Q1 2022

Despite progress in many countries, daunting challenges persist in the effort to achieve real equality between women and men. According to the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) Strategic Plan for 2022-2025, there have been significant worldwide improvements in gender equality in the areas of…

Greetings and Happy New Year to the INTOSAI community from the International Journal of Government Auditing. The Journal Board of Directors and staff look forward to continuing our constructive, collegial, and informative engagement with the INTOSAI community in 2022 and beyond. I am very excited to announce that…

The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) of Nepal has launched its much-anticipated Nepal Audit Management System (NAMS), as part of an effort to strengthen the OAG. NAMS is a software that streamlines the audit process in order to accurately identify and reduce risks, thereby saving time, space, and money. This new system marks…

Alexis Kamuhire was appointed Auditor General of Rwanda on October 13, 2021, and assumed the role in early November. He brings extensive experience in public financial management to the position. As Chief Internal Auditor for seven years within the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr. Kamuhire coordinated…

Mr. Yuji Morita, President of the Board of Audit of Japan (the Board), submitted the annual Audit Report Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on November 5, 2021. The Cabinet then presented the report to the Diet (Japan’s bicameral legislature), along with the final accounts of state expenditures and revenues. The report contains…

SAI Peru is expanding its concurrent control to all public procurement of goods, provision of services, and execution of public works over 10 million soles (approximately $2.45 million USD), in accordance with a new law passed by the Congress of the Republic. Concurrent control’s real-time, multidisciplinary oversight enables SAIs to…

Commission on Audit (COA) Assistant Commissioner Luzvi P. Chatto, head of SAI Philippines’ Administration Sector, was reappointed as member of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB) for the period of 2022 to 2024. Operating under the auspices of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), IPSASB works to…

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Audit Office (NAO) of Lithuania has continued to effectively perform the three functions delegated to it: external audit, fiscal institution, and EU investment audit. One of NAO’s critical tasks was to assess the 2022 draft budget. NAO’s aim in doing so was…

The Chamber of Accounts of the Republic of Azerbaijan hosted the 25th Governing Board and 20th Training Committee meetings of the Economic Cooperation Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ECOSAI) on December 6, 2021, in Baku. The Chamber has been a member of ECOSAI—a regional forum of the SAIs of South and Central Asia—since September 2002 and has repeatedly…

The Accountability State Authority (ASA) of Egypt, the country’s Supreme Audit Institution (SAI), participated virtually in the 42nd meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) on November 9, 2021. The meeting was chaired by…

In 2020, the African Organization of English-speaking Supreme Audit Institutions (AFROSAI-E) embarked on a journey to support the region’s SAIs in their efforts to strengthen gender equality. The two main objectives of this initiative were to help SAIs become gender-responsive organizations, and to…

When the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG Canada) audited the Federal Plan on Gender Equality in 2009, it was one of the first Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) to undertake an audit of its government’s commitment to achieve gender equality. Since then…

Gender equality is necessary for flourishing societies and growing economies, and its positive effect has been proven by research. It is therefore in the interest of all countries to ensure everyone has equal rights and opportunities. Gender equality and women’s empowerment is even a specific United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 5), one that cuts across all sustainable development. Yet, to date, no country in the world has…

The Audit Board of Indonesia (BPK) is saddened to announce the passing of Professor Harry Azhar Azis, M.A., PhD, CSFA, a sitting Board Member and former Chairman of BPK, on December 18, 2021. BPK celebrates Professor Azis’ accomplishments while recognizing the deep loss to his family, friends, and colleagues. Professor Azis was born…

INTOSAI-Donor Cooperation (IDC) has appointed the Right Hon. Helen Clark as IDC Goodwill Ambassador for Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) Independence. As a world leader who served three terms as New Zealand’s Prime Minister and eight years as the first female head of the United Nations Development Program, and who is currently Chair of the Global Leadership Foundation, Ms. Clark brings…

On November 23, 2021, the 75th meeting of the INTOSAI Governing Board took place virtually, hosted by the Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) of Brazil, the Governing Board’s First Vice-Chair. In his opening remarks, Governing Board Chair Aleksei Kudrin commended SAIs’ many innovations and achievements during the pandemic, including…

The Second International Scientific and Practical Conference will take place in virtual format on March 2, 2022, under the auspices of the INTOSAI Chair, held by the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation. The event, whose theme is “Education in the Modern Context: Nurturing Professionals of the Future,” will provide…

In a major show of support, INTOSAI provided funding to Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI) to help with continuity of operations during the pandemic. Under the leadership of Dr. Hussam Alangari, Auditor General of Saudi Arabia, and Mr. Gene Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States, the “SAI Continuity during COVID-19” grant funded the purchase of…

SAIs in difficult circumstances have often demonstrated considerable creativity and resilience during the pandemic. INTOSAI’s Capacity Building Committee workstream on Auditing in Complex and Challenging Contexts (ACCC) has sought to capture some of this richness in its new infographic on Getting Connected. The document is not a classic how-to manual, but rather a…

The Supreme Audit Office (SAO) of Slovakia, the Chair of the INTOSAI Capacity Building Committee’s (CBC) Subcommittee on Peer Reviews, organized a virtual seminar on “Getting Ready for Peer Review” on November 10, 2021. Nine speakers from seven SAIs and the European Court of Auditors (ECA) shared their insights into peer review procedures, as well as…

Every three years, the INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing (WGEA) publishes a survey providing a state of play on environmental auditing globally. The survey gives an overview of the audits Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) have conducted and plan to undertake, the resources SAIs have dedicated to the work, the topics they have chosen, the ways in which they have conducted and communicated about their audits, and the main barriers to their work. WGEA’s 10th survey, which 71 SAIs responded to, indicates…

In September 2021, the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) released the Global Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) Stocktaking Report 2020, the fourth triennial analysis of data from an INTOSAI Global Survey on SAI performance and capacities. The report, which covers the period of 2017 to 2019, marks the 10-year anniversary of the Global Stocktaking, which has been an important source of…

On December 10, 2021, the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) launched a special Gender Annex to the Global Stocktaking Report 2020. The Annex—Towards Greater Gender Equality in and through SAIs – Opportunities for SAIs and Support Providers—examines the commitments Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) have made on gender, and how these commitments have translated into action. The analysis of responses from 178 SAIs tells a story about…

On November 25, 2021—the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women—the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) released “Gender counts: So how can Supreme Audit Institutions contribute to accounting for gender equality?” The aim of this video is to raise awareness of how SAIs can contribute to gender equality through their audit functions and as organizations. The video’s release was part of…

As an international lender of last resort, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been the largest provider of emergency financing for COVID-19, making available an unprecedented $250 billion to over 85 member countries. These funds, which have largely been used as domestic budget support, have been critical in bolstering governments’ responses to the pandemic. However, the rapid dispersal of these vast sums has increased the risk of…

The XXX Ordinary General Assembly of the Organization of Latin American and Supreme Audit Institutions (OLACEFS) took place from December 1-3, 2021, in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. The long-awaited meeting was held…

From October 1 to November 3, 2021, the Organization of Latin American and Caribbean Supreme Audit Institutions (OLACEFS) held a successful series of Keynote Lectures on Governmental Control, to mark the 6th anniversary of the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals. These 22 conference sessions attracted an online audience of more than 15,000. The objective of the Keynote Lectures was to…

In 2021, the Commission for Information and Communication Technologies (CTIC) of the Organization of Latin American and Caribbean Supreme Audit Institutions (OLACEFS) undertook numerous efforts to help the region’s SAIs enhance the impact of their work through communication technologies. CTIC is…

At the November 18, 2021, Annual Meeting of the Supreme Audit Institutions of the Mercosur and Associated Countries (EFSUR), a progress report was introduced on an effort to identify and assess policies that advance United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1 (end poverty) from a gender perspective. The SAIs of…

OLACEFS’ Technical Commission for Good Governance Practices, led by Lic. Jesús Rodríguez, President of the National Audit Office of the Argentine Nation, has produced the fourth Index of Availability of Information to Citizens about SAIs’ Management (IDIGI-EFS 2021).

On November 3-4, 2021, members of the European Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (EUROSAI) Task Force on Municipality Audit (TFMA) gathered in Budva, Montenegro, for its 5th Annual Meeting and Seminar on Municipal Real Estate Management. The event was attended by…

On November 4, 2021, the European Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (EUROSAI) and European Court of Auditors (ECA) held a panel discussion, “Translating Climate Ambition into Delivery,” as part of the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP26 in Glasgow. Around 200 representatives…

The INTOSAI Journal interviews Benjamin Nelson, Managing Director for Audit Policy and Quality Assurance, U.S. Government Accountability Office, about how peer review contributes to capacity building of Supreme Audit Institutions. Mr. Nelson directs the…

Anticipating that technology would transform the way governments conduct their business, the leadership of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has aggressively promoted “e-government”—the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to more effectively and efficiently deliver government services—for the past 20 years. This steadfast commitment to leveraging technology to improve governance has resulted in the transition from a paper-based to a digitally powered government. To stay relevant in the context of e-government, and to use technological advancements to improve the efficiency of its work, the Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) of the UAE…