The Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI), established in 1978, is a regional grouping of government audit institutions. It is affiliated to the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTO-SAI) and has a membership of 23 countries. It is run by a Governing Board of 7 members elected every 3 years at the Assembly.
The objectives of ASOSAI include the following:
The functions of ASOSAI are:
In the furtherance of its objectives and functions ASOSAI has held four Assemblies, three International Seminars and 38 training courses since 1979. It also produces a Journal called the 'Asian Journal of Government Audit' which contains professional articles in auditing and related fields and is issued annually.
The audit of public enterprises was a much discussed topic at both the International Seminars and several training courses. Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) have stressed the need for greater audit attention in this area as public enterprises have become important instruments in carrying out government policies and programmes. Their financial impact on the economy and growth in importance and numbers has materially affected the Gross Domestic Product in most countries. They range from departmental undertakings to companies and their roles extend from the traditional public utilities to commercial and financial institutions.
The Governing Board of ASOSAI noted the concerns expressed by SAIs over the complexity of the audit of public enterprises, accountability issues, and questions of government control over them. In 1985, the Board recommended to the Assembly that the Secretary General arrange for a research program to be undertaken on this subject for publication. The purpose of the publication was to develop background material on public enterprises in the various ASOSAI countries and auditing practices relating to them which would provide practitioners, academics and other interested parties with useful information for future training, research and other purposes. The Deputy Auditors-General of Australia, India and Malaysia were commissioned to carry out this project.
Work commenced in March 1986 with the gathering of material on the subject that was already available in ASOSAI and from other sources. Questionnaires were developed covering a wide range of issues which were considered of primary concern. Individual questionnaires were distributed to all member SAIs for their responses. Some difficulties were encountered in the replies because of language problems as it was felt that some of the clarity of the responses may have been lost in translation. Some caution was therefore exercised in documenting information which was not entirely clear. Situations, perceptions and laws differ in each country and information was reported without comment. In no way is this publication intended to be critical of systems or practices in individual countries. The effectiveness of the accountability process is relative to the political and government institutions in the countries concerned.
Another problem that was encountered was the paucity of material and statistics available. The use of questionnaires meant that the answers to questions asked were not always adequate for the purposes resulting in unavoidable gaps in the information required for worthwhile conclusions to be reached.
The definitions on public enterprises given in the "Tokyo Declaration of Guidelines on Public Accountability" issued at the Third ASOSAI Assembly and Second International seminar held in Tokyo, Japan in May 1985 were used as the basis for the present publication. These 'Guidelines' and "The General Statement on the Performance Audit, Audit of Public Enterprises and Audit Quality" of the Twelfth International Congress of Supreme Audit Institutions held in Sydney in April 1986 are appended as important guideposts.
It would not have been possible to complete this project without the understanding and co-operation of member SAIs of ASOSAI who have been most helpful in providing information.