Tailored interventions to strengthen SAI performance in the Pacific

28 September 2021

Auckland, New Zealand: The Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) is continuing its programme of strengthening SAI performance with training tailored to the Congressional system of public auditing starting today.

Seventeen participants (seven female, 10 male) from seven SAIs (Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) National, FSM Chuuk, FSM Kosrae, FSM Pohnpei, FSM Yap, Guam, and Palau) will participate in three part-day online workshops from 28 to 30 September 2021.

This training is part of a broader programme aiming to improve the effectiveness and capabilities of 20 SAIs in PASAI’s Polynesian, Melanesian and Micronesian subregional member groups, as evaluated by the six ‘domains’ of the SAI Performance Measurement Framework (PMF).

PASAI Director Practice Development, Sinaroseta Palamo-Iosefo, will facilitate the workshops covering the following four domains:

• B – Internal Governance and Ethics

• D – Financial Management, Assets and Support Services

• E – Human Resources and Training

• F – Communication and Stakeholder Engagement

Ms Palamo-Iosefo explained the need for the training, stating, “SAI PMF provides SAIs with an objective basis for demonstrating their ongoing relevance to citizens and other stakeholders and serves as an invaluable tool for obtaining and maintaining support for capacity development efforts”.

Course participants have been able to access and complete pre-training activities on PASAI’s Learning Platform since last Monday 20 September 2021 to prepare them for the live webinars.

PASAI will facilitate another set of tailored online workshops for 10 Pacific SAIs under the Parliamentary system (the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu) from 27 to 29 October 2021.

PASAI acknowledges the support of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

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Contact information:

Sinaroseta Palamo-Iosefo, Director Practice Development PASAI, Auckland, New Zealand

E: sina.iosefo@pasai.org P: +64 9 304 1275

PDF version of this media release

Annual Report now available

PASAI’s Annual Report 2020–21 is now available to view online.

It was approved by members at PASAI’s recent Annual General Meeting pending the inclusion of some minor changes requested by the Governing Board.

The report is structured to align with PASAI’s new Performance Reporting Framework which was developed to meet external reporting requirements and comply with the new accounting standards (PBE FRS 48).

PASAI’s five Strategic Priorities continue to guide our programmes and activities and this occupies much of the report. PASAI’s financial statements for the year ending 30 June 2021 are also appended to the report.

Copies of past reports remain available on the Annual Reports page.

PASAI adds two new directors to its team

22 September 2021

Auckland, New Zealand: The Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) is welcoming two more directors to its Secretariat team, one focussing on SAIs in the North Pacific and the other on SAIs in the South Pacific.

Doris Flores Brooks will be based in Guam as PASAI’s new Director (North) from next Monday 27 September 2021. Meresimani Vosawale-Katuba will be based in Fiji as PASAI’s new Director (South) from the following Monday 4 October 2021.

Doris Flores Brooks

Meresimani Vosawale-Katuba

Ms Flores Brooks is a Certified Public Accountant, former Guam Senator, university lecturer and as the former Public Auditor of Guam, is certainly no stranger to PASAI. She has even been the Chairperson of PASAI’s Governing Board.

Most recently Ms Flores Brooks was on Guam’s rate-setting Public Utilities Commission and the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Ms Vosawale-Katuba joined SAI Fiji as an assistant auditor, working her way up over 13 years to, most recently, act in the role of Manager Performance Audit Services. She also established and led the Quality Assurance Unit.

Ms Vosawale-Katuba brings experience in developing manuals, policies and guidelines; conducting training presentations; and carrying out quality assurance reviews of financial audits and performance audits. She was on a global panel of QA reviewers for the INTOSAI Development Initiative / ASEAN Supreme Audit Institutions Financial Co‐operative Audit.

PASAI Chief Executive, Esther Lameko-Poutoa, is confident PASAI’s members will soon benefit from these appointments.

“These women will bring a depth of auditing best-practice knowledge and regional insights to the Secretariat,” she said.

PASAI acknowledges the support of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

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Contact information:

Esther Lameko-Poutoa, Chief Executive PASAI, Auckland, New Zealand

E: secretariat@pasai.org P: +64 9 304 1275

PDF version of this media release

PASAI 27th Governing Board meeting

13 September 2021

Auckland, New Zealand: The Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) held its 27th Governing Board meeting online on 10 September 2021.

Ajay Nand, Auditor-General of Fiji and Chair of the PASAI Governing Board, chaired the meeting. Esther Lameko-Poutoa, Chief Executive PASAI, accompanied other Auckland-based Secretariat staff who all attended virtually from their homes during another mandatory government lockdown. John Ryan, Secretary-General PASAI and Auditor-General of New Zealand, and other Wellington-based staff were able to join from their office.

Ms Lameko-Poutoa provided an overview of the Secretariat’s work during July and August 2021 aligned to its five Strategic Priorities.

Her report included:

• recent SAI independence workshops for SAIs Cook Islands and Kiribati,

• continued work to improve the quality and timeliness of Financial Statements of Government audits,

• progress on SAI Performance Measurement Framework assessments, and

• recent training on environmental auditing and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals organised in collaboration with the Working Group on Environmental Auditing.

Members of the Governing Board raised and discussed the issue of SAI independence. PASAI resolved to work with development partners and regional leaders to advocate for strengthened SAI independence to complement the efforts of its members.

The Governing Board endorsed the Annual Report and Financial Statements for presentation at the Annual General Meeting of PASAI Incorporated, held later that day.

Agenda items also included the findings and recommendations from the assessment of the technological setup of 20 PASAI members and an update on the implementation of the Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Framework to meet external and internal reporting requirements.

The Secretariat expresses its gratitude to the Governing Board members for their ongoing assistance and acknowledges our development partners for their continued support of PASAI and its work in the region.

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Contact information:

Esther Lameko-Poutoa, Chief Executive PASAI, Auckland, New Zealand

E: secretariat@pasai.org P: +64 9 304 1275

PDF version of this media release

Pacific SAIs ready to conduct pandemic-related audits

7 September 2021

Auckland, New Zealand: Eight auditors (6 female, 2 male) from supreme audit institutions (SAIs) in the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu are participating in the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) global cooperative compliance audit on the ‘Transparency, Accountability and Inclusiveness of the use of emergency funding for COVID-19’ (TAI audits).

IDI is delivering the initiative using an integrated education and audit support framework consisting of four main components: education, social learning, other resources and audit support.

PASAI’s Director Practice Development and two auditors—one each from the SAIs in Samoa and Tonga—are also playing important roles in the initiative. They are facilitating some of the online education and will mentor the SAIs throughout the audit process.

The global cooperative audit includes more than 20 SAIs from the African, Asian, Caribbean and European regions. It commenced in June 2021 and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. SAIs are currently in the planning phase and will commence the audit fieldwork in September.

The participating SAIs had the option to select either emergency public procurement, socio-economic packages or the vaccine rollout as the focus of the audit based on their country context and priorities.

TAI audits aim to contribute to:

• enhancing transparency, accountability, and inclusiveness in the use of emergency funding for COVID-19

• setting up of more transparent, accountable, and inclusive frameworks for public spending during emergencies in the future

• strengthening the allocation and utilisation of emergency funding to reach those who are furthest behind and

• prioritising vulnerable sections of society who are disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

To date, nine (of 11) workshops have been delivered covering the key concepts and considerations for a TAI audit and how these concepts are integrated in the normal audit process, from planning through to reporting. SAIs are taking an agile approach and determining a manageable audit scope to ensure impactful, realistic and timely recommendations are provided to audited entities.

PASAI acknowledges the support of the IDI, the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

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Contact information:

Sinaroseta Palamo-Iosefo, Director Practice Development PASAI, Auckland, New Zealand

E: sina.iosefo@pasai.org P: +64 9 304 1275

PDF version of this media release

Impact through independence - supreme audit institutions

2 September 2021

From the Transparency Times, the newsletter of Transparency International New Zealand:

“Having an independent government auditor is an important pillar of a well-functioning National Integrity System.

Independence is vital to this function. If an SAI is not properly recognised and resourced within their country’s legislative framework, it is difficult for them to drive impact in the financial management system. To be effective they have to be independent of those they audit, and protected against outside influence.

This will increase credibility and confidence in their work. A strong, independent SAI is essential for a country’s good governance and public financial management.”

The full article