Tag: Autumn 2021

I was Vice President of the Brazilian Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) when COVID-19 broke out worldwide, posing extraordinary challenges to people and organizations. However, this was not the first time I had faced adversity. Having lived through difficult historical periods in Brazilian history, such as the years of military dictatorship, I have been…

Fifty years ago, INTOSAI published the first edition of the International Journal of Government Auditing (IJGA) at the 1971 Montreal Congress of INTOSAI (INCOSAI). Shortly thereafter, the INTOSAI Governing Board approved establishing a quarterly publication to facilitate knowledge sharing across our community. In 1974…

During a nationwide lockdown in August 2021, the New Zealand Office of the Auditor-General, the country’s Supreme Audit Institution (SAI), published its report on The Government’s Preparedness to Implement the Sustainable Development Goals. The SAI’s report presented the results of…

The Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo elected Mrs. Vlora Spanca to a five-year term as Auditor General of the Republic of Kosovo on August 12, 2021. As Auditor General, Mrs. Spanca is committed to continuing to strengthen the National Audit Office’s (NAO) role in enhancing transparency and accountability in the public sector. Under her leadership, NAO…

In August 2021, Dr. Edwin Humberto Salazar Jerez, Comptroller General of Accounts of the Republic of Guatemala, launched the National System of Governmental Internal Control (SINACIG), which aims to strengthen and streamline the internal controls of public institutions in accordance with international best practices. This system will…

For the first time, state authorities will be required to submit a sworn statement to the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic of Peru on their personal, family, employment, economic, and financial ties, to identify and avoid possible conflicts of interest. This measure will help ensure…

In 2020, the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic of Costa Rica, the country’s Supreme Audit Institution (SAI), designed a strategic audit approach to assess Bono Proteger, a government program that provides $100-200 USD cash payments, for up to three months, to…

Commission on Audit (COA) Chairperson Michael G. Aguinaldo shared the experiences of the Philippines’ Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) at the International Budget Partnership’s (IBP) online discussion, “Managing COVID Funds: A Global Scorecard of Accountability,” held on May 24, 2021. The discussion centered on…

On August 20, 2021, Mr. Tanka Mani Sharma Dangal, Honorable Auditor General of Nepal, submitted the 58th report of the Auditor General to the Right Honorable President Mrs. Bidya Devi Bhandari, in accordance with the Constitution. President Bhandari thanked the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) for its efforts. The report presented…

On June 7, 2021, Mr. Hou Kai, Auditor General of the National Audit Office of China (CNAO), presented a report to the legislature during the 29th Session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC). The report outlined the results of…

At the 15th Assembly of the Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI), held on September 7, 2021, the Chamber of Accounts of the Republic of Azerbaijan was elected, together with SAI Kazakhstan, as a new member of ASOSAI’s Audit Committee for 2021-2024. This was the first time SAI Azerbaijan was nominated for this role.

From June through August 2021, the Accountability State Authority (ASA) of Egypt, the country’s Supreme Audit Institution (SAI), participated virtually in…

In July 2021, the National Audit Office of Lithuania published a report assessing how the government has mitigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, as well as the availability of mental health services. The report also included a survey of the European Union’s Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) to learn about other countries’ efforts and experiences in this area. The National Audit Office found that…

With governments around the world spending massive sums to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) have a key role to play in detecting and preventing fraud. To share knowledge and best practices, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) held an international webinar on September 15, 2021, on “Auditing for Fraud: Experiences, Tools and Techniques, and Looking Ahead.” The virtual event, which attracted approximately 260 attendees, was…

The Algerian Court of Accounts (COA) participated in the following international events from June to September 2021…

In July 2021, the State Audit Office (SAO) of Hungary published a report on a compliance and performance audit it conducted on emerging epidemics and vaccination coverage. The challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic have made the findings of the audit…

Natural disasters, such as hurricanes, flooding, and wildfires, have the potential to devastate people’s everyday lives by causing injuries and death, destroying homes and infrastructure, and wreaking economic havoc. From 2000 through 2019, there were 7,348 major disaster events worldwide, which claimed 1.23 million lives, affected 4.2 billion people (many more than once), and resulted in approximately U.S. $2.97 trillion in global economic losses. Governments usually lead recovery efforts by…

Among the many drastic changes wrought by the COVID-19 crisis has been the sudden shift to a virtual work environment. At the start of the pandemic, some audit offices had already made significant strides toward enabling remote work, while others conducted work primarily in-person, whether to build a collaborative work culture, ensure safe handling of sensitive documents, or due to limited information technology infrastructure or other reasons. The pandemic has presented..

Pacific Island Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs), many of which are very small in comparison with SAIs in other regions, face an array of challenges. These range from issues related to serving small populations, like a high risk of perceived conflicts of interest and difficulty recruiting and retaining qualified staff, to grave threats like the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change. Given these challenges, it can be tempting for SAIs in the Pacific Association of SAIs (PASAI) region to…

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the United Kingdom’s National Audit Office (UK NAO) was able to effectively carry on its work by quickly pivoting to remote auditing and using technology to build relationships within the agency and around the world. Indeed, many auditors continued to conduct audits and publish audit reports without ever meeting their teams or clients in person. Aspects of UK NAO’s operations were not the only things to change. The Supreme Audit Institution’s (SAI) portfolio of work also…

On September 29, 2021, INTOSAI’s Capacity Building Committee (CBC) held its annual Steering Committee meeting, led by South African Auditor General Tsakani Maluleke, CBC Chair, and Swedish Auditor General Helena Lindberg, CBC Vice Chair. The virtual event featured updates from the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) leading CBC’s subcommittees, task forces, and workstreams, whose work demonstrates…

The 13th Steering Committee meeting of the Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Services Committee (KSC) was held virtually on September 16, 2021. Representatives from the INTOSAI Chair, Goal Committees, General Secretariat, and INTOSAI Development Initiative IDI) participated, along with representatives of KSC’s 12 working groups. In his opening remarks, Mr. Girish Chandra Murmu, Comptroller and Auditor General of India and KSC Chair, underscored…