Bangladesh
SAI Bangladesh strives for quality audit output. Continuous effort is given to enhance the capability of the personnel engaged in auditing. Sharing experiences with other SAIs, acquiring knowledge from their reports and dissemination of these information has become a priority work of SAI Bangladesh in line with its strategic plans. A major step in demonstrating the willingness for improvement of quality is manifested through different presentations and workshops.
Short–term Plan
The main objective of the short-term plan of SAI-Bangladesh is to increase the efficiency level of all officers and staff through ensuring punctuality and discipline at all levels. The following achievements have been made:
95% attendance of the employees has been ensured in all offices through enhanced supervision
Working environment has registered significant improvement in all offices
Supervisory officers are inspecting and supervising their sections regularly
Rational work distribution has been effected to enhance efficiency
Workbooks are being maintained according to the prescribed format
Special effort has been given on settling pending audit observations and the rate of settlement has registered substantial increase
In-house training has been institutionalized in every office
Timeliness to the extent of almost 95% has been achieved in issuance of local audit reports
Mid-term Plan
The mid-term plan, of SAI-Bangladesh is to put into operation all available, updated and productive workforces with professional acumen to carry out effective audit. This is being implemented by
Updating relevant information of the auditable units
Setting out their priority and importance
Rationalizing audit mandays
Establishing effective audit briefing and in-house training
Enforcing effective monitoring, supervision and inspection, involving senior and mid-level officials in field audit
Enhancing capability in quality auditing
The effective functioning of quality assurance arrangement has resulted in marked qualitative improvements of audit reports produced during 2003-2004. The traditional, voluminous audit reports are being replaced by brief, precise and reader-friendly reports. This may be seen as an example of qualitative improvement in audit culture of SAI, Bangladesh.
Long-term Plan
The long-term plan sets out the road map towards promoting accountability and transparency in public financial management by SAI Bangladesh for achieving good governance. The key features of the long-term plan are
Formation of an ‘Audit Forum’ comprising all Directors General of Audit Directorates
Identification of new reform areas
Modernising Financial Management Academy (FIMA)
Constructing “Audit Bhaban”
Audit Forum: Soon after the assumption of office, the C&AG constituted ‘DG Audit Forum’ comprising all the Directors General of the Audit Directorates. The forum has been formed with the expectation that it would act as a think-tank in supplementing CAG’s efforts to produce quality audit reports.
Identification of New Reform Areas: To enhance the quality of audit report, the following reforms areas have been identified -
Audit planning
Ensuring quality of audit report
Effective audit team supervision
Audit team inspection
Surveys and studies
Workshops and seminars
Some notable achievements of long term plan in the context of international cooperation are
Re-election of SAI Bangladesh as member of ASOSAI governing board
Successful holding of a conference of the regional Auditors General on, “Harmonizing institutional efforts for promoting accountability in the Public Sector” in Dhaka during 30-31 August, 2004.
Signing MoU with the Chamber of Accounts of Russia
Research and publication includes regular publication of
CAG News - quarterly
REVIEW-quarterly
Annual Report
Modernising Financial Management Academy (FIMA) : A distinctive feature of the long term plan is the modernisation of the Financial Management Academy (FIMA) through physical upliftman, re-organisation of existing syllabus and introduction of new courses. The foundation stone of an independent FIMA complex was laid on May 19, 2005.
Constructing “Audit Bhaban” : An important milestone of the long term plan is the construction of ‘Audit Bhaban’ - own office building of the Comptroller and Auditor General of Bangladesh. The foundation stone was laid on March 22, 2005 and the construction works are going on in full swing.
Tenure-term Plan
The tenure-term plan focuses on quality audit. The main characteristics of quality audit reports are understandability, value addition, objectivity, timeliness and credibility which are closely linked with the efficiency of the auditors who must have adequate professional capability.
The main emphasis of tenure plan includes the following
Quality assurance of the audit reports
Gradual shifting from compliance to performance and issue-based audits
Initiating IT audit
Timely submission of audit reports to the Parliament
Since adoption of CAG's strategic plan in the year 2003, initiatives were taken to switch over to new approaches of audit. All the audit directorates took stock of past audit work, identified the auditable entities and prioritized the auditable units. Issuance of checklists for audit team briefing, rationalization of audit man-days, inspection and supervision of audit teams were ensured for quality improvement of audit. Involvement of higher-level audit staff in conducting audit was also introduced. Two tier quality assurance arrangements, both at the directorate level and in the CAG's office, were set up and checklists for quality assurance teams were issued to ensure that all audits conducted and the reports were prepared in accordance with relevant auditing standards.
As a capacity building measure SAI Bangladesh launched a major initiative to upgrade the skills of staff at all levels. As part of knowledge dissemination, audit reports and annual reports received from different SAIs were reviewed and discussed in presentation sessions. To expedite the process of audit efforts have been taken to ensure submission of preliminary reports on the day of completion of audit and communicating serious irregularities to the audited authorities immediately. SAI Bangladesh also conducted pre-emptive audits on the request of different ministries. The performance of SAI Bangladesh in the years 2003 and 2004 with regard to proper planning of audit, effective briefing, regular monitoring, quality assurance and timely submission of audit reports showed remarkable improvement.
(This news item is based on presentations made by Md. Manirul Islam, Director, Defence Audit Directorate, Md. Abul Kashem, Director General, Local and Revenue Audit Directorate, Md. Moslem Uddin, Director General, Foreign Aided Project Audit Directorate, and M.C. Datta, Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General).
A workshop on the above issue was held on May 26, 2005 in Bogra, a district town in the northern part of the country, where Manindra Chandra Datta, Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General and Nodal Officer for implementing the ASOSAI Audit Quality Management System (AQMS) Project, presented the keynote paper. His presentation covered the objective of four-phased project with specific guidelines for establishing an AQMS by member SAI countries.
The workshop was held on June 8, 2005 at Manikganj where Md. Nurun Nabi Khan, Director General, Commercial Audit Directorate discussed the procedures of preparing a Draft Para (Audit Para).
Md. Shahad Chowdhury, Director General, Works Audit Directorate discussed the CAG’s Strategic Plan for 2005-2006 in the above mentioned workshop which was held on June 25, 2005. He pointed out that from the achievements and failures during 2003-2004, it transpires that more rigorous and focused attention is needed for the year 2005-2006 to materialize the expectations reflected in the strategic plan. This requires preparation of a road map and working plan.
A clear understanding of the railway costing is an essential pre-requisite for an analysis of economy, efficiency and effectiveness (three Es) in the railway service. Costing results greatly facilitate preparing audit criteria for such evaluation. With this backdrop a seminar was held in Mymensingh, on June 14, 2005. Ahsan Abdullah, Finance Controller, Bangladesh Ordnance Factory presented his key note paper and discussed general concepts of railway costing, basis of calculation, criteria for calculation and application.
India
Two International training programmes on ‘Audit of Public Sector Enterprises’ and ‘Audit of Information Technology’ were inaugurated by the Comptroller & Auditor General of India in August and September, 2005 respectively. These programmes were attended by 65 participants from 29 countries. The remaining three International training programmes till February, 2006 are as follows:
|
# |
Name of course |
Period |
|
1 |
Performance Audit |
November 28, 2005 to December 27, 2005 |
|
2 |
Audit of Public Works and Projects |
January 01, 2006 to February 8, 2006 |
|
3. |
Auditing in EDP Environment-Challenges for SAIs |
February 27, 2006 to February 28, 2006 |
Kuwait
Subject to SAB training plan for the year 2005-2006, we conducted the following 16 in-house training programs with 252 participants:
12 external training programs in Kuwait with 24 participants.
14 abroad training programs with 15 participants.
|
2 Fundamental programs |
31 participants |
|
2 Specialized programs |
49 participants |
|
2 General programs |
38 participants |
|
3 Symposiums |
80 participants |
|
6 Computer programs |
54 participants |
Philippines
A multinational training program on the Audit of Funds for Tsunami/ Disaster and/or Conflict-stricken Areas and the Audit of United Nations (UN) Agencies was held at the Professional Development Center (PDC) of the Commission on Audit (COA), Quezon City, Philippines, on July 25 to August 5, 2005.
Attended by 20 foreign delegates consisting of five delegates each from Indonesia, Maldives, Sri- Lanka and Thailand, and seven participants from COA, the training program highlighted the UN System and the Risk-based Audit Approach (RBAA). The UN System overview informed the participants about the UN system, its funds and programmes and specialized agencies and their linkages with each other and to the principal organs of the UN, as well as the financial and management reporting systems and regulations and rules.
The four phases of the RBAA were discussed, namely: (i) Understanding the Agency or the Auditee; (ii) Assess Auditee Risk Management Strategies and Controls; (iii) Manage Residual Audit Risk; and (iv) Communicate Audit Results. The discussion on the RBAA was well appreciated by the participants because some of them were not using the RBAA in their audits.
Application of the theories was done through the workshops on each phase of the RBAA, using three selected UN agencies.
Two scheduled conference calls were held between Mr. Alain Gillette. Director of External Audit, France, UN Board of Auditors (UNBOA) and the participants. At these teleconferences, questions from the representatives of each country were entertained and answered by Mr. Gillette.
An invited resource person from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) discussed the activities pertaining to the mandate of the OCHA. Also, in another session, Ms. Marie-Laure Berbach, a senior external auditor from France, discussed the UNBOA and the French audit organization.
Included in the training program was an observation tour to the disaster areas of Real and Infanta, Quezon Province. In addition, the participants had hands-on experience of TEAM MATE, an audit software of the Pricewaterhouse Coopers which was presented in a special session.
The culminating activities included mock entrance and exit conferences wherein the resource persons portrayed the role of management officials and the participants acted as the external auditors.
At the closing ceremonies held at the PDC Auditorium on August 5, COA Chairman Guillermo N. Carague gave his Message, followed by the Reflections of the representatives of the participants and resource persons on their experiences during the training. A distribution of tokens was made by Chairman Carague assisted by Commissioner Reynaldo A. Villar and Assistant Commissioner Flerida V. Creencia and Ms. Marie-Laure Berbach.
Commissioner Villar delivered the Closing Remarks emphasizing the importance of the Seminar and congratulating the participants and resource persons for its success.
United Arab Emirates
The SAI participated in the three phases GCC SAIs programme for qualifying trainers in compliance with IDI terms. The last phase of the programme was hosted by Saudi Arabia SAI from 2nd to 13th April, 2005. The instructors were IDI graduates who work in GCC SAIs.
The SAI participated, during the period January to June, 2005 in six training workshops and a symposium organized by our two regional groups the GCC & the AROBOSAI and hosted by seven different SAIs.
Within the frame of its strategic plan to train all its staff on computer applications the SAI held during January -June, 2005 seven training courses for preparing 75 persons of its both technical & administration staff to acquire the I.C.D.L.
