The Tonga Office of the Auditor-General (TOAG) on Monday 30 April 2018 commenced a workshop on Stage II of the implementation of the international auditing standards called the ISSAIs (International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions). The week-long workshop is one of the activities of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade (DFAT)-funded project called “Support for the External Oversight Function of the Public Financial Management (PFM) System in Tonga”. The project provides support to the TOAG as well as the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Legislative Assembly of the Kingdom of Tonga.  The objective of the workshop was to discuss the ISSAI based compliance and financial audits methodology, as well as prepare the TOAG audit teams for pilot audits.

The workshop was facilitated by Karma Tenzin and Shofiqul Islam of the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) and Sinaroseta Palamo-Iosefo and Eroni Vatuloka of PASAI. TOAG, IDI and PASAI have signed an agreement to achieve the objectives of the stage II support and timely completion of the activities.

The Australian High Commissioner in Tonga, His Excellency Mr. Andrew Ford, in opening the workshop stated that he was happy to hear about the results of the first stage of the ISSAI implementation – which was mapping the current audit practices to ascertain the implementation needs. He added that this second stage, the adoption of the ISSAI compliant audit methodology and conducting pilot financial and compliance audits, is important in the adoption of the international standards.

The High Commissioner hopes that SAI Tonga (TOAG) will have progressed with the adoption of the methodologies for financial and compliance audits by the end of the workshop and looks forward to them using the ISSAI methodologies in the pilot audits. He reiterated the Australian government’s commitment to accountable and transparent Pacific island states, as government ministries and departments pursue their development outcomes.

The Auditor-General Mr. Sefita Tangi thanked the Australian government for their continued support to the TOAG.

PASAI acknowledges the financial support from both DFAT and the IDI to the implementation of ISSAIs in the TOAG.