Q3 2016

It is a great privilege and gives me deep pleasure to seize this opportunity at the end of my 12-year term as Secretary General of INTOSAI to reflect on the past decade’s milestones and to take an outlook on future opportunities and the challenges that lie ahead. When I assumed office as Secretary General of INTOSAI, the organization was shaped by new visions and the spirit of renewal and innovation. My appointment to office coincided with the adoption of INTOSAI’s first Strategic Plan…

Dr. Margit Kraker assumed office as President of the Austrian Court of Audit (ACA) and…

The Journal is committed to this continued transformation, and you may have noticed a bit of a metamorphosis in the overall look and feel of this edition. The goals behind the redesign of the Journal include giving it a more contemporary, yet corporate, look and feel; providing a cleaner and more engaging reading experience; increasing readership accessibility; and adapting the Journal into a more robust tool for knowledge sharing…

As journalists, we do our best to ensure that everything is clear, concise and correct. But, there are times when we don’t always completely meet that challenge, particularly taking into account the global nature of our business. In the Spring 2016 issue of the INTOSAI Journal, we published quite a bit of news and some fascinating feature articles. In fact, we received numerous inquiries about some of the reporting in the last edition, specifically submissions from the State Audit Office of the Republic of Latvia…

In 2012, heads of the SAIs of China and USA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). According to the MoU’s objective, “The participants intend to establish, improve, and develop a framework for cooperation in national audit and promote effective interaction between the participants on the basis of equality, reciprocity, and mutual benefit.” The MoU has allowed the National Audit Office of the People’s Republic of China (CNAO) and the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) the opportunity to…

On April 5, 2016, Mr. Maw Than, a well-known economist (born August 28, 1939), officially assumed his role as Union Auditor General (UAG) of the Office of the Auditor General of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. He was appointed by the President in 2016 with the approval of the Parliament for a term of five years. Mr. Maw Than has served in several high-visibility roles, including…

On April 5, 2016, Doctor Ho Duc Phoc was appointed by the National Assembly as Auditor General (AG) of the State Audit Office of Vietnam (SAV). He was nominated by the Chairwoman of the National Assembly (NA) and was approved by the majority of the NA. Dr Phoc says that, “I will try, with my utmost efforts, together with other leaders of the SAV and the entire Office, to achieve…

On March 30, 2016, Charles Deguara was appointed as Malta’s new Auditor General by the…

The National Audit Office of Lithuania (NAOL) approved a new long-term development document establishing the…

by Rachel Nugent, National Audit Office, United Kingdom The UK’s Building Public Trust Awards, sponsored…

In February, a specialized technical team from the SAI of Costa Rica conducted a national telephone…

A Royal decree was issued on the appointment of Dr. Hussam Al-Angari as the new…

At the 13th AFROSAI-E Governing Board meeting held in Abuja, Nigeria, May 2016, the Office…

The Court of Accounts of the Republic of Moldova (CoA) has successfully implemented the actions…

A new financial audit system was introduced in Finland on January 1, 2016. On that date, the new Auditing Act and the Act on Audits of Public Administration and General Government Finances entered into force and harmonized the system of auditor’s examinations and the supervision of audits. There are about 1,600 approved auditors in Finland. Until the end of 2015…

The benefits of cooperative audits are multiple, in particular for the opportunity for professional development of auditors through peer-to-peer activities, exchange of knowledge, experience and good practice with partner SAIs. Croatia, Macedonia and Hungary are countries where tourism is a major economic sector, and they all have adopted…

The Programs and Reports Committee of the Court of Accounts in Algeria approved the SAI’s second strategic plan covering the years 2015 to 2018 at its meeting held April 1, 2015. The plan takes into account the recommendations of its recent peer review and a partnership with the French Court of Accounts. Based on recommendations from its peer review report, the Court of Accounts expressed its willingness to receive institutional support to strengthen…

The State Audit Bureau of Kuwait (SAB) hosted a workshop on “Performance Audit” April 5-6, 2016, within the framework of the cooperation agreement with the Netherlands Court of Audit. A number of participants from SAB staff and trainers from the Netherlands Court of Audit…

The audit profession in the Netherlands has been involved in a series of major incidents in recent years. The good news is that the Dutch audit profession has adopted a raft of measures since we wrote to Parliament in 2014, highlighting the main concerns from a public-sector viewpoint. The question is whether we are fighting the final battle in the war to restore public trust or just the next in a long series of battles…

Financial institutions and markets provide essential services to the U.S. and global economies. However, weaknesses in federal oversight have contributed to the thrift and bank crises in the 1980s and the financial crisis experienced from 2007-2009. For example, the resolution of banks and thrifts during these crises cost federal bank and thrift insurance funds over $165 billion and resulted in unprecedented…

The State Audit Office of Hungary (SAO) fundamentally renewed its activities in the past 5 years further developing international principles of good governance. The SAO’s study series titled “Pillars of Good Governance” and the Hungarian model of good governance embody the results of our work, our experience gained during the renewal and the synthesis of our knowledge. In accordance with its institutional strategy, the mission of the State Audit Office of Hungary (SAO) is to promote…

The Office of the Auditor General of Thailand (OAG) hosted the 50th Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) Governing Board Meeting (GBM), as well as the International Symposium on the “National Integrity System (NIS)” February 15-19, 2016, on the auspicious occasion of the 100th anniversary of its establishment. The objectives of the symposium were…

Dr. Harib Al Amimi, President of State Audit Institution and First Vice-Chairman of the INTOSAI…

The Professional Standards Committee (PSC) met in Copenhagen in May 2016. The event marked a…

by Michael Kuur Sørensen, SAI of Denmark (Professional Standards Committee, Secretariat) The Professional Standards Committee…

The Chair of INTOSAI’s Finance and Administration (FAC) Task Force on the 2017-2022 Strategic Plan,…

by Monika Gonzalez-Koss, Director, General Secretariat, INTOSAI As part of the Ministerial Segment of the…

IDI continues to provide support to INTOSAI and its community. Recent news includes new board…

In this update, the INTOSAI Donor Cooperation provides contributions from the World Bank, Public Expenditure…