presentation of Iraq’s SAI (BSA)
Dear colleagues,
The Iraqi board of supreme audit (bsa) is the state’s leading institution with the mission of protecting public funds, detecting fraud and manipulations, combating financial and administrative corruption and effectively contributing to supporting the national economy. The board also plays a major role in building new Iraq resting for its governance, on financial and economic foundations as well as sound and established scientific and legal standards.
The Board of supreme audit has passed through four successive stages each one represented by issuance law of the laws of financial audit.
The first stage 1927-1968
Where was as established which was known later as “the audit department of public accountant”.
The second stage 1968-1980
The interim constitution provided for establishinga financial control authority entitled The Board of Supreme to be attached to the (dissolved) revolutionary command council, and deputized it in reviewing the executive’s operations.
The third stage (1980-1990)
In 1980 the law no. 194 on the board of supreme audit was issued.
The fourth stage (1990 – 2011)
Law No. 31 concerning to BSA law have been issued to authorized the BSA to conduct administrative investigation with regards to financial violation, which have been detected within auditees with no general inspector, according to paragraph 5 of article 28.
According to the law no. 31 The Board may conduct administrative investigation with regard to a financial violation detected directly by it in the auditees lacking offices of Inspector General or when the office of Inspector General according to the paragraph 5 of the article 28.
The Board Specialties and Authorities
1-The financial control covers examining and auditing the public revenue and expenditures and all financial obligations.
2- The Board has the right to free access to all the documents and transactions related to financial control tasks, whether ordinary or confidentially.
3-The control and audit duties are performed in accordance with the established principles, practices and standardand generally accepted methods and means.
4-The board has the power to make the financial evaluation of the general contracts and ensure that the governmental grants, loans, facilities and privileges and are used for their original purposes.
5-The Board is empowered to audit confidential programs and has the authority of issuing confidential reports as long as the auditor has the appropriate security authorization.
Board’s relations with the regional and international supreme audit institutions
a-The board has joined the international organization of supreme audit institutions (intosai) in 1953.
b-The board is a member in the Asian organization of supreme audit institutions (asosai) since the establishment of the organization in 1978.
c-The board has joined the Arabsupreme institutions (arabosai) in 1976.
d-The board has been elected as a member of the executive board to the Arabsupreme institutions (arabosai) in 2007.
e-During the 11th meeting of the general assembly, the board has been elected as a member of asosai’s governing board.
Types of reports:
The board was keen on introducing different types of audit reports which is can be classified as:
1-Annual report (1 report) and quarterly report (4 reports)
2-Special reports (contracts and grants….etc) to each about (2000 reports).
3-Reports at the level of auditees, that can be classified as:
- Financial statement report, reach about (600 reports).
- Work result report, reach about (800 reports).
- Performance evaluation reports, reach about (140 reports)
- Specialized performance evaluation reports reach about (30 reports).
Practices and auditing work of our SAI
First- control and audit the auditees accounts and ensure applying of regulations, systems and financial instructions.
Second- performance audit and control.
Third- provide technical assistance in the accounting and controlling fields.
Forth- circulate accounting and auditing systems in accordance with the
1-controlling and auditing accounts of parties subject to control and making sure of applying financial laws,regulations and instructions
2- Controlling and assessing performance
3- Offering technical support in the audit and control fields
4- Disseminating accounting & audit systems based on internationally approved standards
5- Through auditing and performance assessment, uncovering evidence of corruption, fraud, wasting, mal-tackling, inefficiency in receiving, expending and dealing with public wealth
6-Investigating & informing of expending efficiency, and use of public wealth as it is officially required by the national legislative authority.
7- All claims of corruption, fraud, wasting, bad use or inefficiency in expending or using the public fund are referred to the General Inspector of the relevant Ministries or directly to the Integrity Commission as it is deemed suitable.
8- Imposing systems and procedures to act as a supreme audit body in Iraq.
Practices of anti-corruption and BSA role in anti- corruption
1-SAI is an active member of the Joint Council for the fight against corruption, which formed in 2007
2-Participate in the development of the national strategy in the fight against corruption for years (2010-2014) that respond to the UN Convention against Corruption to serve as a comprehensive and detailed plan and manual work to combat corruption at all levels
3-exceptional efforts by the BSA’s auditors through auditing different activities of government departments, including contracts and referral procedures and implementation
4-Contributing with other control bodies, which is (the Integrity Commission and the offices of inspectors general) to refer reports that include indicators of corruption for the purposes of verification and investigation
5-Develop indicators and national perceptions of corruption in Iraq and measure the level of awareness of the citizen in the administrative corruption in Iraq
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