Árpád Kovács
Árpád Kovács
Árpád Kovács was appointed Chairman of the Fiscal Council of Hungary on 10 January 2012. Following the completion of his studies in civil engineering, he started working in 1971 as a designing engineer. He continued his career in the former Ministry of Transportation where he was involved in the development of transportation systems and the methods of their financing. He earned his first doctoral degree with a thesis on the finances and organizational issues of highway construction and administration. Between 1979 and 1989 Mr. Kovács worked in the central organization of government control where he was responsible for the auditing of transportation, post and telecommunication matters as well as the financial control of building affairs. In 1989 he attended a training program for auditors organized by the General Accountability Office (GAO) of the USA then worked as a trainee at the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs of the EU Commission. From 1990 first, he worked as head of division then consulting manager at the newly established State Audit Office of Hungary. In 1996-ban he became Chairman of the Board of Directors of the State Privatization and Holding Co. At the end of 1997 the Hungarian National Assembly elected him to the post of the President of the State Audit Office of Hungary. He completed his 12 year long mandate at the end of 2009. In relation to his job at the helm of the institution first, he was the Vice-Chairman of the INTOSAI (International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions) Governing Board than, for the period of 2004-2007, he became Chairman of INTOSAI. In the period from 2010 to 2012 he worked again in the field of managing public and communal assets; he was member of the Board of Management of Hungarian State Holding Co, chairman of the supervisory boards of MVM (Hungarian Power Companies Ltd.) and of the Budapest Transport and Urban Management holdings. From 1990 he has been guest professor at several universities and colleges. In 2001 he earned his PhD in economics then habilitated in 2003. In 2008 he became adjunct professor of the Budapest Eötvös Lóránd University. From 2009 he has been professor of the faculty of economics at the University of Szeged. His researches have been focusing on the functioning and the control of public finances. He is author, co-author, chapter writer or writer/publishers’ reader of several books on economy. Technical journals have published more than two hundred and fifty articles written by him. From 2002 first he was vice chairman; from 2008 he became chairman of the Hungarian Association of Economists.
