From the International Desk
The International role of the Supreme Audit Institution of India extends to following areas:
- Association with INTOSAI
- Association with ASOSAI
- Participation in Global Audit Leadership Forum(GALF) & other international multilateral bodies
- Bilateral relations with other SAIs
- Audits of International Organizations
The CAG of India occupies several important positions in INTOSAI and ASOSAI. The prominent ones among these are Chair of INTOSAI Committee on Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Services (KSC), Chair of the INTOSAI Working Group on IT Audit (WGITA) and member of INTOSAI and ASOSAI Governing Board. The SAI India has recently also taken over the responsibility of Chairmanship of the INTOSAI Compliance Audit Subcommittee (CAS).
A Forum for INTOSAI’s Professional Pronouncements (FIPP) has been established by the INTOSAI Goal Chairs (i.e. PSC, CBC and KSC). The FIPP is chaired by Ms. K. Ganga, Deputy Comptroller & Auditor General(CRA) which has 15 other members from various SAIs.
CAG is a member of the UN Board of Auditors (Board) for the period July 2014 to June 2020. Germany and Tanzania are the other members of the Board. As per the work allocation among the three members of the Board, SAI India is the lead auditor in respect of following UN organisations:
- UN Secretariat (Volume I)
- UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund)
- UNOPS (United Nations Office for Project Services)
- UNJSPF (United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund)
- UNCC (United Nations Compensation Commission)
- Escrow Account
- ITC (International Trade Centre)
- CMP (Capital Master Plan)
- UMOJA (ERP system of UN)
- Information & Communication Technology Strategy
- Concise Summary
Besides above, SAI India is having six PKO Missions under its audit portfolio where SAI Germany is the lead auditor.
CAG is also the external auditor of World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) for the period of six years from July 2012 to June 2018.
INTOSAI News
Supreme Audit Institution Leadership and Stakeholder Meeting - Audit of Preparedness for Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), New York, USA, 20-21 July, 2017
A meeting on “Auditing preparedness for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)” was held in New York, from 20 to 21 July 2017. It was jointly organised by the United Nations Department of Social and Economic Affairs (UNDESA) and the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI), following the ministerial segment of the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). Mr. Shashi Kant Sharma, Comptroller & Auditor General of India attended the meeting. He was accompanied by Director General (International Relations) and Secretary to CAG.
The aim of the meeting was to foster substantive discussions and knowledge-sharing on critical issues related to preparedness for SDG implementation. Discussions were organized around three objectives of the cooperative performance audits to be conducted in 2017-18 by selected SAIs with support from IDI and its partners:
- Integration of the 2030 Agenda in national contexts;
- Securing means of implementation for the 2030 Agenda;
- Monitoring, follow-up, review and reporting on progress on the 2030 Agenda.
Heads of SAIs, members of SAI leadership, experts from the SAI community, representatives from civil society, academia, UN organisations and other key stakeholders were provided with an opportunity to reflect on how to enhance the capacity of SAIs to conduct performance audits of preparedness for SDG implementation and SDG-related audits more generally and discuss about challenges and opportunities for SAIs’ contributions to SDG follow-up and review. Further details are available at
https://publicadministration.un.org/en/news-and-events/calendar/ ModuleID/ 1146/ ItemID/2947/mctl/EventDetails
14th INTOSAI Steering Committee Meeting of Professional Standards Committee (PSC), Brasilia, Brazil 8-9 June, 2017
The 14th meeting of the Steering Committee of INTOSAI PSC was held at Brasilia, Brazil from 8 to 9 June, 2017. Issues related to Strategic Development Plan – SDP (implementation and revision), Review of the Subcommittees’ terms of reference, Cooperation between the IDI and the PSC Subcommittees were discussed in the meeting. Mr. R.K. Ghose, Deputy Comptroller & Auditor General,Report Central, attended the meeting on behalf of CAG as member of KSC Steering Committee and Chair of Compliance Audit Subcommittee.
Various proposals to improve the standard setting system in INTOSAI as well as the implementation of specific projects to review or create standards were discussed and approved in the meeting. The next PSC Steering Committee meeting will be held in Luxembourg.
9th INTOSAI Steering Committee meeting of the Knowledge Sharing Committee (KSC) Bali, Indonesia 23-25 August, 2017
The 9th INTOSAI Steering Committee meeting of the Knowledge Sharing Committee (KSC) was hosted in Bali, Indonesia during 23-25 August, 2017. Ms. Rita Mitra, Deputy Comptroller & Auditor General chaired the meeting on behalf of CAG of India. She was accompanied by Mr. K.S. Subramanian, Director General (International Relations) and Ms. Mani Kuthirummal, Director, PDA Kuala Lumpur in the meeting. The meeting discussed the programmes and activities of the Working Groups and Project groups. The members also discussed the quality assurance mechanism for documents developed outside the IFPP, newly devised Reporting Dashboards and the KSC Risk Register. The meeting also saw approval of the revised KSC Terms of reference and utilization of INTOSAI Budget for the revamping of KSC Web portal. The next KSC Steering Committee meeting will be held in Kampala, Uganda.
Annual meetings of the INTOSAI Capacity Building Committee, INTOSAI Donor Steering Committee meeting and Policy Finance and Administration Committee, Washington D.C, USA, 19-22 September, 2017
Annual meetings of the INTOSAI Capacity Building Committee, Goal Chair Collaboration report, INTOSAI Donor Steering Committee, Task Force on INTOSAI Auditor Professionalization and Policy, Finance and Administration Committee were held at Washington D.C., USA from 19 to 22 September, 2017. Mr. K.S. Subramanian, Director General (International Relations) represented Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Services Committee of INTOSAI (KSC) in these meetings. Discussions at the CBC meeting were held on the themes ‘accountability and transparency’ where the reports of the work streams were discussed, ‘consultation and collaboration’ which involved inputs from the guest speakers and report from Goal chairs demonstrating the value of collaboration to the benefit of INTOSAI and ‘responsiveness and partnering’ which covered the Regional Forum for Capacity Development.
INTOSAI Donor Steering Committee meeting saw discussions on GCPs for Tier 2 SAIs and on how donors and INTOSAI could support Tier 2, proposed funding mechanisms and how to ensure optimal service delivery.
One of the important decisions taken in the PFAC meeting was for making available the INTOSAI surplus funds of about Euro 300 to 400 thousand for the implementation of the INTOSAI Strategic Plan.
Fifth meeting of Forum of INTOSAI Professional Pronouncements (FIPP), Ottawa, 17-21 July, 2017
The FIPP conducted its fifth meeting in Ottawa, on 17-21 July, 2017. The meeting was hosted by the Office of Auditor General of Canada. The Auditor General of Canada, Mr. Michael Ferguson inaugurated the meeting.
Twelve out of fifteen members of FIPP and three technical assistants, along with the PSC observers from SAI Brazil attended the meeting which was presided by FIPP Chair, Ms. K. Ganga.
The key items of discussion / decisions taken during the meeting are as below:
- The outcomes of PSC-Steering Committee meeting in June 2017 were deliberated along with actions that needed to be completed by FIPP for SDP revision, and preparation for the next SDP.
- Draft project proposals for SDP projects received from the goal chairs/sub committees/project groups were discussed, out of which some were approved and others were referred back with FIPP recommendations.
- Initial draft proposal for renumbering and relabeling of existing pronouncements into the IFPP was discussed.
- Under FIPP Working Procedures, project approval document and approval process by voting were agreed upon.
- Video conference with representatives KSC/FAAS/CAS/PAS and members of SAI Philippines, France and Russia was held as part of the discussions on project proposals.
Sixth meeting of Forum of INTOSAI Professional Pronouncements (FIPP), Guatemala, 28-30 November, 2017
The FIPP conducted its sixth meeting in Guatemala on 28-30 November 2017. SAI Guatemala was the host of this meeting, which was inaugurated by Comptroller General of Accounts, Republic of Guatemala Mr. Carlos Enrique Mencos Morales.
Eleven out of fifteen members and three technical assistants, along with the PSC observer from SAI Brazil attended the meeting. The meeting was presided by the FIPP Chair, Ms. K. Ganga.
FIPP members approved the exposure draft of INTOSAI P-10 on SAI Independence. Project proposals for five projects, namely guidance on compliance auditing, consolidated guidance on IT audit and Information security audit and consolidated guidance on public debt audit were approved by FIPP. FIPP membership also considered three new projects which have been included in the revised SDP 2017-19, namely, Public procurement audit, International
Pronouncement on jurisdictional activities of SAIs and Audit of Key National Indicators (KNI). While the project proposal on jurisdictional activities was conditionally approved subject to fulfilment of certain requirements, FIPP provided scoping papers on guidance on audit of public procurement audit and audit of KNIs to the respective working groups.
Mr. Kristoffer Blegvad was elected as Vice Chair of FIPP whose term will coincide with the term of the FIPP Chair, as per FIPP’s working procedures. It was also announced that following new members will join FIPP from January 2018:
- Mr. Tashi Tobgay, SAI Bhutan
- Mr. Alex Monge Lemaitre, SAI Costa Rica
- Ms. Aase Kristin Hemsen, SAI Norway
70th INTOSAI Governing Board Meeting, Graz, Austria, 6-7 November, 2017
More than 20 heads of SAIs and altogether 33 delegations met in Graz, Austria, upon the invitation of the INTOSAI General Secretariat for the 70th INTOSAI Governing Board meeting on 6 and 7 November 2017. On behalf of the Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Services Committee (KSC) (Goal 3 of INTOSAI), of which CAG is the Chair, Mr. Nand Kishore, Deputy Comptroller & Auditor General,attended the meeting. He was accompanied by Mr. K.S. Subramanian, Director General (International Relations) and Ms. Atoorva Sinha, Director (International Relations). The report of the KSC covering the progress achieved under various strategies and the key next items was presented before the GB.
Some of the most important decisions taken by the Governing Board are detailed below:
- Adoption of the following main themes for INCOSAI XXIII in Moscow to be held in the fourth week of September 2019:
- Theme I: "Information technologies for the development of the public administration" under the chairmanship of the SAI of China, and
- Theme II: "The role of the Supreme Audit Institutions in the achievement of the national priorities and goals" under the chairmanship of the SAI of the Russian Federation;
- Admission of the SAI of Guam as Affiliate Member. INTOSAI has therewith 194 Full Members, 5 Associate Members and 1 Affiliate Member;
- Approval of the SAI of Brazil to host the INCOSAI XXIV in 2022;
- Creation of a Task Force within the Governing Board for the Revision of three INTOSAI Handbooks (Handbooks for Committees, Governing Board Meetings and Congresses);
- Approval of the revised Strategic Development Plan for the INTOSAI Framework of Professional Pronouncements (IFPP) 2017-2019;
- Approval of the appointment of three new FIPP members from the SAIs of Bhutan, Costa Rica and Norway;
- Creation of the INTOSAI Regions Cooperation Platform as a single point of control and cooperation regarding capacity building efforts;
Furthermore, the participants discussed in two breakaway sessions the contribution of SAIs to the monitoring of the implementation of the SDGs as well as the development of the INTOSAI standard setting process.
The next INTOSAI Governing Board meeting will take place in Moscow in mid-November 2018.
Commemoration event of 40 years of Lima Declaration, Lima, Peru, 5-6 December, 2017
Mr. Rajiv Mehrishi, Comptroller & Auditor General of India also visited Lima to attend the Commemoration event of 40 years of Lima Declaration, which is considered Magna Carta of government auditing and genesis of several significant developments in the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI). The event which was organised by SAI Peru on 5-6 December, 2017 was attended by various INTOSAI leaders and members. Being Chair of the Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Services Committee (Goal-3) of INTOSAI, CAG of India delivered a speech on the Relationship between Goal -3: Knowledge sharing and the Lima Declaration before the INTOSAI Community. CAG was accompanied by Director General (International relations) and Secretary to CAG.
Steering Committee Meeting of INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing, Washington D.C., USA, 11-14 September, 2017
The 15th Steering Committee Meeting of INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing was hosted by US Government Accountability Office in Washington D.C. from 11-14 September 2017. Mr. Sunil. S. Dadhe, Director General(iCED) represented SAI India in the meeting.
The meeting mainly discussed and approved the project outlines of the projects identified in the Work Plan 2017-19 of WGEA. SAI India would be participating in the project on developing Audit Guideline on delivering the 2030 Agenda through Environment Auditing and developing training tool on Greening the SAIs. SAI India will also lead projects on ‘’Developing Training tools on Environment Data: Resource and options for SAIs and Global Training Facility at iCED, Jaipur”. Director General (iCED) as Project lead made presentation on these projects in the meeting.
ASOSAI News
Every year Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) organizes a seminar on a topic related to public audit. This year Board of Audit, Japan (Capacity Development Administrator of ASOSAI) organized the seminar on “Improvement and Innovation of Audit Process including addressing audit on preparedness of SDGs” at Kuwait from 7 to 14 December 2017 including pre-meetings. The Seminar was attended by Mr. Faisal Imam, Accountant General (Accounts & Entitlement), Punjab, Chandigarh as an Expert and Mr. Jahangirbadshah Rasul Inamdar, Director, International Centre for Environment Audit & Sustainable Development, Jaipur as a participant.
The Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institution (ASOSAI) sponsored Workshop is organized by ASOSAI every year to facilitate knowledge sharing among members SAIs. SAI Japan (Capacity Development Administrator of ASOSAI) had organised the ASOSAI Sponsored Workshop on “Performance Audit” and its pre and post - instructors meetings from 5-22 July, 2017 at Nilai, Malaysia which was attended by Ms. Reena Saha, Principal Director of Commercial Audit & Ex-Officio Member, Audit Board-II, Kolkata as an instructor and Mr Sanjeev Kumar, Deputy Director, Office of the Director General of Audit, Central Expenditure, New Delhi as a participant.
SAI Japan as the Capacity Development Administrator of Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) announced ASOSAI pilot capacity development programme on IT Audit for 2018-19 based on ASOSAI Strategic Plan. This is the first initiative for ASOSAI to try out a new blended approach which combines e-Learning and face to face meetings both at regional and sub-regional levels. On the request of SAI Japan as Capacity Development Administrator, Mr. Praveen Mal Khanooja, and Ms. Geetanjali CH, from SAI India have been nominated as resource persons for the ASOSAI pilot capacity development programme on IT Audit for the year 2018-19. In this connection, both the officers attended a design meeting of the ASOSAI pilot capacity development programme on IT Audit held at Tokyo, Japan from 23.11.2017 to 01.12.2017.
Bilateral and Multilateral Relations
Bilateral
2017 Indo-Kuwait Bilateral Seminar, Agra, 11-15 September 2017.
2017 Indo Kuwait Bilateral Seminar was organized at Agra, India from 11-15 September 2017.
The theme of the Seminar was ‘Sharing of experience on IT Audit’. Three participants from each SAI attended the Seminar. Ms. K. Ganga, Deputy Comptroller & Auditor Genera headed the Indian delegation consisting of Mr. Neelesh Kumar Sah and Mr. Deepak Mathews. The delegation from State Audit Bureau, Kuwait consisted of Ms. Maryam M. AlAnsari, Mr. Abdulaziz N. AlRasheedi and Ms. Sabeeka Y. AlTarkait.
During the Seminar delegates from both the SAIs presented two country papers each.
The delegates also made presentations on the theme.
8th Indo-China Young Auditors’ Forum, Bengaluru, 4-13 December 2017
The 8th Indo-China Young Auditors’ Forum was hosted by SAI India from 4 to 13 December, 2017 at Bengaluru. The themes of the forum were
- SAIs and Stakeholders Engagement in Audit.
- Use of technology in Public Audit.
A ten member delegation from China National Audit Office (CNAO) headed by Mr. Liu Jun, Deputy Director General participated in the forum. The ten member Indian delegation was headed by Ms. Pratibha Agrawal, Director.
Mr. Bijit Kumar Mukherjee, Accountant General (Economic & Revnue Sector Audit) delivered the welcome speech followed by an inaugural address by Mr. R. Naresh, Accountant General (Accounts & Entitlement). Accountants General encouraged all young auditors to take this opportunity to share and exchange knowledge and experience in respective countries and apply them into practice.
During the forum, both delegations made presentations on both the themes of the Forum.The theme paper presentations were followed by intensive question answer sessions as both sides were more than eager to absorb as much knowledge as possible about the other country’s auditing systems, new initiatives in Stakeholders’ engagement in audit and evolving role of IT in audit.
The Forum succeeded in giving an unparalleled platform for exchange of ideas and knowledge.
Multilateral
Audit Planning meetings of the Cooperative Performance Audit on preparedness for implementation of SDGs, iCED, Jaipur 04-08 December, 2017 and 11-15 December, 2017
Two Audit Planning meetings were held from 4-8 December, 2017 and 11-15 December, 2017 at iCED (International Centre for Environment Audit and Sustainable Development), Jaipur, Rajasthan. Several audit teams were invited to the meetings to share experiences and to share and receive feedback on their audit plans. As part of the programme, there was a short training on performance audit methodology and stakeholder meetings. There were presentations and discussion panels by experts on 2030 Agenda, the role of government, inclusiveness, multi-stakeholder engagement and on auditing the preparedness for implementation of SDGs.
The first meeting (4 to 8 December), was attended by 37 participants, representing 13 SAIs from ASOSAI, EUROSAI and CAROSAI and the second meeting (11 to 15 December), was attended by 40 participants, representing 14 SAIs from ASOSAI and AFROSAI-E
Sh.
Sameer Mehta, Deputy Director along with Sh. Deep Pant, Senior Audit Officer and Ms. Reena Goyal, Senior Audit Officer from SAI India, attended the first meeting from 4-8 December, 2017
UN Audit
Regular Session of UN Board of Auditors
71st Regular Session of the United Nations’ Board of Auditors, was held at the UN headquarters, New York on 25 & 26 July 2017. The Comptroller & Auditor General of India along with the Auditor General of Tanzania and President of the German Federal Court of Auditors approved and signed 28 UN Audit reports for the financial year 2016.
The CAG met the Secretary General (SG) Mr. Antonio Guterres in New York on 25 July. He briefed the SG about the work done by the Board of Auditors during the last year. He also reaffirmed the Boards’ commitment towards bringing out quality audit reports and helping the UN in increasing efficiency and effectiveness of its operations. The SG appreciated the work being done by the Board of Auditors.
These 28 reports are presented to the General Assembly of the UN and to other governing bodies. The reports cover important UN bodies e.g. UNICEF, UNDP, UNHCR, UN-WOMEN, UNOPS, UNJSPF and UN Headquarters among others.
Meeting of UN Board of Auditors
The CAG as the Chair of UN Board of Auditors attended the Forty-Seventh (2017) Special Board Session UN Board of Auditors on 1 December 2017 at Rome. The Board session was attended by other members -the Auditor General of the United Republic of Tanzania and the President of the German Federal Court of Auditors. Board members discussed the Report of the Audit Operations Committee, proposed work plan for 2018 and Secretary-General’s reforms and the potential impact on the Board’s work.
Meeting of UN Panel of External Auditors
The CAG of India along with his delegation attended the Fifty-eighth (2017) Regular Session of the Panel on 30 November & 1 December 2017 at Rome. In this session, SAI India made presentations on (a) Follow-up on the Revised Reporting Standards and Key Audit Matters (KAM) (b) Role of the United Nations and its Agencies in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Meeting with the UN Secretary General and Chair-Fifth Committee and Chair-ACABQ
CAG visited the United Nations at New York as Chairman of the UN Board of Auditors. He met the UN Secretary General on 7 December 2017. The CAG and the Secretary General discussed about the proposed reforms agenda of the Secretary General. The CAG conveyed that the Board welcomes the reform proposal and is looking forward to further developments in the implementation of the reform agenda. During the meeting, the CAG assured the Secretary General that the Board would continue to take up audit subjects which would add value to the UN System and aid greater accountability and effectiveness. The CAG also discussed the audits and the cross cutting themes planned for the next year with the Secretary General.
In the course of the visit to UN Headquarters, CAG also met Mr. Tommo Monthe, Chair of the Fifth Committee and Mr. Carlos G. Ruiz Massieu, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ). These two committees are important oversight bodies of the UN system which deliberate on the work of the Board of Auditors and recommend action to the General Assembly. The CAG also met the Comptroller General (CG) of Chile, the incoming member of the Board (from 1 July 2018), in the Office of the UN Board of Auditors.
Capacity Development Programmes for SAIs
Training Programme for SAI Afghanistan
A Training Programme on Audit of Construction Activities was organised by SAI India at iCED, Jaipur from 18-29 September, 2017 for SAI Afghanistan. The training programme was attended by 20 officers from SAI Afghanistan.
Training Programme for SAI Vietnam
Ms. Nameeta Prasad and Mr. Kartikaye Mathur from SAI India were nominated as Environmental training Experts for delivering training course on Environmental Auditing to officials of SAI Vietnam at Hanoi from 26-28 September, 2017. The training programme was attended by 35 participants from SAI Vietnam.
|
