Having designed and conducted two international training programmes on the audit of public utilities and public enterprises for officers of the Supreme Audit Institutions of Asia and Africa, I would like to share my experiences with others. These training programmes were the first of their kind which the Comptroller & Auditor General of India is holding every year under the technical cooperation programmes of the Government of India
The essential steps in any training programme are the identification of needs, determination of coverage and contents, selection of methodologies, preparation of training material including case studies and selection of faculty. These tasks become complex in the case of international training since the programmes are to be so designed as to be of value and interest to all the participating countries.
Considering the unique importance of public utilities and infrastructure and growth of public enterprises in developing countries and their contribution to national development, it was thought that training in audit of public utilities and public enterprises would be timely and of value to Asian and African SAIs. This thinking was reinforced by a study of the country papers presented at the INTOSAI congresses on efficiency and effectiveness control of public enterprises, exchange of views at Nairobi Congress as well as the deliberations in the meeting of the Commonwealth Auditors Genera! and the ASOSAI Assembly. While the papers and discussions reflected increasing concern of SAIs in this area, it was seen that there was very little organised effort towards training.
Having decided on the areas of training the next step was to define the coverage. Again, country papers and discussions referred earlier, helped in taking decisions. It was seen that public enterprises in developing countries had taken various forms like departmental undertakings, statutory corporations, statutory boards and autonomous authorities besides the joint stock companies and these operated in areas of housing, water supply, electricity, telecommunications, railways and road transport, airlines, state trading, aviation and tourism, mining and manufacturing, industrial and agricultural development, financing and infrastructure built up. Besides information available in INTOSAI, ASOSAI and Commonwealth papers, specific data was collected on the public utilities and enterprises and audit arrangements in countries covered by the technical cooperation programmes. After study of all the information, it was decided to have as broad a coverage as possible in these two programmes. As amongst the public enterprises, utilities constituted the largest and common group and also because of their contribution in raising the quality of life, it was decided to hold the first training programme in public utilities audit.
As regards the contents, the programmes were so designed and developed as to cover both the financial audit as well as the efficiency, economy and effectiveness audit. Presentations on these audits were preceded by sessions devoted to a broad understanding of (i) growth, role and working of public utilities and enterprises in the participating countries, (ii) systems of parliamentary, ministerial and budgetary control, (iii) systems of financial management including internal control and internal audit, and (iv) systems for formulation, implementation and control of projects. The programmes covered the audit of important areas like inventory management, cash management, maintenance management, cost and pricing, management of men "and machines, credit control. This was' followed by sessions on issues and techniques of efficiency and effectiveness audits and audit of specific public utilities and enterprises operating in different areas. A clear understanding of the working of public utilities and enterprises and their unique features was regarded as an essential ingredient of training and, accordingly, the participants were addressed by top managers on the working and complexities of these.
Both the programmes were highly participative and a combination of training methodologies was used therein. There were presentation-cum-discussion sessions, case studies, workshops and field visits. The case studies were aimed at developing audit plans and programmes by the participants. These were stimulating exercises as the public enterprises covered by the case studies differed from each other in their objectives and operations and each had its own parameters of efficiency and effectiveness. Key operational areas were identified in each case and audit analyses were developed. An important part was to identify and develop general as well as specific indicators for evaluation of performance. The cases taken were based on the actual audits conducted by the Indian Audit and Accounts Department and the participants were shown the programmes and results of these audits. The participants contributed country papers and case studies in these two areas and these were discussed. They were taken on study visits to some of the public utilities and public enterprises in India. These field visits helped in a better understanding of the operations and management systems so essential for an auditor.
The faculty for these programmes comprised of senior officers of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department and the top managers of public utilities and public enterprises. Preparation of material and selection of appropriate case studies helped in successful conduct of these programmes
Organisation of international training requires careful planning and implementation. There are numerous problems of developing and managing the programmes. In this case, some problems arose from the fact that these were low cost programmes of 6 to 8 weeks duration. Experience and evaluation of the programmes have helped India to hold later training in audit of receipts and audit of rural development programmes.
Such training cannot substitute for national training which can be more intensive and more suited to the specific needs of individual SAIs. On the other hand, international training has its own value. The limited objectives of these programmes were to help the participants in understanding the issues and problems in these audits, provides them an international forum for exchange of views, equip them with basic methodology of comprehensive audit and to develop an analytical and objective approach. Evaluation by the participants and SAIs and the follow-up showed that the programmes achieved these objectives to a very large extent.