Summary of 8th meeting of the Working Group, Beijing,
20 October 2013
Introduction by the Chairman of the Working Group
Gijs de Vries, chair of WGAADA and member of the European Court of Auditors (ECA), set the existence and achievements of the working group into the context of international developments in transparency and accountability of humanitarian aid. He welcomed the regular participants to WGAADA meetings as well as those who had joined this, the final meeting, to take the work of WGAADA to a new level.
Overview of new 5500 series of ISSAIs
Torielle Perreur-Lloyd of the WGAADA secretariat (ECA) outlined the process which had resulted in the new 5500 series of ISSAIs which were ready for adoption by INCOSAI. She summarised the content of the new ISSAIs and gave examples of how they could be used to audit disaster-related aid.
Mr De Vries congratulated all of the SAIs which had contributed to the ISSAIs. He said the Working Group could be proud of the five new ISSAIs it had created.
On-going work on parallel audit
a) Disaster-related aid
Sapto Amal Damandari, Member of the Board of the SAI of the SAI of Indonesia, presented the parallel audit of disaster-related aid led by the SAI of Indonesia. Audit work is still underway. Reporting is expected to take place in 2014.
b) Disaster Risk Reduction
Dr. Remai Akyel, President of the SAI of Turkey, presented the results of the parallel audit of disaster risk reduction led by the SAI of Turkey. He outlined the results of the audit work, now complete and drew some preliminary conclusions. The reporting phase is expected to be finished and the report published early in 2014.
Mr De Vries commended the high quality of the work carried out by all of the SAIs which participated in the parallel audits and informed the meeting that the results of the work would be used to enrich the new ISSAIs during their first review. He added that the lessons learnt from collaboration between SAIs would be of interest to all SAIs.
The reports on these joint audits will be published on the website of the Knowledge Sharing Committee.
Using the ISSAIs –INTOSAI Development Initiative/ECA
Mr De Vries outlined discussions which had taken place with the Capacity Building Committee and the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) on using the ISSAIs for audits, training and capacity building.
Archana Shirsat of the IDI explained IDI’s role in capacity building and helping SAIs to use ISSAIs to their full potential. She urged SAIs to complete the Global Survey being launched by IDI and to indicate disaster related aid as an area in which capacity building is needed. She also invited SAIs to, either individually, or grouped through regional working groups, to put forward project proposals which IDI could take up and present for funding by donors.
Overview of INTOSAI GOV 9250
Gaston Moonen of the WGAADA secretariat (ECA) explained how the Working Group came to develop the IFAF and which organisations it had consulted to arrive at the initiative it was now ready to INCOSAI to adopt. He presented INTOSAI GOV 9250, and the current state of play on testing and implementing the IFAF.
Taking INTOSAI GOV 9250 forward
Mr De Vries hailed the IFAF as ground-breaking new work and congratulated all of the SAIs which had worked so hard to get it off the ground. He outlined the work still ongoing to promote the IFAF and encourage its implementation and urged SAIs to continue to lend their support to this.
Ramiro Mendoza Zuñiga, Comptroller General of Chile, SAI of Chile, presented the follow-up work to the IFAF his SAI, with the support of government departments, is carrying out in Chile. NGOs in Chile are being trained to produce IFAF tables during a series of seminars, at which they are encouraged to share experiences and help each other implement the IFAF. Mr Mendoza Zuñiga distributed copies of his report on this process to participants at the meeting.
Mr De Vries commended Chile’s implementation of the IFAF, as well as work currently underway by the SAI of Indonesia. He urged other SAIs to continue and reinforce their support of the IFAF.
Role for the KSC after XXI INCOSAI
Jagbans Singh explained the role of the INTOSAI Knowledge Sharing Committee (KSC), as “mother committee”, once WGAADA had been disbanded by the INTOSAI Governing Board. The KSC would host the archives of the Working Group as well as contact information. It would also host a forum for implementers of the IFAF. In addition to this, KSC will instigate the process of the review of the 5500 series of ISSAIs and INTOSAI GOV 9250 in 2018.
Role for the WGEA after XXI INCOSAI
Edward Simanjuntak told the meeting that the Working Group on Environmental Audit (WGEA) had agreed with the WGAADA secretariat to collect Disaster-related Aid audit reports by SAIs. SAIs should send reports to the WGEA website, in the format specified on the website, where they will be held for other SAIs to consult.
Conclusion by the host
CUI Zhenlong, Director General of the SAI of China, thanked WGAADA for its work and its output to INCOSAI. He said the ISSAIs and the INTOSAI GOV were of great value to INTOSAI.
Conclusion by Chairman of the Working Group
Mr De Vries told the meeting that he was proud to present the new 5500 series of ISSAIs, INTOSAI GOV 9250 and the final report of the Working Group to the INTOSAI Governing Board the following day, and then to Congress on 26th October. He would also ask the Governing Board to dissolve the Working Group.
Mr De Vries thanked participants for a fruitful meeting and for the years of constructive and positive collaboration as WGAADA. He told the meeting that although the end of a Working Group was a sad moment, he felt that WGAADA had achieved its goals, fulfilled its mandate and could be proud of its achievements.
Vitor Caldeira, President of the ECA, thanked Mr De Vries and the secretariat of the Working Group and all of the participants, congratulated them on the considerable achievements presented at the meeting and invited everyone to toast the success of the Working Group.
List of participants
Name of participant / Institution / Position1. Mr. Yujiro ICHIKAWA / SAI of Japan / Deputy Director/Office of International Affairs
2. Mr. Shingo TAKAMATSU / SAI of Japan / Section Chief/Office of International Affairs
3. Mrs Archana Shirsat / INTOSAI Development Initiative
4. Mr CUI Zhenlong / SAI of China / Director General CNAO
5. Sapto Amal Damandari, / SAI of Indonesia / Member of BPK
6. Bahtiar Arif / SAI of Indonesia / Head of Public and International Relations Bureau
7. Edward Simanjuntak / SAI of Indonesia / Director
8. Juska Sjam / SAI of Indonesia / International Relations
9. Ami Rahmawati / SAI of Indonesia / International Relations
10. Mr Arno Visser / SAI of Netherlands / Vice President, Board Member
11. Ramiro Mendoza / SAI of Chile / Comptroller General
12. Julio Pallavicini / SAI of Chile / Head of legal department
13. Jagbans Singh / SAI of India / Director General International Relations Division
14. Mr. Rajdeep Singh / SAI of India / Director (International Relations)
15. Elfi Hammelmüller / SAI of Austria / INTOSAI General Secretariat
16. Andrea Lövenberger / SAI of Austria / INTOSAI General Secretariat
17. Mr Vitor Caldeira / European Court of Auditors / President of the Court
18. Mr Hendrik Otbo / European Court of Auditors / Member of the Court
19. Mr Geoffrey Simpson / European Court of Auditors / Director International Division
20. Mr Recai Akyel / SAI of Turkey / President
21. Mr Omer Karamollaoğlu / SAI of Turkey
22. Azmi Es / SAI of Turkey
23. Harun Saki / SAI of Turkey
24. Mrs Nanna Schnipper / SAI of Denmark / PSC Secretariat
25. / SAI of Peru
26. / SAI of Pakistan
27. Mr Steven / SAI of USA
28. Mr Gijs de Vries / WGAADA / President WGAADA, Member of European Court of Auditors
29. Mr Gaston Moonen / WGAADA / Secretariat WGAADA
30. Mrs Torielle Perreur-Lloyd / WGAADA / Secretariat WGAADA
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