INTOSAI Working Group Accountability for and Audit of Disaster-related Aid (AADA)
Summary report on the 1st meeting of the Working Group
Luxembourg, 30 June - 2 July 2008
The Working Group meeting was opened by its chair, Maarten B. Engwirda, Member of the European Court of Auditors. The participants of the meeting agreed with the proposed programme and agenda (the list of participants and the programme are attached).
Mr Engwirda thanked Mrs Stuiveling, President of the Netherlands Court of Audit, for the energetic manner in which she had chaired the predecessor of the Working Group, the INTOSAI Taskforce on the accountability for and audit of Disaster-related aid that came into being in the aftermath of the 2004 Tsunami. Mrs Stuiveling presented the draft final report of the Task Force, "Lessons on accountability, transparency and audit of Tsunami related aid". She stressed that it was necessary to distinguish between the different stakeholders and the different channels in order to get a clear picture and to develop a successful strategy to strengthen accountability and to create an audit trail. Mr Rozema, Director at the European Court of Auditors, presented a synthesis of good practices and issues to improve when carrying out an audit on disaster-related aid, based on the contributions from the participants in the meeting.
The Working Group discussed the role of NGOs, especially in view of the draft Work Programme, and agreed that although a complicated stakeholder category, and although NGOs usually do not fall within the mandate of SAIs, they are too important to leave out completely. On the definition of disasters and therefore the scope of the Working Group's mandate it was agreed to follow a pragmatic approach by taking the mandate of the Working Group, focusing on natural disasters, as the point of departure, without excluding that the results of the activities of the Working Group might be useful also for accountability for and audit of aid in cases of man-made disasters.
The Working Group adopted the draft Work Programme with the following refinements:
- in the main text under Work Package I, stakeholder category multinationals, the reference to the new accounting standard for development assistance may lead to confusion, and its precise place in the text should be reconsidered;
- in the description of task 0I.01 the element of potential alternatives for the use of OCHA should be mentioned;
- in the description of task 0I.06 and 0II.07 mention the UN Independent Audit Advisory Committee, chaired by the former US GAO Comptroller general David Walker, as a potential relevant contact;
- in the description of task 0II.05, pay attention to the issue of waste.
The Working Group decided the following distribution of responsibilities for individual tasks in the Work Programme (SAIs underlined are leading in the respective task):
Overview of separate tasks resulting from the Work Programme
Task no / Description / SAI responsible0I.01 / Single accountability information structure / Korea
0I.02 / Harmonisation of accountability standards for aid organisations / ECA
0I.03 / Harmonisation of accountability standards / ECA
0I.04 / Harmonisation of financial reporting / Norway / ECA
0I.05 / Accounting standards
0I.06 / Enhance use of accounting standards
0II.01 / Guidance for the planning of audits on disaster-related aid / Indonesia
0II.02 / Guidance on the implementation of an audit of disaster-related aid / Indonesia
0II.03 / Guidance on the reporting on an audit of disaster-related aid / Peru / Indonesia
0II.04 / Audit of disaster preparedness / Austria / Turkey / Kenya
0II.05 / Auditors' awareness of fraud and corruption during audits of disaster-related aid / ECA
0II.06 / Single audit / Norway / ECA
0II.07 / Internal audit
0II.08 / Auditing standards
0II.09 / The use of GIS as an audit tool / NL
The representative of the French SAI will enquire whether his institution might be interested in taking responsibility for one of the remaining tasks.
The Chair will be in touch with members of the Working Group not present during the meeting to see whether they would be willing to accept responsibility for one or more of the remaining tasks.
The Chair will take care that the participating SAIs will receive a guidance note on how to proceed with their respective tasks, and on the issue of coordination between the separate tasks.
The SAI of Korea offered to host the next meeting of the Working Group in June 2009. The Working Group thanked the SAI of Korea and accepted the offer. No decision was taken concerning hosting the planned 2010 meeting. Without making any commitment, the SAI of Peru offered to look into the possibilities of hosting that meeting.
The Chair had distributed a list of members of the Working Group with an indication of their possible role in the future. No objections were received to assign the position of vice-chair to the SAIs of Indonesia, Korea and the Netherlands. The Chair therefore concludes that these three SAIs all hold the position of vice-chair of the Working Group.
List of participants
INTOSAI WG AADA / Title / First Name / Family Name / FunctionAUSTRIA / Mrs / Susanne / SCHWARZ / International Affairs Austrian Court
FRANCE / Mr / Georges / CAPDEBOSCQ / Conseiller maître CCF
INDONESIA / Mr / Anwar / NASUTION / President
Mr / SOEKOYO / Principal Auditor
Mrs / Ikhtaria / SYAZIAH / Senior Auditor
KENYA / Mr / Charles / KINU THIA / Senior Auditor Kenya NAO
KOREA / Mr / Seongjun / KIM / Deputy Director Internat Coop
NETHERLANDS / Mrs / Saskia / STUIVELING / Président Cour NL
Mr / Egbert / JONGSMA / Audit Manager
NORWAY / Mr / Per Anders / ENGESETH / Director General Riksrevisjonen
PERU / Mrs / Juana / LLACSAHUANGA CHAVEZ / Defense Sect Manager Comptrol Gal
Mrs / Haydee / FISCHBACH / Vice-Consul Peru - Luxg (interpretation)
TURKEY / Mr / Alper / ALPAY / Member of Chamber TCA
Mr / Ahmet Attila / CAGLAR / Principal Auditor TCA
UKRAINE / Mr / Olexandr / YAREMENKO / Deputy Chairman ACU
Mrs / Mariya / SHULEZHKO / Director of Department ACU
Mrs / Nataliya / ZAGURSKA / Head of sector Acc Chamber Ukr
ECA / Mr / Maarten / ENGWIRDA / Member of the Court, Chair WG
Mr / Jacek / UCZKIEWICZ / Member of the Court
Mr / Jan Pieter / LINGEN / Head of Cabinet
Mr / Jacek / KOLASINSKI / Head of Cabinet
Mr / Harry / ROZEMA / Director
Mrs / Angela / Mc CANN / Senior auditor, Directorate
Mr / Mark / MARSHALL / Senior auditor
Mr / Hendrik / FEHR / Liaison Officer
Mrs / Petra / GEBETSBERGER / Assistant to the Liaison Officer
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