PASAI announces its latest Regional Report - the first cooperative compliance audit on Public Procurement

PASAI regional report:

The first cooperative compliance audit, on
Public Procurement

PASAI is very proud to present our report on the results of the first cooperative compliance audit on Public Procurement.

The audit was a joint initiative between PASAI and the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI). Lead by PASAI’s Director of Technical Support, A’eau Agnes Aruwafu and Mr. Shofiqul Islam, IDI’s Manager of Capacity Development, PASAI’s team of facilitators included two officers from Audit NZ, one auditor each from SAI Cook Islands, Samoa, Norway and Maldives, and PASAI’s Director of Practice Development, Sinaroseta Palamo-Iosefo who helped with design, planning and quality reviews. The whole team met in Oslo to design the program followed by a two-week planning workshop in Auckland, NZ, in 2015, and another week of reporting in Samoa, in Dec 2016. Quality assurance of the reports was done in Dec 2017, with the SAIs’ reports being made public for most in 2018.

It was a long-term yet very successful activity, and this report highlights not only the results of the audits themselves, but also the lessons learnt in being the first region to carry out a cooperative compliance audit, on this particular topic.

This report sits in the PASAI suite of information-sharing regional reports as PASAI continues to support its SAIs as Learning and Knowledge organisation (and we’ll soon be following up with a regional report on the cooperative performance audit of preparedness for implementation of the SDGs). We’re very pleased to share the report in both flipbook format and standard PDF download.

This report is also a first in another way. In the Pacific tradition of story-telling, PASAI’s SAIs have provided longer narratives that go beyond the audit results and share a fuller picture of the whole activity and impact on the SAI, the audited entity and the citizens of their country.

PASAI thanks IDI, its other development partners, the team of facilitators and especially the SAIs who took part, for their huge involvement in this cooperative audit and support for this report.

For more information, please contact PASAI’s Communications Advisor on jill.marshall@pasai.org.

PASAI and Tongan Parliament work together to strengthen PAC's oversight role

Media Release 25 October 2018

PASAI works with the Tongan Parliament to strengthen the PAC’s oversight role

L-R: PAC Chairman, Hon. Tevita Lavemaau, Speaker Lord Fakafanua, PASAI Chief Executive Tiofilusi Tiueti, and Hon. Siaosi Sovaleni.

The Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) was honoured to host a delegation from the Tonga Parliament at the PASAI Secretariat office on 23rd October 2018.

The delegation was led by Tonga’s Speaker of Parliament, Lord Fakafanua, who previously attended a Public Financial Management (PFM) Symposium in Tonga from 4 – 6 September 2018 that was co-facilitated by PASAI, the Tonga Ministry of Finance and National Planning (MFNP), Tonga Office of the Auditor-General (TOAG), and Pacific Financial Technical Assistance Centre (PFTAC). His Lordship was joined by two Members of Parliament, Hon. Tevita Lavemaau (Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee) and Hon. Siaosi Sovaleni (member of the Public Accounts Committee).

Continuing the theme of the PFM Symposium, the two parties discussed PASAI’s current and future support programs to the Tonga Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in strengthening its oversight role on legislative scrutiny of the annual budget and the audited financial statements of government.

Says Lord Fakafanua, ‘This was a highly productive meeting in which we were all able to gain further clarity and understanding of the status of our current programs with PASAI and also future initiatives to enhance the PAC’s roles, responsibilities and support mechanisms in this critical area. I am very keen to build on the relationships with PASAI and their development parties to share our experiences and grow accordingly, and look forward to moving forward with everything discussed.’

In the past two years, PASAI has been providing technical support to Tonga’s Parliament and PAC in building the capacity of parliamentarians to better understand their role in providing financial oversight of public expenditure, developing PAC frameworks and procedures for review and scrutiny of external audit reports, and enhancing public awareness of the PAC. The meeting clarified the way forward and continuation of these support programs. These programs were funded by Australian Aid (DFAT).    

PASAI continues to support initiatives to strengthen PACs in the region in improving the understanding of accountability and transparency on the part of citizens, and thanks all its development partners in these programs and activities, especially DFAT and MFAT.

For more information please contact PASAI Communications Advisor, jill.marshall@pasai.org