Auckland, New Zealand: The Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) is training more Pacific Island government audit office staff to conduct compliance audits to international standards from this week.

Sixty-four staff (33 female, 31 male) from supreme audit institutions (SAIs) in American Samoa, Fiji, FSM Pohnpei, FSM Yap, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Vanuatu are participating in the six part-day, online workshop from 25 to 29 September and 2 October 2023.

PASAI programme directors, Susana Laulu, Sinaroseta Palamo-Iosefo and Meresimani Vosawale-Katuba, are facilitating the eight-module workshop covering all phases of the compliance audit process.

Ms Laulu explained compliance audits are meant to enhance public sector and government entity compliance with laws, regulations, executive directives, policies and procedures.

“The training will cover the main concepts of compliance audit, how to identify potential audit topics and the different phases of the audit process from planning, gathering evidence, evaluating evidence and forming conclusions, to reporting audit findings and following up implementation of audit observations.

“It highlights the importance of understanding the country’s governance ecosystem in identifying significant areas to be considered as potential topics for a compliance audit as well as those factors that will ensure a quality audit is conducted effectively and efficiently,” she said.

It is envisioned that by ensuring Pacific Island auditors are trained to conduct compliance audits in accordance with international standards and best practices, government accountability, transparency and integrity will be strengthened in the longer term.

PASAI acknowledges the support of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

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Contact information:

Susana Laulu, Programme Director PASAI, Auckland, New Zealand
E: susana.laulu@pasai.org P: +64 9 304 1275

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