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SPMR Workshop in Rarotonga aligns operations to strategic plans

Media Release Friday 30 November 2018 

SPMR Workshop in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, helps SAIs align operational and strategic plans.  

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Pacific Audit Institutions Align Operations to Strategic Plans 

Rarotonga, Cook Islands: The Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) and INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) continued their collaboration by delivering an Operational Planning workshop in Rarotonga, Cook Islands on 26-30 November 2018. The second workshop for the Strategy, Performance Measurement and Reporting (SPMR) programme, this training builds from the foundation already established in the audit institutions’ strategic plans developed during the workshop held in Tonga earlier this year.

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Twenty-eight participants from the SAIs of the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia – National Office and the state audit offices of Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap, Guam, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Tuvalu attended the workshop to develop operational plans in alignment with their strategies. Representatives from SAI Australia (Australian National Audit Office (ANAO)) and SAI New Zealand joined them to share the experience and to provide support to their respective twinning partners, as determined under a separate arrangement between the PASAI and the Australian Council of Auditors General (ACAG).

 In his opening remarks, the Honourable Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Audit, Hon. Mark Brown highlighted the critical role that government auditors play in strengthening accountability and transparency in the public sector. PASAI is one of the two INTOSAI regions piloting this global programme with the objective of ensuring that audit institutions are strategically managed leading to better performance. 

In a workshop facilitated by Freddy Yves Ndjemba, Dafina Dimitrova, and Irina Sprenglewski from the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI), assisted by Tiofilusi Tiueti and Sinaroseta Palamo-Iosefo from the PASAI Secretariat, Sarah Markley of SAI New Zealand and Rona Mellor and Penelope Edwards from SAI Australia, participants were taken from the fundamental characteristics of an operational plan through the full operational planning process.

Participants worked rigorously on aligning their operational and strategic plans, developing these key organizational roadmaps holistically to ensure the audit institutions deliver the outputs and achieve outcomes accordingly. Attendees particularly appreciated the importance of this holistic approach to managing their operations and ensuring alignment with their strategic priorities in their mission to lead by example and add value to society.  

The next phase for the SPMR programme will involve support and the provision of tools to develop a monitoring and reporting framework for these audit institutions, thus enabling impactful reporting on performance from the audit institutions to their stakeholders.

PASAI acknowledges the financial support by the IDI, Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Asian Development Bank to conduct this programme for SAIs in the Pacific region. 

Download the media release here 

See more photos from the event in PASAI’s 2018 Photo Album

For more information please contact PASAI’s Communications Advisor, jill.marshall@pasai.org

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PASAI's October Newsletter IS out now

Networking, engaging, reaching out to our member SAIs, development/strategic partners and governing bodies - in our October newsletter, we focus on PASAI’s activities in each of these areas.

In this issue, read about:

  • PASAI’s collaborative meeting with ACAG at the offices of the Victorian Auditor General’s Office (VAGO);

  • How PASAI is working with the Tongan Parliament to strengthen the oversight role of the PAC;

  • Record uptake in PASAI of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on environmental auditing;

  • The planning process in communicating about our programs to maximise impact and information.

Download the newsletter or read it online.


IDI reports on PASAI's experiences with SAI PMF

The world needs strong, high-performing SAIs. The SAI Performance Measurement Framework (PMF) gives credible and accurate information to be used in strategic planning and capacity development to ensure that SAIs can grow into the fully capable institutions envisioned in ISSAI 12.

The INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) has issued reports on the experiences of four sets of SAI experiences with SAI PMF - Bhutan, Palestine, Brazil and a number of SAIs in PASAI.

Read IDI’s report on PASAI’s discoveries in using this invaluable tool which demonstrates SAI accountability.

You can read the other illuminating reports on the IDI website.

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Media Release: PASAI and IDI team up for a high quality workshop

Media Release

19 November 2018

PASAI/IDI’s high quality workshop in Vanuatu

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Port Vila, Vanuatu: The Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) and the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) teamed up this week to deliver a Quality Assurance (QA) Regional Workshop for their member Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) in the South Pacific, launching phase 1 of the drive to improve and enhance high quality audits conducted in the Pacific Region. Co-hosted with the Vanuatu National Audit Office, the workshop has run from 12 to 16 November 2018 in Port Vila, Vanuatu at Holiday Inn Resort.

A major challenge faced by Pacific SAIs is the consistent delivery of high quality audits. The quality of a SAI’s work affects their reputation and credibility, and as PASAI aims to strengthen SAIs to ultimately make a difference in the lives of citizens, Strategic Priority 3 of PASAI’s Strategic Plan 2014/2024 is dedicated to supporting high quality audits.  For these to be achieved, an effective system of quality control needs to be built into each SAI’s strategy, culture, policies and procedures.

The objective of this workshop is to develop a pool of QA reviewers to strengthen the QA mechanism and peer review process of SAIs in the PASAI region. In the hands of a highly professional team of facilitators from IDI, PASAI Secretariat, SAI Fiji, SAI Tonga, SAI Samoa and SAI New Zealand, 17 participants attending the workshop from Fiji, PNG, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Nauru, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu received guidance on how to conduct quality assurance reviews. The high-level workshop program included exercises, quizzes, classroom lectures and practice in applying a QA tool for the three audit streams – Financial, Compliance and Performance. 

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‘Good governance is important,’ emphasised the Chairman of the Vanuatu Public Accounts Committee, Hon Ephraim Kalsakau, in his opening remarks. Furthermore, good governance must cascade down from the ‘tone at the top’, as demonstrated by Caleb Sandy, Auditor General of Vanuatu, who was appointed only recently in 2017 and attended the whole event. “My purpose of sitting in the workshop is to determine how quality assurance is inserted into the functions of an audit.”

Feedback from all parties has been extremely positive. Closing the workshop, Mr Clinton Pobke, Program Director of the DFAT FUNDED program Governance for Growth (GFG), highlighted that he has now understood the importance of SAIs, stating: ‘Audit is integral to the entire PFM system’.

As this high-impact workshop moves into the next stage, PASAI acknowledges the great collaborative partnership with IDI, in particular Capacity Development Manager Shofiqul Islam, who has worked closely with the PASAI Region to help in the strategic priority of achieving high quality audits.


Download the media release here

For more photos from this event, go to the QA Workshop photo gallery in our 2018 album.

For more information, please contact PASAI’s Communications Advisor on jill.marshall@pasai.org

Back Row L-R: IDI Capacity Manager MD Shofiqul Islam, Morina Faasisila SAI Samoa, Fatafehi Taumohoha’apai SAI Tonga, Meresimani Vosawale SAI Fiji, Nick Johnston NZ OAGFront Row L-R: A’eau Agnes Aruwafu, PASAI Director Technical Support; Chairman of …

Back Row L-R: IDI Capacity Manager MD Shofiqul Islam, Morina Faasisila SAI Samoa, Fatafehi Taumohoha’apai SAI Tonga, Meresimani Vosawale SAI Fiji, Nick Johnston NZ OAG

Front Row L-R: A’eau Agnes Aruwafu, PASAI Director Technical Support; Chairman of PAC Vanuatu, Hon Ephraim Kalsakau; Vanuatu Auditor-General, Mr Caleb Sandy and Mrs Sina Palamo-Iosefo, PASAI Director Practice Development

Delegates from PNG and Solomon Islands

Delegates from PNG and Solomon Islands

Participants from Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa, Nauru and Tuvalu

Participants from Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa, Nauru and Tuvalu

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PASAI's findings on data and digitalisation feature in the latest INTOSAI Journal.

INTOSAI JOURNAL AUTUMN 2018 ISSUE NOW ONLINE!

The Autumn 2018 edition of the INTOSAI Journal, now available online at www.intosaijournal.org, highlights the Sustainable Development Goals and environmental auditing.

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This issue includes an article by Chuck Young, Managing Director, Office of Public Affairs, US Government Accountability Office. After attending PASAI’s 21st Congress in August 2018, Chuck noted the challenges, changes and opportunities in ‘Embracing the Digital Future’ - the theme of the Congress, and shared excellent insights into the use of data analysis in sharing information via the Journal.

Read his PASAI article on page 38 of the INTOSAI Journal Flip-book.

In the latest edition of the INTOSAI Journal, you will also find...

  • An insightful editorial from Pamela Monroe-Ellis, Auditor General of Jamaica, who reflects on her SAI's journey in contributing to SDG achievement.

  • Enriching feature stories on SAI Indonesia's use of strategic environmental assessments to address sustainability; SAI Thailand's joint approach combined with experiential learning to improve environmental performance audits; and SAI Poland's recent experience in auditing national SDG implementation preparedness.

  • The latest SAI news on Auditor General appointments, along with special reports on goal chair committee meetings, regional congresses and assemblies.

  • A unique perspective on building SAI capacity through technical support in this edition's Spotlight on Capacity Building.

Chuck Young speaking at PASAI’s 21st Congress in August 2018

Chuck Young speaking at PASAI’s 21st Congress in August 2018

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