At The June 1988 Bali Assembly the reins of leadership of ASOSAI have been formally handed over by Japan to Indonesia. Mr. M. Jusuf Chairman of the Supreme Audit Board of Indonesia has become the Chairman of ASOSAI.
Saudi Arabia has been inducted as a member of the Governing Board in place of Kuwait at the Bali Assembly. H.E. Omar A. Fakieh, State Minister and President of the General Auditing Bureau of Saudi Arabia has replaced H.E. Faris Abdul Rahman Al. Wagayan of Kuwait in the Governing Board.
Mr. Young Joon Kim who has succeeded Mr. Hwang Yung Si as Chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection, Republic of Korea and Mr. Lu Peijian Auditor General of peoples Republic of China who will be hosting the next Assembly and international seminar of ASOSAI in 1991 are the other two new faces in the Governing Board.
We welcome the new members and ardently wish that they will actively support and strengthen the Journal.
New Auditor General
Mr. John C. Taylor was appointed Auditor General of Australia on May 12, 1988.
Mr. Taylor has had a long and distinguished career in the Australian Public Service beginning with the Postmaster General's Department in 1952 through his most recent position from 1984 to 1988 as Australia's Consul General in New York.
Prior to his appointment in New York Mr. Taylor was Secretary to the Department of Aboriginal Affairs from 1981-84 and a Commissioner of the Public Service Board from 1974-81.
In becoming Auditor General, Mr. Taylor also assumed the Chairmanship of the INTOSAI Governing Board (upto INCOSAI Scheduled to be held at Berlin (West) during June 1989).
New President
Mr. Kiyoshi Nakamura, Commissioner of the Board of Audit of Japan, was appointed the President of the Board on April 11, 1989. Succeeding Mr. Keiichi Tsuji.
Mr. Nakamura joined the Board in 1953 after graduation from Tokyo University. He subsequently held the offices of Director of several Audit Divisions, Director General, Secretary General of the Board. In 1985, he was appointed the Commissioner of the Board.
In a related action Mr. Shinji Yazaki has been appointed as the Commissioner of the Board on April 10, 1989.
New head of SAI
Mr. Young John Kim was appointed Chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection, Korea on July 4, 1988 succeeding Mr. Yung Si Hwang who retired on July 3, 1988.
Mr. Kim is a lawyer by profession with a degree in law from kyungbuk University, Korea. He has had a distinguished legal career which included public service as a judge in both Seoul District and High Courts as well as Division Chief Judge in those courts. In 1974, he was appointed Presidential Secretary for Justice. He became special Presidential Assistant for Justice in 1976 and then in 1980 was appointed a Commissioner of the Board of Audit and Inspection.
H.E. Faris A.R.A1 Wagayan, President of the State Audit Bureau paid an official visit to Malaysia from May 31 to June 2, 1988 on his way to Bali Assembly to discuss certain significant issues of ASOSAI from the view point of Kuwait with the Secretary General.
Mr. Wagayan who is a member of the Executive Board of ARABOSAI participated in its tenth meeting held at Tunisia during September 1988.
New Auditor General
Mr. Manas Vongyuttitham, Deputy Auditor General was appointed as Auditor General on October 1, 1988 succeeding Mr. Tawee Noonpukdee who retired on the expiry of his tenure. Mr. Vongyuttitham entered the office of the Auditor General in 1949. He has a higher diploma in Accounting from the Thammasat University which is equivalent to a master's degree. He has a wide experience of public sector auditing and has served on a number of committees set up on public finance.
The Board of Audit Japan in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency organised a seminar on Audit of Public Works for SAIs of the region from July 7 to August 17,1988 under the Colombo Plan.
The State Audit Bureau of Kuwait sponsored some of its officers to the seminars organised by the SAIs of United Arab Emirates and Jordan on the System of follow up of observations and documentation in SAIs and Audit of Procurement contracts and Stores from January 9-13, 1988 and March 19 to April 1, 1988 respectively. Some officers were also sponsored to the seminar on Performance Audit of the Banking Sector organised by ARABOSAI in cooperation with the Court of Audit, Austria from July 11-15, 1988.
The General Auditing Bureau has been utilising the training facilities afforded by the U.S. General Accounting Office under the GAO's International Auditor Fellowship program by sponsoring officers to undergo this training.
From the year 1988 the, frequency of International Training programmes organised by SAI India for the Government auditors in the Asia, South Pacific and African regions has been stepped up to thrice a year.
The first one on audit of Public Enterprises was held from January 11-February 22,1988 and was participated by thirty-four officers from twenty countries- Afghanistan, Bhutan, Botswana, India, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Maldives, Malaysia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Tanzania Thailand, Uganda, Yemen Arab Republic, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The second programme on Audit of Public Works and Projects was held from April 25 to June 4, 1988. Thirty-four officers from twenty two countries of Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cyprus, Gambia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Malaysia; Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Sierre Leone, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe and an observer from Japan participated.
Audit of Rural Development Programmes was the theme of the third programme held from September 19 to November 3, 1988. Thirty-one participants from twenty countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Gambia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Libya, Maldives, Malaysia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe attended.
The Public Administration Centre of the German Foundation for International Development (DSE) in cooperation with the ASOSAI organised a seminar of Public Sector Financial Management and Auditing at Singapore from December 5-14, 1988. Twenty five officers from twelve ASOSAI member countries of Bangladesh, Peoples Republic of China, India, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand participated in the Seminar. Also two observers from the office of the Auditor General of Singapore attended the seminar.
Mr. T.N. Chatuwedi, Comptroller and Auditor
General of India With some of
the participants of the International Training programme on Audit
of Public Enterprises held at New Delhi during Jan-Feb, 1988.
Participants of the International Training
Programme on
Audit of Rural Development in the Library of the office
of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
Under the aegis of ASOSAI, the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) organised a Training Managers Workshop at New Delhi from November 14-26,1988. The workshop was hosted by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and was attended by twenty officers from twelve SAIs of Bhutan, China, Hongkong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines and Thailand. The workshop was inaugurated by Mr. Kenneth M. Dye Auditor General of Canada.
The first phase of the ASOSAI research programme on publication of a monograph on Accountability and Control of Public Enterprises covering thirteen member countries was completed and draft thereof presented at the Bali Assembly in June 1988.
Mr. Kenneth M. Dye, Auditor General of Canada
Inaugurating
the ASOSAI-IDI Workshop of Training Managers
at New Delhi on November 14, 1988.
The Governing Board of ASOSAI decided that in the Second phase the research team comprising of the Deputy Auditors General of Australia, India and Malaysia may cover some other countries including a few non-member countries of the region. The team has taken up the work on eight countries and on completion proposes to bring out a single volume of the monograph covering all the twenty one countries.
Public utilities are a class apart in government activities with a thrust on socio-economic development to raise the living standard of the people of the country. They are not guided solely by the profit motive. Audit of public utilities therefore calls for a distinct and specialised approach keeping in view the specific social policy objectives of different types of public utilities. A collection of seventeen papers contributed by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and officers of his organisation besides other experts, which has a bearing on Auditing Public Utilities has been published by the Ashish Publishing House ,8/81, Punjabi Bagh New Delhi 110026, India. The Foreword is by Mr. T.N. Chaturvedi.
The contributions are categorised in eight major sections-one general and seven others-devoted to selected areas of public utilities viz. water supply, health services, social welfare, electricity, transport, urban development and civic amenities. A select bibliography and an alphabetical index are also part of the 272 pages text. The book is priced as Rs. 150/-(Approx. US $ 11.00) and is available through the publishing house mentioned above.
Mr. Kenneth M. Dye, Auditor General of Canada Inaugurating the ASOSAI-IDI Workshop of Training Managers at New Delhi on November 14, 1988.
India has witnessed rapid changes in the financial administration and, accounting and audit arrangements, notably after independence. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India and the Indian Audit and Accounts Department have been given constitutional recognition. The Constitution has provided for a uniform pattern of accounts both for the union and the States to be prescribed by the President on the advice of the Comptroller and Auditor General, and a unitary audit in a federal set up. The Comptroller and Auditor General's (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Act 1971 passed in pursuance of the relevant constitutional provisions authorises him to lay down for the guidance of the Government Departments the general principles of Government accounting and the broad principles in regard to audit of receipts and expenditure.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (designated as Auditor General prior to the commencement of the Constitution) had been issuing an "Introduction to Indian Government Accounts and Audit" outlining the financial, accounting and audit systems. The first edition of the book was issued way back in 1930 by the then Auditor General in India, Mr. E. Burdon combining the two earlier volumes, the "Introduction to Indian Government Audit" and the "Introduction to Indian Government Accounts". This was followed by three further editions in 1940, 1962 and 1970 and in between a reprint in 1950.
There have been in quick succession changes and reforms in the systems over the last two decades. Apart from the enactment of the Comptroller and Auditor General's (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Act 1971 and significant amendments carried out in it in 1976, 1984 and 1987, a number of changes have been introduced in accounting and audit systems, of which the introduction of functional classification of accounts in 1974, the departmentalisation of accounts of the Union in 1976, and the restructuring of the offices of the State Accountants General in 1984 making for an internal separation of accounting and audit functions in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department are particularly noteworthy.
Under the directions of the present Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Shri T.N. Chaturvedi, the book has been completely revised and restructured taking into account all the developments, merging certain chapters, introducing new chapters covering not only financial arrangements and administration of the country but also the executive's accountability to Parliament/Legislature and eliminating such details as are no longer necessary in the present context.
The first edition of the book on "Introduction to Indian Government Accounts and Audit" which has thus been updated is intended to serve as a guide not only to government departments but also to other institutions and individuals interested in finance, accounts and audit arrangements in India.
The book in English priced at £ 3.30 or $ 9.36 is available through the Controller of Publications, Government of India New Delhi.