The Algerian Court of Accounts (COA) Implements Cooperation Programs and Engages the INTOSAI Community in High-Level Regional and International Events

Author: Algerian Court of Accounts

The Algerian Court of Accounts (COA) has recently concluded and implemented a number of cooperation programs, further demonstrating the COA commitment to effective partnerships.

Cooperation with the Financial Services Volunteer Corps

The COA concludes a cooperation program with FSVC

_{Source: Algerian Court of Accounts}

In 2021, the U.S. Embassy in Algeria selected the Financial Services Volunteer Corps (FSVC) to implement an 18-month U.S. State Department-funded cooperative program for the benefit of the COA. From February to June 2022, the COA and the FSVC jointly organized several meetings and distance learning workshops related to the four areas of cooperation: (1) performance audit and evaluation of public policies, (2) International Public Sector Accounting Standards, (3) information technology audit, and, (4) communication.

Cooperation with SAI France and SAI Portugal

In 2022, the COA concluded an institutional partnership with its French and Portuguese counterparts regarding the certification of State’s accounts, in accordance with international standards and best practices. In this context, the COA organized several training workshops in May and June 2022, bringing together COA auditors and experts from the two counterpart SAIs to discuss the audit of state accounts for certification purposes, and financial audit methodology.

Participation in the SHARAKA 2 Cooperation Program

The COA also took part in the SHARAKA 2 cooperation program, launched by SAI Netherlands, and included SAIs of eight countries, namely Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan and Tunisia. In addition to sharing experiences and knowledge, the SHARAKA 2 program has three major objectives aimed at (1) auditing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), (2) developing institutional communication strategy, and (3) implementing audit quality assurance.

Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Board of Supreme Audit of Iraq

The COA signs a Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation with the Federal Board of Supreme Audit of Iraq

_{Source: Algerian Court of Accounts}

In May 2022, the COA and the Federal Board of Supreme Audit of Iraq (FBSA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation during Mr. Raffel Yassin Khudair Al-Assadi, President of the FBSA,’s visit to the COA. The memorandum covers external audit methodology and procedures in the areas of SDG auditing, evaluation of public programs and policies, certification of State’s accounts, and IT audit.

COA Participation in High- Level Regional and International Events

The COA also has taken part in high-level regional and international events, both through in-person and virtual settings.

A delegation from COA chaired by Mr. Abdelkader Benmarouf, COA President, participated remotely on: March 16^th, 2022 in the extraordinary meeting of AFROSAI’s Steering Committee; March 17 and 18^th, 2022 in the 2^nd part of the 15^th General Assembly of AFROSAI, and; March 20^th and 21^st, 2022 in the work of the 63^rd meeting of the Executive Council of ARABOSAI held in Doha, Qatar, in which Mr. Abdelkader Benmarouf held additional discussions with his Qatari and Iraqi counterparts.

From January through June 2022, the COA took part in several regional and international remote meetings and webinars. A delegation from COA took part in the 14^th, 15^th and 16^th meetings of the ARABOSAI Strategic Plan Committee held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for 3 days in February, in March and in May. Additionally, a COA delegation took part in March 2022 in the 9^th specialized session of the ESCWA 2022 Forum on “The Challenges of Coordination, Methodologies and Modern Resources in Statistical Data Collection for the Improvement of their Quality and their Role in the Recovery and Achievement of the SDGs”.

The COA also jointly organized, with the European Commission’s Technical Assistance and Information Exchange Instrument (TAIEX), a remote workshop on “Improving the Quality of Public Procurement Audits on January 4, 5, 11 and 12, 2022. COA continued its participation in February 2022 in webinars organized by the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) in cooperation with ARABOSAI, as part of the Auditing Transparency, Accountability and Inclusiveness – Global Cooperative Compliance Audit initiative..

COA additionally took part in two workshops in February and April of 2022 on “Combating Desertification, Food Security and Sustainable Development” and on “Audit of Extractive Industries”, organized by SAI India in cooperation with the International Centre for Environmental Auditing and Sustainable Development (iCED) and the INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA).