The office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India hosted the 34th meeting of the Governing Board of ASOSAI at New Delhi from December 1-3, 2004. Forty three delegates from the 9 member SAIs and two Audit Committee members attended the meeting. The business of the meeting was carried out on December 1 and 3, 2004. On December 2, 2004 the delegates visited Agra which is known for the world famous monument "Taj Mahal".
Some of the important decisions taken during the meeting are as follows:
1. Training Programmes:
In 2005 ASOSAI sponsored workshop on "Value for Money Audit" will be held from November 14-25, 2005 at New Delhi at SAI-India's training facility.
It was also proposed to design a project for 10 new SAIs namely Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz, Laos, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar and Vietnam. These SAIs will be divided into two sub groups in terms of region and language. Activities under this project would include:
The results of the training survey questionnaire were also discussed with its major findings. The survey questionnaire with results is available on the web site of the ASOSAI (www.asosai.org).
2. Date and Venue of the Next meeting of the Governing Board of ASOSAI
The 35th Meeting of the Governing Board of ASOSAI will be held in Kun Ming city in China from September 5-8, 2005.
3. ASOSAI Research Project
7th ASOSAI Research Project on "Audit Quality Management Systems" has adhered to the milestones approved by the Governing Board. The Governing Board approved the guidelines as draft guidelines and endorsed phase-III strategies of the project, which includes implementation of the guidelines by the research team members and in Papua New Guinea, Kazakhstan and Cyprus, designation of a nodal officer from senior management, start up workshop, identifying training needs, organizing training programmes, periodic review and report to the Governing Board in 2005. The draft guidelines are available on the ASOSAI website
4. ASOSAI Journal
The editor of the Journal informed that the two issues of the journal were published in April and October 2004. These journals are available on the website of ASOSAI.
5. ASOSAI Website
The ASOSAI website has been redesigned to give a new look and feel and several new features have been added. Member SAIs can post their news items under the feature "News from member SAIs".
The secretariat gave the presentation on the proposed strategic plan 2005-09 which was not intended to be a static road map for five years. While the INTOSAI strategic plan provides for an overall approach, ASOSAI plan addresses the specific needs of ASOSAI members. The board approved the strategic plan which is now available on the ASOSAI website (www.asosai.org). To meet financial resources required to implement the Strategic Plan the board resolved to urge all SAIs to make voluntary contributions and join the seven members who are currently making such contributions and invite the existing contributors to consider enhancing their support.
6. Venue of the Next ASOSAI Assembly
The next i.e. X ASOSAI assembly will be held in Shanghai, China in early September 2006.
ASOSAI sponsored a workshop on "Audit of Public Debt" in Canberra, Australia from October 4-15, 2004. The workshop was attended by 31 participants from 31 Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) and delivered by the eight instructors with technical assistance of the Subject Matter Expert. The workshop was very successful. The instructors for the workshop were training specialists established under the second Long Term Regional Training Programme. The participants obtained necessary techniques and knowledge and were awarded certificates.
Before the workshop the instructors met at Beijing, China from July 19-30, 2004 for course design and development workshop. This instructor meeting was fully financed by INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI). IDI also funded the cost of Instructors & SMEs at the workshop.
The ASOSAI seminar on environmental Auditing was held in Wuyishan City of Fujian Province in China from March 28-31, 2005. Forty-one participants from twenty-three countries and regions attended the seminar.
Among the forty-one participants there were three special participants from Canada and Poland. Ms. Carolle Mathieu from the office of the Auditor General of Canada represented the INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Audit and Mr. Zbigniew Wesolowski an Supreme Chamber of Control of Poland represented as the coordinator of the EUROSAI Working Group on Environmental Audit.
In the seminar, 20 country papers were presented by the participants on the two sub themes of the seminar. Out of these twenty papers, twelve papers were presented on the theme I "Environmental Auditing on Water" and the other eight on Theme II "Audit on Biodiversity".
The Chinese National Audit Office distributed the CDs after the seminar/ The CD contains:
Ms. Carolle Mathieu from Office of Auditor General of Canada also distributed a CD, which contains various reference materials, INTOSAI WGEA Work Plan for 2005-2007, various letters, WGEA Survey etc.
- To promote understanding and cooperation among member-institutions through exchange of ideas and experiences in the field of Public Audit.
- To provide facilities for training and continuing education for government auditors with a view to improving the quality of their performance.
- To serve as a center of information and as a regional link with organizations and institutions in other parts of the world in the field of Public Audit.
- To promote closer collaboration and brotherhood among auditors in the service of the government of the respective member-institutions and among regional groups.
The functions of ASOSAI listed in the charter are:-
- To organize conferences and seminars for the exchange of ideas and experiences in the field of Public Audit;
- To encourage and to promote research and to undertake publication of research papers and professional articles in auditing and related fields.
- To perform such other functions as may be necessary in keeping with its objectives.
Goal 1: Accountability and Professional Standards
Promote strong, independent, and multidisciplinary SAIs by (1) encouraging SAIs to lead by example and (2) contributing to the development and adoption of appropriate and effective professional standards.
Goal 2: Institutional Capacity Building
Build the capabilities and professional capacities of SAIs through training, technical assistance, and other development activities.
Goal 3: Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Services
Encourage SAI cooperation, collaboration, and continuous improvement through knowledge sharing, including providing benchmarks, conducting best practice studies, and performing research on issues of mutual interest and concern.
- Creating a pool of trainers
Under two phases of the Long Term Regional Training Programme with a total outlay of US$ 1.95 million funded by the ADB, a pool of 59 trainers and seven sets of Course material have been created. More than 170 auditors have been imparted training in workshops funded under this programme.
- Capacity Building in emerging areas through ASOSAI workshops
ASOSAI has been working towards capacity building in the region through one workshop each year on emerging areas of audit since 1992.
Issues covered in these workshops since 2001 are Financial Audit, Value for Money Audit, Information Technology Audit, Performance Audit of a Revenue Agency, and Audit of Public Debt.
These workshops are being delivered by Training Specialists under the guidance of Subject Matter Experts, after preparation of the course material. The Course material is subsequently made available to the individual SAIs for their further use. Since 2001, 133 auditors have directly benefited from these workshops.
- Research Projects
Through 6 projects, ASOSAI has compiled practices and provided guidance on Accountability and Control of Public Enterprises, Financial Accountability and Management in Government, Audit of Public Works and Projects, Audit of Government Revenues, Performance Audit and Audit of Information Technology. In 2003, ASOSAI Assembly adopted guidance on dealing with fraud & corruption. The seventh project on "Audit Quality Managem Systems" seeks to compile best practices in both the private and public sector. A model system is being attempted by a Research team, which shall subsequently be implemented in the participating SAIs. Based on the experiences during implementation, the final product shall be presented to the ASOSAI Assembly in 2006 for guidance to member SAIs.
- Dissemination of information and experience through Journal and website
Asian Journal of Government Audit was first published in 1983. The main objective was to promote sound and effective State Audit System and to prove members with a forum for sharing of experience in different areas of state audit. So far 23 issues of the Journal have been brought out. From 2004, the Journal is being published twice a year.
ASOSAI website (www.asosai.org) was started in October 2000. A lot of emphasis is placed on the website as it is a more current method of information dissemination and has a wider reach. The website is in the process of being modernized.
- Capacity building in new SAIs
- Strengthening capacity to cope with new challenges viz., auditing in IT environment, auditing public debt, privatization, environment, regulatory bodies etc.
- Enhancing the quality of audit of ASOSAI members
- Enhancing information dissemination and experience sharing, using full potential of Information and Communication Technology.
- Assess training needs and conduct separate workshops for the new members of ASOSAI.
- Increase the number of workshops on emerging issues such as Information Technology, Environment, Privatization and Regulatory bodies, Public Debt, Fraud and Corruption
- Finalise a guidance on Audit Quality Management, test the framework in 10 member SAIs and implement the final product in all willing member SAIs.
- Support seminars and training programmes to be hosted by ASOSAI member SAIs to facilitate exchange of experience and practices.
- Leverage the work being done by INTOSAI Committees by facilitating awareness and adoption by ASOSAI members.
- Enhance the utility of the Journal and Website in dissemination of knowledge and experience sharing.
- Create an infrastructure for e-learning.
2005-2009
Board of Audit Japan the ASOSAI Training Administrator has started discussions with ADB for a separate programme for new SAIs. The immediate objectives of the proposed project are:
- to assist the new SAIs upgrade their audit capabilities through hands on training
- reinforce regional audit training capabilities of ASOSAI.
The target SAIs are those who have become members after 1995 i.e. Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz, Laos, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar and Vietnam.
The workshops organized by ASOSAI have rendered extremely valuable service in building capacity to take on new challenges. In view of the large pool of auditors in ASOSAI members, the frequency of these workshops could be increased. The issues to be taken up would be decided through a survey of training needs being conducted by the Training Administrator.
ASOSAI is currently discussing with IDI the scope of further technical and financial assistance. These will be concretized during discussions scheduled prior to the 34th meeting of the Governing Board.
The 7th ASOSAI Research Project intends to provide a specific guidance to the member SAIs in establishing an Audit Quality Management System. The project has been broken up into four phases:
Phase I : Compiling of prevalent Audit Quality Management practices both in the Public and Private sector auditing.
Phase II : Preparing a model Audit Quality Management System based on the findings of Phase I.
Phase III: Implementation of the Audit Quality Management System prepared under Phase II in few selected SAIs including those who are members of the Research team.
Phase IV: Reviewing the lessons learnt from the Phase III and preparing a final document.
The milestones for the Project are:
A series of workshops and review meetings will need to be organized during implementation in Phase III, which is under way.
Assistance in the form of training, seminars, workshops etc. may be required for implementing the guidance in the other members beyond 2006.
Given the limited resources and administrative infrastructure available with ASOSAI, one way of increasing capacity building efforts is by some members hosting ASOSAI events at their initiative and cost. Such events would complement the efforts of ASOSAI in capacity building and experience sharing.
INTOSAI has constituted several committees and working groups, which have been preparing guidelines and papers for professional enhancement. The efforts of these Committees and Working Groups in dissemination of these could be supplemented by regional support through organizing of seminars, workshops and training programmes.
Both the journal and the website are being used as vehicles for dissemination of knowledge and information. The content of the Journal is to be made more substantive with the technical aspects of workshops, symposiums, research papers and seminars being highlighted along with news and events. The number of articles will be increased particularly on emerging areas of audit.
The website is being re-designed to give a new look and feel. Several new features are being added _
H.-E. Learning
Information & Communication Technology has opened up new possibilities for training and self-learning. Not only would e-learning package phenomenally increase the numbers that can be covered but also drastically reduce the cost. To begin with, the existing training material can be converted to e-learning package. E-learning finds a mention also in the INTOSAI Strategic Plan 2005-10. ASOSAI could tie with other regional groups and IDI in this pursuit.
- Annual Contributions and
- Voluntary Contributions
While the Annual contribution is directly linked to the strength of the membership, Voluntary contributions are contributions made by a few SAIs. The Annual contribution due from member SAIs during 2004 is US$ 51,800 while the Voluntary contribution received so far in 2004 is US$ 92,000. Both these amounts are almost entirely utilized for the sponsored workshop organized every year.
ASOSAI has also been supported by the Asian Development Bank in its capacity building efforts. The LTRTP I was funded by the ADB i.e. US$ 1.3 million while the LTRTP II was funded by the ADB (US$ 650,000).
The IDI has also been funding some of the activities of the ASOSAI. In 2002 the programme cost funded by IDI was US$ 54,774 and in 2003 it was US$ 192,857.
We would need additional support from member SAIs, multilateral donors and IDI.