IDI Programs Continue Efforts Toward ISSAI, SDG Achievement

IDI continues to provide support to INTOSAI and its community. Recent news includes new board member appointment and programs focusing on ISSAI implementation, performance measurement and the SDGs.

Appointment of New IDI Board Member. Ms. Francine Giskes, Vice President of the Netherlands Court of Audit, was appointed as a new Board Member in place of the outgoing member, Mr. Arno Visser, President of the Netherlands Court of Audit, until March 2017. The terms of Mr. Michael Ferguson, Auditor General of Canada, and Ms. Mildred Chiri, Auditor General of Zimbabwe, were also extended for one year up to December 2016, pending the reorganization of the Board in accordance with the follow up on the IDI Governance Review.

ISSAI Implementation Initiative (3i Programme)

3i Phase-I CREFIAF

—ISSAI Certification Programs for Compliance Audit and Financial Audit—As part of the ISSAI Certification program for Compliance Audit and Financial Audit, selected participants were trained in the use of ISSAI Compliance Assessment Tools (iCATs) and implementing ISSAIs at audit practice level. Two workshops were held in Douala, Cameroon, February 15-March 4, 2016. The Compliance Audit Workshop had 33 participants from 19 countries with resource persons from Senegal, Cameroon, Gabon, Uruguay and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Financial Audit Workshop had 28 participants from 14 countries. There were six resource persons from Burundi, Cameroon, Senegal and the European Court of Auditors.

A special training on performance audit was also conducted for a team from SAI Guinea in order to bring them back to the 3i program, which they had missed due to an Ebola outbreak.

—iCAT Review Workshop for Performance Audit and Workshop on Facilitating ISSAI Implementation— The above mentioned workshops were held in Libreville, Gabon, April 25-May 6, 2016. A resource team of experts reviewed iCATs conducted by 15 SAIs during the iCAT review workshop. SAIs are expected to modify iCATs and develop ISSAI implementation strategies. At the workshop on facilitating ISSAI implementation, participants of the ISSAI certification program on performance audit learned and practiced their roles as ISSAI advocates, ISSAI project managers and ISSAI learning facilitators. There were 31 participants from 15 SAIs. Resource persons from Burundi, Cameroon, Djibouti and Senegal were involved.

3i Phase-I OLACEFS

—26 iCATs Reviewed—At the iCAT review workshop held in the Dominican Republic December 7-11, 2015, 26 iCATs from 11 SAIs were reviewed by experts and regional resource persons. Thereafter, the SAIs modified the iCATs and formulated their ISSAI implementation strategies. There are now 56 IDI-INTOSAI PSC certified ISSAI facilitators from 17 countries for the Spanish speaking region in addition to nine mentors.

—Audit Planning Meeting Held for Cooperative Performance Audit on Poverty Alleviation—The meeting was held April 22-29, 2016, in Quito, Ecuador. Twenty-eight participants from the 10 countries took part in the meeting. There were five mentors from Argentina, Brazil, El Salvador and Guatemala. At this meeting, mentors and peers provided feedback on the draft audit plans developed by 10 participating SAIs. The SAI teams modified their plans based on the feedback and will now take up the audits.

3i Programme Phase-II

—SAI level pilot in SAI Bhutan launched—

The Auditor General of Bhutan and Chairman of the IDI Board signed a Statement of Commitments for piloting 3i phase II in SAI Bhutan. As a part of the pilot, the IDI will provide holistic support to SAI Bhutan for conducting initial mapping of audit practices, conducting iCATs, developing ISSAI implementation strategy, reviewing methodology, conducting pilot audits, creating awareness and setting up quality assurance mechanisms. This pilot has been initiated at the request of SAI Bhutan, which has developed a new strategic plan based on their SAI Performance Measurement Framework (PMF) assessment. ISSAI implementation forms a core strategic goal in their new strategic plan.

IDI-ASOSAI 3i Cooperative Audit Program on Audit of Disaster Management Audit plans of 17 SAIs were reviewed by peers and experts at the Audit Planning meeting for the cooperative audit held in Malaysia April 11-15, 2016, with 50 participants from 17 SAIs attending the meeting.

SAI Strategy, Performance Measurement and Reporting Program As a part of this program, the IDI is supporting SAI Bhutan in developing its strategic plan for 2015-2020.

Auditing Externally Funded Projects in Agricultural and Food Security Sector-Audit Planning Support Provided to Seven SAI Teams-Seven SAI teams consisting of 21 participants were trained in conducting ISSAI-based financial and compliance audits of externally aided projects in February 2016. While SAIs of Sierra Leone, Malawi, and Zambia have developed audit plans for financial and compliance audits, the other SAI teams are currently developing their audit plans as per their audit cycle. From March to August 2016, the IDI is supporting these SAIs in developing their audit plans by providing remote support through the IDI eLearning platform.

Auditing Sustainable Development Goals Program Contributing to the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a strategic priority and focus area for INTOSAI. In keeping with this strategic focus, the IDI and KSC are partnering with other key stakeholders to conduct a program on “Auditing SDGs”. The program aims to facilitate high quality audits of SDGs by providing guidance on auditing preparedness for implementation of SDGs, supporting approximately 40 SAIs in auditing preparedness for implementation of SDGs, documenting lessons learned and providing a community of practice on SDGS for knowledge sharing.

Planning Meeting held in Vienna March 15-16, 2016-IDI and KSC met with key stakeholders within INTOSAI and the UN to plan the details of this program.

SAI Independence Program Many SAIs face challenges in terms of independence associated with the Mexico Declaration. As this is considered pivotal to SAI credibility and effectiveness, the IDI has launched a pilot program to support three SAIs in achieving greater independence.

Planning Meeting held in Vienna March 17-18, 2016-Key stakeholders from INTOSAI met to brainstorm an implementation strategy for the program. The group identified a number of strategies including the formation of a High Level Advisory Panel on Independence, guidance on SAI Independence and SAI-level support.

SAI Performance Measurement Framework

SAI PMF Working Meeting with SAIs with Jurisdictional Functions held in Oslo-The INTOSAI-Donor Secretariat hosted a working meeting with representatives from SAIs with jurisdictional functions in Oslo March 17-18, 2016. The meeting included representatives from the SAIs of Senegal, France, Tunisia, Brazil and Portugal in addition to the INTOSAI-Donor Secretariat who acted as the coordinator for the SAI PMF Task Team. The working meeting incorporated the discussion of proposals and input from a working group within AISCCUF (Association of SAIs using French), with the intent to better accommodate the forthcoming SAI PMF Endorsement Version to the context of SAIs with jurisdictional functions.

SAI PMF Quality Review Workshop in Mexico-A SAI PMF quality review workshop was held in Mexico City March 9-11, 2016, to provide deeper training to SAI PMF experts in the OLACEFS region to enable experts to conduct quality reviews of SAI PMF assessments.

Support to INTOSAI Regions, Networks and Communities

INTOSAI KSC-IDI Community Portal launched-The IDI and INTOSAI KSC (Chaired by SAI, India) have collaborated to develop the INTOSAI KSC-IDI Community Portal. The portal, recently launched, has several functionalities to include hosting of communities of practice, discussion forums, library, chats, videos, news and announcements. The KSC and SAI India report that the portal is being utilized to its fullest extent by different INTOSAI bodies/regions to share knowledge within the SAI community. Toward this aim, they have agreed to facilitate online meetings, discussions, hosting of resource materials and communities of practice on behalf of INTOSAI bodies and regions. The INTOSAI KSC-IDI portal can be accessed at http://www.intosaicommunity.org/

Support to EUROSAI Task Force on Audit and Ethics-The IDI collaborated with the EUROSAI Task Force on Audit and Ethics to conduct their meetings on the IDI Community Portal.

IDI Bilateral Support for SAI Somalia The IDI Bilateral support to SAI Somalia aims to develop a Strategic Plan for the SAI. The IDI and SAI Somalia met in Nairobi, Kenya May 2-3, 2016, to discuss the progress and plans for the rest of the year. In addition, as part of the efforts to coordinate donor support to SAI Somalia, IDI convened a meeting together with the Auditor General of Somalia, the World Bank, DFID and the Norwegian Embassy in Kenya. The outcomes of the meetings were revised plans for the cooperation, as well as better coordination between the donors to SAI Somalia and IDI as a technical provider of support.

Stakeholder communication through IDI’s participation in meetings

• The IDI engaged with its stakeholders through the participation in several stakeholder-organized meetings.
• The IDI attended the 2016 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Integrity Forum April 19-20, 2016, in Paris, France. Discussions were held with the OECD’s Directorate of Public Governance and Territorial Development on relevant issues for capacity development of SAIs in addition to issues related to the fight against corruption in the public sector.
• The IDI participated in the discussions at the Regional Training and Development Council of SAIs of Francophone sub-Saharan Africa (CREFIAF) symposium on Engagement with main stakeholders March 29-31, 2016, in Yaounde, Cameroon.
• At the 13th meeting of the African Organisation of English-speaking Supreme Audit Institutions (AFROSAI-E) Governing Board held in Abuja, Nigeria, May 9-13, 2016, the IDI presented its portfolio of capacity development programs and participated in other deliberations.
• On May 4, 2016, IDI made a presentation to the US GAO’s International Auditor Fellows regarding the IDI’s programs.
• On May 26-27, 2016, IDI participated in the PSC Steering committee meeting in Copenhagen and reported on the 3i Program. The 25th meeting of the Working Group on IT Audit (WGITA) was held in Brasilia, Brazil April 26-27, 2016. The IDI attended the meeting, which involved discussions regarding the ISSAIs for IT Audit and updates to the IDI-WGITA IT Audit Handbook.
• The IDI participated in the regular meetings of the EUROSAI Task Force on Audit and Ethics, EUROSAI Goal Team 1 on Capacity Development and the INTOSAI CBC-INTOSAINT via video conference. IDI also attended a meeting of the Nordic Auditors General in Lund, Sweden, April 6, 2016.

Contacting the IDI To discuss any of the issues presented in this edition of the IDI Update, please contact us: Telephone: +47 21 54 08 10/E-mail: idi@idi.no