Kiribati Public Accounts Committee and Members of Parliament workshop

The Kiribati National Audit Office in partnership with the Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) delivered a workshop to enhance good governance, transparency and accountability in the island state. The workshop also covered an introduction to the new Audit Bill to strengthen financial oversight and external scrutiny. It was held at the Kiribati Parliament Complex on 7 April 2017 and attended by 38 participants including the President, HisExcellency Taneti Maamau, Cabinet Ministers, Members of Parliament, the Clerk, Attorney-General and the Legal Draftsman.

The Speaker of Parliament, Honorable Tebuai Uaai, in opening the workshop, emphasised the important role legislators play in the scrutiny of the audited reports and financial oversight of the use and management of public resources. He added that as legislators they need auditors to provide them with assurance on the economy and effective use of public resources. Therefore promoting ethical behaviour and good governance starts with supporting the SAI.

The Auditor-General of Kiribati, Mrs Matereta Raiman and PASAI Advocate, Mr Eroni Vatuloka, conducted the workshop. The participants discussed the various clauses of the new Audit Bill especially the creation of an Audit Board and the inclusion of performance and IT audits with the other current functions of the Auditor-General. His Excellency the New Zealand High Commissioner in Kiribati Michael Upton in his closing address, re-assured that while the Audit Board will provide guidance and support to the Auditor-General, the Audit Bill specifically provides that the arrangement will not interfere with the Auditor-General’s independence. Furthermore, His Excellency Taneti Maamau thanked PASAI and the Kiribati National Audit Office for co-ordinating such a useful workshop to raise the capacity of the Members of Parliament on the Audit Bill and understanding the importance of good governance, transparency and accountability in the process of Parliament.

This programme comes under Strategic Priority 2, Advocacy for governance, accountability and transparency of PASAI’s long-term strategic plan. PASAI acknowledges the valued supportfrom the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT).

Transforming public auditors to lead change for a better Pacific

The Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) hosted a SAI young leaders’ symposium in Auckland, New Zealand on 4-7 April 2017. Eighteen staff from American Samoa, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) Office of the National Public Auditor, Fiji, Guam, Kosrae State of FSM, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pohnpei State of FSM, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Yap State of FSM attended the symposium. Representatives from the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) as well as AuditNew Zealand also took part and shared their leadership development programmes and leadership capability framework.

The main objective of the symposium was to explore and identify the challenges faced by SAIs in developing leadership and to inform the PASAI Secretariat on the design and development of a regional leadership programme. Strengthening leaders at all levels within the SAI will contribute to the overall impact of SAIs in the conduct of their audits to ‘Make a difference to the lives of citizens’.

The symposium involved extensive discussions on SAI leaders’ responsibility to deliver value and benefits to make a difference in the lives of citizens through consistently performing high-quality audits and delivering other services. Different approaches to developing leadership were presented from an individual organisation’s perspective by ANAO and Audit NZ. Ms Ingela Ekblom, Senior Advisor in Leadership, Human Resources and Communication at the International Department of the Swedish National Audit Office (SNAO) discussed and shared her experiences in developing the Executive Leadership Development Programme (ELDP) for AFROSAI-E, the organisation for English-speaking African Supreme Audit Institutions.

Other elements of a leadership programme such as a competency framework and the design of the programme were discussed in view of the challenges identified. The diverse nature of challenges identified from this forum will make designing and developing a regional programme a challenging task and possibly a costly investment.

Mr Nigel Ewels, the Development Manager of Pacific and Development Group, part of New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) Pacific team in Auckland, opened the symposium. In his opening remarks, Mr Ewels reiterated the critical role that public auditors play in ensuring that governments are spending public money responsibly and effectively.

The facilitation team included Ms Ingela Ekblom, Mr Henry McGregor, Consultant from South Africa, Mrs Sinaroseta Palamo-Iosefo PASAI’s Director of Practice Development, and two young SAI leaders,  whorepresentedPacificSAIsintheINTOSAIDevelopmentInitiative(IDI)       Global

Leadership Symposium held in India, Ms Clariza Mae Roque and Grace Mulitalo from SAI Guam and Samoa respectively.

This programme is aligned with PASAI’s strategic goal requiring the development of staff of SAIs to take on leadership responsibilities.

This workshop was supported by Australian Department of Foreign Affairs, New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Swedish National Audit Office.

The workshop participants and facilitators