From International Desk

1. 13^th Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) Assembly, 48^th -49^th Governing Board Meeting and 6^th ASOSAI Symposium (9-13 February,2015)

A delegation from SAI India headed by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India participated in the 13^th ASOSAI Assembly, 48^th-49^th Governing Board Meeting and 6^th ASOSAI Symposium at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The 48^th Governing Board meeting was chaired by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. At the 48^th Governing Board meeting, various activities of ASOSAI were reported and discussed for appropriate collective actions.

First session of ASOSAI Assembly was Chaired by the CAG of India and at the end of first session the Auditor General of Malaysia took over the Chairmanship of ASOSAI for the period 2015-2018.

The main agenda items discussed at the 13^th Assembly are as follows:

• The 13^th Assembly introduced electronic voting system to elect six Governing Board members and two Audit Committee members for 2015-2018. Six SAIs, namely, the SAIs of Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Turkey were elected as the members of the Governing Board while the SAIs of Jordan and Mongolia won the seats on the Audit Committee.



• The final report of the 10^th ASOSAI Research Project on "Audit to Detect Fraud and Corruption: "Evaluation of the Fight against Corruption and Money Laundering" was adopted.
• The best article award for contribution in ASOSAI went to Dr Recai Akyel, the President of the Turkish Court of Accounts for his article titled, "The New Approach to the Audit Management System," contributed to April 2014 edition of the Asian Journal of Government Audit.

The 6^th ASOSAI Symposium was held with a great success, under the theme, "Leveraging Technology to Enhance Audit Quality and Effectiveness". The Symposium stood not only as a knowledge-sharing platform among the member SAIs, but also as a useful vehicle to understand the practices followed by entities in the private sector who were specially invited to this particular Symposium.

At the 49^th Governing Board meeting, the newly constituted Governing Board made important decisions on the 11^th ASOSAI Research Project, selecting the hosts of subsequent Board meetings and the date and venue of the next Assembly, as follows:

• The ASOSAI Research Project was improved with more diverse research topics and flexible research period. Two research topics were selected "Methods for Developing Risk-based Audit Plans" and "Audit of Public Private Partnership Arrangements".
• Dr. Doan Xuan Tien, Deputy Auditor General of Vietnam, announced that the 14^th Assembly will be held in Ha Noi, Vietnam in September or October 2018.

2. 2^nd meeting of the Global Audit Leadership Forum (GALF)( 25-27 March 2015)

The 2^nd meeting of the Global Audit Leadership Forum (GALF) –formerly known as Global Working Group, was held at Wellington, New Zealand from 25-27 March 2015. The GALF provides select group of 19 Auditor Generals to meet annually for organised yet informed discussions on current and emerging issues of concern to their Government and offices and to explore opportunities to share information and work closely. The meeting was attended by Mr. A. M. Bajaj, Director General of Audit (Economic and Service Ministries) on behalf of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Mr. Bajaj presented a country paper on "Public Auditor 2030: A perspective from SAI India" in the meeting.

3. 8^th meeting of the INTOSAI Performance Audit Subcommittee (PAS) (24-25 March 2015)

The 8^th meeting of the INTOSAI Performance Audit Subcommittee (PAS) was hosted by SAI-India at New Delhi from 24-25 March 2015 in which 24 delegates from member SAIs of PAS had participated. Dr. Ashutosh Sharma, Principal Director of Commercial Audit & Ex-Officio Member Audit Board-IV, New Delhi was SAI-India's representative for the above meeting. The main purpose of the 8^th PAS meeting was to finalise the draft ISSAIs 3000, 3100 and 3200 on Performance Auditing.

4. Product Development Meeting for INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) eLearning Capacity Development Programme (13 to 24 April 2015)

A two week Product Development Meeting for INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) eLearning Capacity Development Programme was hosted by SAI-India at New Delhi from 13 to 24 April 2015 at hotel Radisson Blu Marina, Connaught Place. The programme aims to create an IDI eLearning platform, document an eLearning methodology in a eLearning handbook, create professional staff capacity for eLearning by creating a pool of eLearning specialists and support regions and SAIs in creating capacity for and implementing eLearning. Mr. K. S. Subramanian, Director General (International Relations) attended this meeting as a resource person. The IDI is expecting this phase of the programme to run from 2015 to 2018.

5. 12^th meeting of the INTOSAI Finance and Administration Committee (14 and 15 May 2015)

Mr. Shashi Kant Sharma, Comptroller and Auditor General of India and his delegation comprising Mr. K. S. Subramanian, Director General (International Relations), and Mr. Anadi Misra, Secretary to CAG attended the 12^th meeting of the INTOSAI Finance and Administration Committee held at Washington D.C., United States of America on 14 and 15 May 2015. SAI-India presented an update on INTOSAI Committee on Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Services – Goal 3 (KSC), Chaired by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, in the above meeting.

6. Staff level coordination meeting of INTOSAI's Goal Chairs (26-27 February & 3 March,2015)

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India, in his capacity as Chair of the INTOSAI's Goal 3 (Knowledge Sharing Committee), has agreed to collaborate with other INTOSAI Goal Chairs i.e. Goal 1 (Professional Standards Committee) and Goal 2 (Capacity Building Committee)to develop a common, overall working plan. Therefore, a staff level coordination meeting of the representatives of INTOSAI's Goal Chairs was held at Copenhagen, Denmark on 26 and 27 February 2015. This meeting was attended by Mr. K. S. Subramanian, Director General (International Relations). The staff level coordination meeting held at Copenhagen was followed by a meeting of the INTOSAI's Goal Chairs at Vienna, Austria on 3^rd March 2015 which was attended by Mr. A. K. Singh, Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General (Report Central & Local Bodies) and Mr. K. S. Subramanian, Director General (International Relations).

7. 12^th Meeting of the Steering Committee of the Professional Standards Committee of INTOSAI (27 – 29 May 2015)

The 12^th meeting of the Steering Committee of the Professional Standards Committee of INTOSAI was held from 27^th – 29^th May 2015 in Canada, Ottawa. The meeting was chaired by Ms. Bettica Jacobson and was attended by 42 participants from Member SAIs.

Ms. Meenakshi Sharma, Director General (Professional Practices Group) represented SAI India for this meeting. The meeting discussed the project proposals from Financial Audit sub-Committee, Compliance Audit sub-Committee and Performance Audit sub-Committee and approved these proposals for further action. In the meeting, exposure draft of ISSAI 30, ISSAI 3000-3200 and ISSAI 4000 were approved by the Steering Committee for exposure in the public domain. The Committee also discussed the progress made to improve INTOSAI's standard setting process specifically the initial work for formation of a Common Forum and the exposure draft for new Due process for Standards setting.

8. 69^th Regular Session of United Nations Board of Auditors (22 to 23 July 2015)

Mr. Shashi Kant Sharma, Comptroller & Auditor General of India accompanied by Mr. Anadi Misra, Secretary to CAG had attended 69^th Regular Session of United Nations Board of Auditors held at UN Headquarters, New York during the period 22 to 23 July 2015. In this session all the Board's audit reports (other than UNPKO) for the financial year 2014 were reviewed, approved and signed be the three members of the Board. Audit Reports where SAI India was the lead auditor are as under:

1. 1. United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
2. 2. United Nations University (UNU)
3. 3. United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund (UNJSPF)
4. 4. United Nations Escrow Account
5. 5. United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)
6. 6. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
7. 7. United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)

9. In addition to the above domestic and international engagements in INTOSAI, the CAG of India and other nominated officers from SAI India participated in other meetings/seminars organized by different SAIs.

10. Other Activities

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has agreed to be a partner in a Twining Arrangement with SAI Bangladesh under their ongoing initiatives to strengthen the SAI Bangladesh with the support of the World Bank. The letter of Exchange was signed by Ms. Ajanta Dayalan, Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General on 19^th June 2015 at New Delhi.

11. UN Board of Auditors (UNBOA)

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India is member of the UN Board of Auditors for the term July 2014 to June 2020.

12. Audit Portfolio of CAG of India

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India is conducting Financial/Certification, Performance, Compliance and IT audits of the following UN Organizations/Agencies every year:

UN Organizations

• United Nations Peace Keeping Operations(UNPKO)
• United Nations Children's Fund(UNICEF)
• UN University(UNU)
• United Nation Joint Staff Pension Fund(UNJSPF)
• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
• United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification(UNCCD)
• United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR)
• UN Escrow Account
• Portion of UN Headquarter(Procurement Division), HRM, Office of High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR), UN Office at Geneva (UNOG))

UN Agencies

• World Food Programme (WFP)
• International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
• World Intellectual Property Organization(WIPO)
• International Organization for Migration(IOM)
• UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO)

United Nations Panel of External Auditors and its Technical Group

The External Auditors of United Nations (Members of the Board of Auditors) and its Specialised Agencies constitute the "United Nations Panel of External Auditors". The Panel meets once a year to address issues of developments in accounting/auditing practices worldwide. We have been member of the Panel since 1993, by virtue of being the External Auditor of United Nations or its specialised agencies. CAG was the Chairman of the Panel from 2012 to 2013 and Director General (International Relations) was the Convener of the Technical Group of the Panel during that Period.