the government of Latvia for his successful internal audit work in their country.

Phil Tarling, a partner with independent chartered accountants Burnett Swayne, was presented with a certificate of honour for his work developing the internal audit system in the central government by Ingunda Sudraba, Latvia’s under secretary of state for the ministry of finance.

Tarling has just finished managing a project in the Latvian capital Riga, where he has spent the last 18 months working as a part of European Union-funded project to set up the internal audit system for central government.

Tarling, a director of both the UK and worldwide Institute of Internal Auditors, said: ‘The certificate was a lovely gesture and totally unexpected.

My experience of Latvia has been demanding, but particularly fascinating.’

He added: ‘Working in different countries is always challenging, and I have been dealing with government ministers and the highest level of civil servants on a day-to-day basis, so I get an interesting insight into how the country is run.’

Burnett Swayne is fast making a name for itself in the Balkans, and has been asked by the government of neighbouring Lithuanian to look at its internal audit system as well as providing training for the Estonian government’s internal auditors.

The firm is currently considering the possibility of opening an office in Latvia to service these business interests.