The Royal Audit Authority, the Supreme Audit Institution of Bhutan commemorated the first `International Anti-Corruption Day' on 9th December 2004. The day marked one year since the Signing Conference for the United Nations Convention Against Corruption held at Merida in Mexico.
His Excellency, Lyonpo Yeshey Zimba, the Hon'ble Pr Chief Guest for the occasion. The occasion was also attended by the international dignitaries and senior government officials. The Prime Minister expressed his appreciation on the awareness of the magnitude of the problem and a consensus that the problem needs to be dealt with not just by individual countries but also at the global level. `It is the duty of every loyal citizen to fight corruption in all its manifestation' said the Prime Minister of Bhutan.
To mark the event, the Prime Minister of Bhutan launched the "Fraud Alert System" designed by the Royal Audit Authority, in its Website. The Prime Minister also awarded prizes to the first three best essays from the two categories namely `Open Category' and `Higher Secondary School and Below category', on the topic `Combating Corruption -A Collective Responsibility'. The Royal Audit Authority organized the essay competition. The first two prize-winning essays were also read out to the guests gathered for the occasion.
On the same day, the Royal Audit Authority organized a workshop on `ASOSAI Guidelines for Dealing with Fraud and Corruption'. The workshop was attended by the senior officers from the Royal Audit Authority and the internal auditors and lawyers from the various government agencies, corporations and the armed forces. The basic objective of organizing such a workshop was to make the various agencies aware of the existence of such guidelines and to make any recommendations or amendments to the guidelines so that they can be used by the Royal Audit Authority in dealing with fraud and corruption in Bhutan.
The 23rd- 29th of August is usually dedicated to the Government and is called the week of the Government. During this week, beside the official opening ceremonies of the new constructional and economical establishments, an exhibition is held in order to demonstrate the performance of the different Public organizations during the preceding year.
This year, the Supreme Audit Court of Iran set up a stand at this exhibition, intending to demonstrate its performance and output in the form of photos, posters, diagrams, journals etc.
Also during this week Mr. Seyed Mohammad Khatami, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, awarded prizes to the leading and successful public bodies, in appreciation of their performanc customer satisfaction, execution of the general comments, administrative automation, structural reform, use of IT, etc.
An interesting thing that happened during this year's ceremonies was that upon the suggestion of the Supreme Audit Court of Iran, it was intimated that in order to determine the model public body, a new factor should be added to the previous determining indicators namely' Financial discipline'. In other words it is now necessary to evaluate the public bodies and to define whether these organizations actually carry out all financial rules and regulations, budget standards, and other accounting and auditing rules in an idealistic way.
It is obvious that by considering this criterion (while evaluating the performance of the Public Bodies) we will be able to reduce the number of infringements and prevent Administrative and financial corruption even more.
- SAB hosted the fourth meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) SAIs heads on 13th and 14th of December, 2004.
- SAB participated in the meeting of the Technical Committee of the Under Secretaries of the GCC SAIs held in Riyadh on 21st and 22nd of November 2004.
- To prepare a group of trainers of the GCC SAIs Staff, It is proposed to hold a training program similar to IDI methodology called "Prepare a Trainer". The program consists of three phases. SAB hosted the first phase and was titled "Design and Develop Training Programs" and Held from 4th to 22nd of September 2004. The training was performed according to IDI terms. During the program, 20 technical employees were trained and qualified to develop the training mission in their SAIs. This phase discussed the training needs in the GCC SAIs and how to design and prepare the audit training program based on the training needs, and finally the methodology to evaluate the three phases program.
The second phase of the program was held from 25-12-2004 to 6-1-2005 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab of Emirates as a workshop on the "Design and Prepare of training programs" and discussed two topics:
"Audit of Privatization" and "Environment Audit".
The third phase of the program will be held in Saudi Arabia from 2nd to 13th of April 2005 on "Training Technics".
Following the issuance of the Guidance on Conducting Audits of Activities with an Environmental Perspective by INTOSAI, the National Audit Department of Malaysia (NAD) has taken steps to produce its own Guidelines on Environmental Audit. A brainstorming session was held on 20 -24 September 2004 to discuss this subject with the INTOSAI documents as its main reference. The session was attended by 30 officers from the National Audit Department. A draft document was produced at the end of the session. The session proved to be a fruitful effort and the National Audit Department of Malaysia Environmental Audit Guidelines was officially launched in February 2005.
The National Audit Department of Malaysia (NAD) celebrated its Quality Day and Excellence Service Award 2003 on 25 September 2004 in Putrajaya. Highlights of the celebration were as follows:
The National Audit Department of Malaysia (NAD) will be celebrating its centenary celebration in 2006. In conjunction with the celebration, the NAD has launched a logo to commemorate this historical event. Several programmes have been planned for in 2005 as a build-up to the climax of the celebration which will be held in January 2006.
Amongst the programmes are:
Community Project involving NAD officers
Auditors Symposium
Charity Golf Tournament
Special Prayers
Commemorative Stamp and souvenir book to mark the celebration will be issued in 2005
Family Day
Gala Dinner
The twinning programme between National Audit Department of Malaysia and Nepal Audit Office was held on 25 November to 17 December 2004 at the Auditor General Office in Putrajaya. This programme was part of the twinning arrangement between the NAD of Malaysia and Nepal Audit Office under the Public Audit Reform and Capacity Building Project of The Office of the Auditor General of Nepal. The objective of this programme was to train officers of the Nepal Audit Office in Revenue Audit, Public Works Audit of NAD Malaysia. Thirteen officers from the Office of the Auditor General of Nepal participated in the programme. Amongst the topics covered during the period were as follows:
Overview of the Federal Government Accounting System
Overview of Federal Revenue Collection
Revenue Audit on Inland Revenue Department
Revenue Audit on Road Transport Department
Overview of Public Works Audit
One of the sites visited by participants during the period was Klang River Basin Environmental Improvement and Flood Mitigation Project (Drainage & Irrigation Department).
The National Audit Department of Malaysia has initiated the establishment of Auditors Board of Malaysia and the Auditors Institute of Malaysia in 2003. The Memorandum Paper which spells out the objective of the Board and the Institute has been approved by the Cabinet on 27 October 2004. Discussions have been organised with various Professional Bodies in Malaysia to get their feedback in drafting the Bill and its organisational set-up. The Bill for the set-up on these 2 bodies is expected to be passed by Parliament before the end of 2005.
The National Audit Department of Malaysia (NAD) Senior Officers Conference 2005 was held on 17 -18 February 2005 with a theme `Audit C Aspiration'. The conference was attended by 96 senior officers from the NAD. The objectives of the conference were as follows:
to discuss on the 2005 Audit Plan of the National Audit Department
to update officers on the current development affecting the audit profession
to familiarize auditors with current National Policy on development
During the conference the Auditor-General of Malaysia had launched the NAD flag, NAD Portal Website and NAD Guidelines on: Environmental Audit, Local Authorities, Land Office Management and Federal Statutory Bodies. Two guest speakers were also invited to deliver talks on "Bio Technology in Malaysia" and "Investment in Islamic Financial Instruments by Government Linked Companies".
The National Audit Department of Malaysia (NAD) received visit by 44 delegates from the OAG Thailand on 23 March 2005. The visit was headed by the Deputy Auditor General of Thailand, Miss Pensri Soranaraks.
The objective visit was to exchange ideas and experiences between the 2 SAls in the auditing fields and Human Resources Development Programme. During the visit, the Auditor-General of Malaysia, Tan Sri Dr. Hadenan b. A. Jalil briefed the delegates on the roles and responsibilities of the NAD.
This was followed by an open discussion between the NAD officials and the delegates.Among the issues raised were:
organisational development within NAD,
new development in the audit approach, such as user friendly and balanced reporting, adopted agencies program and advisory role,
NAD capacity building programme.
On 6 August 2004 Right Honorable, Gehendra Nath Adhikary, the General of the Kingdom of Nepal submitted the 41st Annual Audit Report to His Majesty the king. The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1990 requires that the Auditor General should report the results of the annual audit. Later it should be tabled in the parliament.
The report is divided into five parts along with the executive summary.
Deals with the audit of government offices, the court, the Royal Nepal Army, the Nepal Police.
Contains the findings of performance audit conducted.
Comprises of the reports of autonomous and corporate bodies.
Includes the certified financial statements.
Comprises of the reports of local autonomous bodies.
At the invitation of Mr. Asif Ali, the Comptroller and Auditor General of Bangladesh Rt. Honorable Auditor General Gehendra Nath Adhikary participated the Auditors General conference jointly organized by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of Bangladesh and the World Bank on 30-31 August, 2004.
The main theme of the conference was "Harmonizing Institutional Efforts for Promoting Accountability". This conference has provided common place to share mutual experience among SAIs and has added one milestone to enhance performance, mutual understanding and cooperation.
A four member delegation team led by Rt. Honorable, Gehendra Nath Adhikary, the Auditor General of the Kingdom of Nepal visited National Audit Office of the People's Republic of China on 9-14 September 2004 at the invitation of Mr. Li Jinhua, Auditor General of China. Mr. Adhikary was accompanied by his wife Mrs. Sushila Adhikary.
During the visit the delegation team has studied the Auditing Practices of the public sector undertakings as well as revenue sector, relationship with government and the parliament and the experiences in environmental auditing. The visit has contributed a lot to strengthen cooperate and exchange of auditing ideas between two SAls.
For further information please contact:
Office of the Auditor General
Babar Mahal, Kathmandu, Nepal
P.O. Box 13328
Fax: 977-1-262798
Email: oagnep@ntc.net.np
The Office of the Auditor-General of Papua New Guinea (PNG) is assisted by the Government under its reform schemes. They come under the Structural Reform and the Enhanced Co-operation Schemes undertaken by the Government.
Briefly they are:
Under the structural reform scheme, the Government of PNG has selected a firm of Consultants to assist the Office in reviewing audit programs, policies, plans and procedures in order to install best procedures and practices. The reason behind this arrangement is to promote and achieve good governance transparency and accountability in the Public Sector.The Consultants have been engaged for about 2 years to assist this Office as part of the Institutional Strengthening Programs undertaken by the Government of PNG.The Consultants have already commenced work on their assignment and are progressing well.
The Government of PNG has also entered into an agreement with the Government of Australia for support under an Enhanced Co-operation Program. This Program is to provide necessary assistance for improvement and development of the systems, procedures and practices in the Public Sector and to train officers to raise their standard of skills in many key departments of the Government.Under this scheme, this Office also has been provided with an Assistant Auditor-General from the Australian National Audit Office to help assist in Strengthening the capacity and capability of the Audit Office.This Office is gradually progressing with his assistance in liaison with other departmental officers in reforming the role of Auditor-General's Office.
Delegations from more than 20 countries arrived in Moscow to take part in the celebrations dedicated to the 10th Anniversary of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation. H.E. Mr. Sergey Stepashin, the Chairman, conducted meetings with the heads of the supreme bodies of the state financial control of Azerbaijan, Armenia, France, Kazakhstan, Germany, Belarus, Hungary, Slovenia and Kyrgyzstan. A day before this he had met the head of the Accounts Chamber of Ukraine.
During these meetings they discussed issues related to development of cooperation under the European Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (EUROSAI), which is headed by the Chairman of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation. Besides that, the discussions held with the heads of post-Soviet countries touched issues such as ways to strengthen the cooperation within the framework of the Council of heads of supreme bodies of financial control of CIS countries. Among other issues covered by these discussions was focussing the activities of global audit community on areas such as blocking channels of funding of international terrorism, fighting cross-border movements of drug-dollars and environmental audit.
The heads of the control bodies of foreign countries showed interest in some specific aspects of the activities of the Russian Accounts Chamber. In particular, German representative marked the valuable experience of the Accounts Chamber in the area of development of methods of analyzing the privatization processes and pointed out a broad reaction of political and business circles of his country, caused by recent document which was passed by the Chamber.
EUROSAI which includes supreme bodies of state financial control from almost 50 European countries, was established in 1990 with the purpose of interaction and exchange of experience in the field of financial audit. The Accounts Chamber of Russia joined this organization in 1995, immediately after its establishment.
The Council of heads of supreme bodies of state financial control of CIS countries was established in 2000 with the purpose of strengthening and coordinating the activity in the area of state financial control and exchange of experience. Presently it is headed by Omarkhan Oksibaev, the head of the control body of Kazakhstan, appointed to this position due to the annual rotation.
Federal Law No. 145-FL, dated December 1, 2004
"On amendments to the Federal Law- `On the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation"
Passed by State Duma on November 12, 2004
Approved by the Council of Federation on November 24, 2004 November 24, 2004
Article 1
To include the following amendments into the Federal Law No. 4-FL dated January 11, 1995, "On the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation" (Collection of Laws of the Russian Federation, 1995, No.3, art.167, 2004, No.33, art.3370):
Additions in the article 5:
Addition of the following words: "On advise of the President of the Russian Federation" in the first part after the words "appointed by the State Duma". Also, the following sentences shall be added: "Candidates for the position of the Chairman of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation can be proposed to the President of the Russian Federation by groups of members of the State Duma and committees of the State Duma, and by not less than fifth part of the total number of members of the State Duma. The President of the Russian Federation shall present the candidate for the position of the Chairman of the Accounts Chamber not later than three months before the expiry of powers of the acting Chairman of the Accounts Chamber. In case of pre-term dismissal of the Chairman of the Accounts Chamber, the President of the Russian Federation shall present the candidate for this position within two weeks from the date of dismissal. In case of rejection of candidate for the position of the Chairman of the Accounts Chamber, the President of the Russian Federation shall present a new candidate within two weeks. Also, the President of the Russian Federation shall be entitled to present the State Duma with same or new candidate."
In the eigth part after the words "appointed by the Council of Federation" the following words need to be added : "On advise of the President of the Russian Federation". Also, the following sentences shall be added : "Candidates for the position of the Deputy Chairman of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation can be proposed to the President of the Russian Federation by commissions and committees of the Council of Federation, and by not less than fifth part of the total number of members of the Council of Federation. The President of the Russian Federation shall present the candidate for the position of the Deputy Chairman of the Accounts Chamber not later than three months before the expiry of powers of the acting Deputy Chairman of the Accounts Chamber. In case of pre-term dismissal of the Deputy Chairman of the Accounts Chamber, the President of the Russian Federation shall present the candidate for this position within two weeks from the date of dismissal. In case of rejection of candidate for the position of the Deputy Chairman of the Accounts Chamber, the President of the Russian Federation shall present a new candidate within two weeks. Also, the President of the Russian Federation shall be entitled to present the State Duma with same or a new candidate."
2) Fifth paragraph of the Article 6 shall be deemed obsolete;
3) In the Article 29:
In the first paragraph of fifth part the word "only" shall be excluded.
The following seventh part shall be added:
"The proposals on dismissal from the position of the Chairman of the Accounts Chamber and Deputy Chairman of the Accounts Chamber shall be presented to the respective chambers of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation by the President of the Russian Federation."
Article 2
This Federal Law comes into effect from the date of its official publication.
V. V. Putin
President of the
Russian Federation
Moscow, the Kremlin
December 1, 2004, No.145-FL
H.E Mr. Osama Jafar Faqeeh President of the General Auditing Bureau headed the Kingdoms delegation to the 8th General Assembly and the ARABOSAI meetings (33) held in Amman in the Hashimite Jordanian Kingdom during the period 5-10 June 2004. Financial matters of the ARABOSAI were discussed as well the work Plan for the next three years the selection of a chairman and two Vice-Chairs was also a matter exposed for discussion. The Participants in the Governing Board discussed the Board's Annual Report for the last three years and the general budget of the Board's outgoing term, together with the proposed Work Plan for the next three years.
H.E Mr. Osama Jafar Faqeeh led the Bureau's delegation to the INTOSAI Extraordinary Meeting held in Vienna on 21-22 June 2004.
The Participants discussed the items contained in the agenda of which the most important was the INTOSAI Strategic Plan for the period 2005-2010 in preparation for submission to the INCOSAI (18).
H.E Mr. Osama Jafar Faqeeh also led a delegation to the Regional Conference on the Audit of Management of SAI heads which was held in Dhaka in the Republic of Bangladesh during the period 30-31 August 2004.
The conference discussed the main paper prepared by the General Auditing Bureau of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under the heading ".The Co-ordination of Efforts for Promotion of Accountability in the Public Sector". The Paper examined the following aspects:
The necessity to establish standard and effective mechanisms for Accountability to ensure the success of any auditing project.Ascertaining the role of the parliamentary committees in the promotion of the Accountability concept.
Ascertaining the importance and effectiveness of the external Audit being done by SAIs in the process of Accountability and combat of managerial and financial corruption.
The necessity to adopt the Accountability policy based on the Achieved Results in order to enhance the Accountability concept.
The necessity of the presence of some values and principles to ensure the discharge of duties efficiently and effectively, in addition to several issues provided in the agenda.
The General Auditing Bureau organized a Scientific Forum on `The Programmes and Auditing Guides at SAls', during the period from 25.8 to 1.9.2004, within the framework of implementing the ARABOSAl Training and Research work Plan, for 2004. Such Plan was approved by the ARABOSAl Governing Board in its meeting (32) held in Sanna in the Yemanese Republic during December last year.
The objective of the forum was to discuss the methods used in the preparation of the Programmes and Guides in use by SAls in the field of auditing, their importance and mode of execution.The Forum has underscored the importance of audit programmes and guides available at SAIs and the preparation and usage of audit programmes at the hosting SAl.
The General Auditing Bureau participated in the Seminar under the heading:
`Audit of Information Technology', held by the Korean Agency for International cooperation for operational auditors of the ASOSAI from 18 to 23.9.1425 corresponding to 16.11.2004.
H.E Mr. Osama Jafar Faqeeh headed the Kingdoms delegation to the International Conference of Financial and Environmental Auditing of the INTOSAI, held in the City of Brasilia in the Republic of Brazil, during the period 2-4, June 2004. The conference was attended by more than (80) SAIs from different countries of the world.
H.E Mr. Osama Jafar Faqeeh also headed the Bureau's delegation to the INTOSAI Governing Board Meeting (52) held in Budapest of the Hungarian
Republic during the Period 10-16.10.2004.
H.E presented a detailed presentation on the elements of the Fourth Goal of the INTOSAI Proposed Strategic Plan for the Period 2005 -2010.
H.E Mr. President of the Bureau was re-elected Second Vice-chairman to the Governing Board Chair and Chair of the Finance and Administration Committee.
H.E Mr. Osama Jafar Faqeeh was head of the delegation to the 4th Meeting of the Presidents of the GCC SAIs 13-14 Dec. 2004.
The Participants discussed the researches periodical contest and studies in the auditing areas carried out by SAIs' staff of the GCC. The meeting reviewed as well, the comprehensive reviews on the internal audit presented by SAI, Oman. The meeting has also discussed the issue of qualifying the technical staff of SAIs to obtain specialized professional qualifications in the field of financial accounting/audit such as the relevant Fellowship degree in Accountancy and Audit.