The 7th ASOSAI Research Project on ‘Audit Quality Management Systems’ was approved in the 33rd Governing Board Meeting of the Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) held in Manila in October 2003. The objective of the project was to provide specific guidance to member Supreme Audit Institutions (hereinafter referred as SAIs) in establishing audit quality management systems. Seven members opted to be the members of the research project, namely Bangladesh, China, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines and Yemen, with India chosen as the team leader.
The Governing Board members approved the model for the 7th Research Project, to be completed in 4 phases indicating the suggested time frame for the implementation of the project. The Phase I of the project involved compiling prevalent audit quality management practices, both in private and public sector auditing. Based on this, draft guidelines on Audit quality management systems were prepared in Phase-II of the project. The draft guidelines on AQMS were approved by the Governing Board in December 2004, which endorsed the Phase III Strategies for implementation of the project and called upon Phase III implementing SAIs, including SAIs involved in the research project to accord high priority to the Project.
During the phase III, draft audit quality management guidelines prepared under phase II were piloted in the SAIs, which were members of the research project. Finally, in Phase IV during 2006, the lessons from Phase III were reviewed and a final document prepared for presentation to the 36th Governing Board & the 10th Assembly in September 2006.
To trace the background, in the start-up workshop in March-April 2004 held in India, a blueprint for the audit quality management framework and a possible road map for future were drawn up. Subject matter experts from GAO USA, NAO UK and OAG Canada assisted the research efforts by sharing their basic framework for audit quality management. This was used as a reference in the formulation of the research framework.
In the 2nd meeting in July 2004 in Kuala Lumpur, all the major quality dimensions and instruments were deliberated and it was decided that the draft guidelines would cover all the major components of audit quality. In mid-October 2004, the first draft was circulated to the research team members and based on the deliberations in the 3rd meeting of the research project in Beijing in the last week of October 2004, the draft guidelines on audit quality management were circulated to the members of the Governing Board of ASOSAI, which approved them in December 2004.
The nodal officers assigned by each SAI for pilot-implementation of the draft guidelines in close coordination with key resource persons, who as members of the research team drafted the AQMS Guidelines, met at Manila in Philippines on April 18 & 19, 2005 during the fourth meeting of the research project. The meeting decided to survey the present status of the quality practices prevalent in the respective SAIs vis-ŕ-vis the draft guidelines and prepare a report on the implementation of the guidelines. Thereafter, the results of the survey of AQMS in the participating SAIs were discussed and the mid-term progress of the implementation of the guidelines was reviewed in the fifth meeting of the key resource persons held at Sana’a, Yemen from August 2-4, 2005. Subsequent to this, the results of the pilot implementation were reviewed in the 35th Governing Board meeting held in China in September, 2005. Phase-III of the Research Project was completed in December 2005.
In the final and sixth meeting at Dhaka, Bangladesh on April 3 & 4 2006, the draft guidelines were finalized on the basis of the lessons learned during the Phase-III of the Research Project.
The team members of the research project consisted:
| Bangladesh | Mr. Md. Nurun Nabi Khan Mr. Aftab Ahmad Mr. Niaz Rahman Mr. Kazi Golam Towsif Mr. Sheikh Mohd. Omar Faruk Mr. Md. Shofiqul Islam Mr. K.M. Serajul Munir |
| China | Ms Yang Li |
| India | Mr. R N
Ghosh Mr. Roy Mathrani Ms. Minakshi Ghose Mr. Rajesh Singh |
| Malaysia | Mr.
Anwari bin Suri Mr. Abid bin Abdul Jalil Mr. Toha Sharif |
| Pakistan | Mr.
Muhammad Azam Khan Mr. Wasim Ahmed |
| Philippines | Ms.
Elizabeth S Zosa Mr. Rolando S Macale Mr. Joseph Anacay |
| Yemen | Mr.
Mohamed Ahmed Assyani Mr. Abdul Hakeem Al-Sabahi |
The research team would like to express its special gratitude to the Governing Board of ASOSAI, for having chosen this subject and fully supporting the project all through the research phase. The team would also like to express gratitude to the three subject matter experts - Ms. Sylvie Pare from OAG Canada, Mr. Peter Morgan from NAO UK and Ms. Eileen Regen Larence from GAO USA - for all the support and cooperation it received from them in developing the broad contours of the quality management framework and for the valuable technical inputs it received at crucial junctures. The team would also like to thank the ASOSAI fraternity for constant support, guidance and encouragement it received for the research work.