Timeline met on the completion of the single audits for the FSM National and State governments for FY 2020

10 January 2022

Palikir, Pohnpei: The Office of the National Public Auditor (ONPA), through this press release statement is pleased to inform that the Single Audits for the FSM National and State Governments for the fiscal year 2020 have been completed as of December 31, 2021.

The audits, which are conducted annually are a requirement of the Amended Compact Agreement between the United States of America and FSM. The timeline for completion of audits for each fiscal year is on June 30th each year, or nine (9) months after the end of each fiscal year. However, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the due date of audits for the fiscal year 2020 was extended to December 31, 2021.

The Heads of the Finance Departments for the primary governments as well as the chief executives and their chief financial officers for the component units, were ably responsible for the preparation of financial reports, internal controls and compliance that facilitated the audits’ completion on schedule.

The Public Auditor commends the management for all the FSM single audit entities and the independent CPA firm (Deloitte & Touche) for executing their responsibilities and ensuring that the FSM Governments meet the timeline for the completion of single audits as it is a crucial requirement of the Amended Compact.

You can access all the single audit reports.

PDF of ONPA press release #2022-01

Upcoming holiday shutdown for Secretariat office

Our office is closed between 25 December 2021 and 9 January 2022. We look forward to continuing our work of improving accountability and governance in the Pacific region early next year.

PASAI 28th Governing Board meeting

29 November 2021

Auckland, New Zealand: The Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) held its 28th Governing Board meeting online on 26 November 2021. Ajay Nand, Auditor-General of Fiji and Chair of the PASAI Governing Board, chaired the meeting.

Esther Lameko-Poutoa, Chief Executive PASAI, outlined work aligned to PASAI’s five Strategic Priorities that had occurred since the last meeting. Her report included:

• recent SAI independence workshops for SAIs FSM National, Guam, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Solomon Islands to inform, encourage and promote possible avenues to address gaps in independence,

• continued work to improve the quality and timeliness of Financial Statements of Government audits with the challenges of both addressing audit backlogs and completing current audits with COVID-19 disruptions,

• progress on SAI Performance Measurement Framework (PMF) assessments noting the completion of the report for SAI Northern Mariana Islands, and

• recruitment of a pool of technical advisers to build SAI capability and set up best-practice procedures across the PMF’s broad domains.

Members of the Governing Board created a subcommittee to consider and approve a theme and countries of focus for the fourth PASAI Accountability and Transparency Study in 2022.

The Governing Board agreed to an investment in an auditing software upgrade for some SAIs in the region.

Agenda items also included an update on the implementation of the Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Framework to meet external and internal reporting requirements.

John Ryan, Secretary-General PASAI and Auditor-General of New Zealand, together with the Board and the Secretariat, celebrated the enhancement of SAI Tonga’s independence with recent amendments to the Constitution of Tonga. He acknowledged the hard work of Sefita Tangi, Auditor-General of Tonga, and Tiofilusi Tiueti, Director Technical Support PASAI, for their sustained contributions in achieving this milestone.

The Secretariat expresses its gratitude to the Governing Board members for their ongoing assistance and acknowledges our development partners for their continued support of PASAI and its work in the region.

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Contact information:

Esther Lameko-Poutoa, Chief Executive PASAI, Auckland, New Zealand
E: secretariat@pasai.org P: +64 9 304 1275

PDF version of this media release

Final chapter of comprehensive financial audit support programme starts in the Pacific

5 November 2021

Auckland, New Zealand: PASAI and the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) today commence a final round of workshops to enhance financial audit capabilities in the Pacific region.

Two senior auditors from the supreme audit institution (SAI) in Samoa will participate in online workshops from 5 to 6 and 8 November 2021. Ten staff (four female, six male) from the SAI in Tonga participated in similar workshops from 13 to 15 September 2021.

The workshops are part of a six-month programme of capability-building support to conduct Financial Statements of Government (FSG) audits in accordance with the International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAIs).

Staff from SAIs in Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu participated in earlier rollouts of this programme.

IDI Senior Manager, Karma Tenzin, will again facilitate the workshops supported by PASAI Director Technical Support, Tiofilusi Tiueti.

Mr Tenzin explained, “The intervention will utilise PASAI resources and our Financial Audit ISSAI Implementation Handbook to adapt ISSAI-compliant audit methodology, conduct FSG audits, support Quality Assurance (QA) review and provide ongoing virtual technical assistance”.

PASAI and IDI will jointly conduct an FSG audit QA review workshop for all eight participating SAIs in March 2022.

SAIs Tuvalu and Fiji will peer review SAIs Tonga and Samoa’s FSG audits next year, respectively. Other participating SAIs will follow the same process with each other’s audits to provide extra assurance of ISSAI compliance.

PASAI acknowledges the support of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the European Union (EU) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

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Contact information:

Tiofilusi Tiueti, Director Technical Support PASAI, Auckland, New Zealand
E: Tiofilusi.tiueti@pasai.org P: +64 9 304 1275

PDF version of this media release

Report on PASAI's first quarter of activities now available

PASAI has just published its first quarterly report for the 2021–22 financial year.

Through our quarterly reports, we will continue to share the progress of our work with our member SAIs, progress and development within the SAIs and impact of the work of the SAIs improving accountability and transparency across the Pacific region.

Reports will be available on our Quarterly Reports page.

Financial and performance auditors to benefit from mixed approach to report writing training

20 October 2021

Auckland, New Zealand: The Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) is delivering a course on report writing skills for auditors from 27 October 2021. This course builds on the popular two-day PASAI Report Writing workshops run in December 2020.

The course incorporates proven blended learning principles and consists of video tutorials, ‘live’ workshops and practical exercises to be completed by participants. Programme material will include examples and best practice guidance from the Office of the Auditor-General, New Zealand.

Sarah Markley (Deputy Secretary-General, PASAI) and Nicole Ayo von Thun (Senior Advisor, International Engagement, Office of the Auditor-General New Zealand) will facilitate the workshops and moderate the feedback on participant coursework.

They will be joined in the ‘live’ workshops by financial auditors, performance auditors, and report writing experts from SAI New Zealand’s Communications and Engagement Team.

Sarah explained the course’s blended learning approach, “The course is designed to encourage active participant engagement at a number of stages throughout the course, both in live workshops and through activities on PASAI’s Learning Platform.

“This will help participants to build report writing capabilities and improve writing standards at their SAI,” she said.

The course aims not only to give participants the knowledge and skills to produce high quality reports, but also to improve their written communication with key stakeholders, such as Parliament/the Legislature, those charged with governance and the media.

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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Course overview video

Contact information:

Esther Lameko-Poutoa, Chief Executive PASAI, Auckland, New Zealand
E: secretariat@pasai.org P: +64 9 304 1275

PDF version of this media release

SAI FSM releases report on 2020 Social Security Benefits

8 October 2021

Palikir, Pohnpei: This is to announce the issuance of our new inspection report on the FSM Social Security Benefits for calendar year 2020, January through December. This inspection was initiated through an anonymous complaint that was received at our Compliance Investigation Division (CID) hotline. The complaint contained allegations of “mismanagement of the Social Security Administration (SSA) funds.” The complainant alleged that “there are some beneficiaries over 65 years of age who are receiving 100% of social security benefits even while they are gainfully employed.” We conducted this inspection in accordance with the Quality Standards for Inspections and Evaluations (QSIE) issued by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE).

Based on our inspection, we found instances of overpaid benefits that were not recovered for 5-7 years. Our findings reflect the need to strengthen the management and operations capacity of the FSMSSA, including the need to improve internal controls and mechanisms that affect the processing of application for benefits, the monitoring of active beneficiaries and detection of ineligible beneficiaries.

The inspection disclosed the following findings:

a) Uncollected debt of over $27,000 is linked to overpaid retirement benefits to members that were reported to have continued to receive 100% benefits even after returning to active employment;
b) FSM SSA does not have sufficient measures in place to effectively monitor and adjust payments to beneficiaries who have passed; and
c) Unaccounted contributions indicate lack of reconciliation and untimely posting to members’ accounts.

Printed copies of the Inspection Report are available at the ONPA located in Palikir, Pohnpei.

PDF of ONPA Press Release #2021-08

SAI FSM releases report on Kosrae Postal Services collections and deposits

4 October 2021

Palikir, Pohnpei: This is to announce the issuance of our new inspection report on the FSM Postal Services, Kosrae Branch Office covering its revenue collections and deposits for the months from October 2020 through January 2021. This inspection was initiated based on a request by the Acting Postmaster General who had concerns of potential violations of the Financial Management Regulations (FMR 2019 version), which requires the deposit of revenue collections no later than the next business day. This inspection was conducted in accordance with the Quality Standards for Inspections and Evaluations issued by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE).

Based on our inspection, we found that the revenue collections for the FSM Postal Office located in Kosrae State were not deposited on time as required by the FMR. We also found some instances of missing records of collections within the period of our inspection scope under the management of the former Acting Postmaster for the FSM Postal Office in Kosrae, who voluntarily resigned prior to the start of this inspection. Our inspection also revealed the need to strengthen and improve the monitoring and oversight function by the Headquarters over the operations of the FSM Postal Office in Kosrae State.

The inspection disclosed the following findings:

1. The FSM Post Office in Kosrae did not comply with the FMR pertaining to the requirements for depositing the daily collections on the next business day; and

2. Effective oversight by the Headquarters is necessary to ensure compliance to laws and regulations and to prevent any financial losses to the FSM Postal Service.

Printed copies of the Inspection Report are available at the ONPA located in Palikir, Pohnpei.

PDF of ONPA Press Release #2021-07

Tailored interventions to strengthen SAI performance in the Pacific

28 September 2021

Auckland, New Zealand: The Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) is continuing its programme of strengthening SAI performance with training tailored to the Congressional system of public auditing starting today.

Seventeen participants (seven female, 10 male) from seven SAIs (Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) National, FSM Chuuk, FSM Kosrae, FSM Pohnpei, FSM Yap, Guam, and Palau) will participate in three part-day online workshops from 28 to 30 September 2021.

This training is part of a broader programme aiming to improve the effectiveness and capabilities of 20 SAIs in PASAI’s Polynesian, Melanesian and Micronesian subregional member groups, as evaluated by the six ‘domains’ of the SAI Performance Measurement Framework (PMF).

PASAI Director Practice Development, Sinaroseta Palamo-Iosefo, will facilitate the workshops covering the following four domains:

• B – Internal Governance and Ethics

• D – Financial Management, Assets and Support Services

• E – Human Resources and Training

• F – Communication and Stakeholder Engagement

Ms Palamo-Iosefo explained the need for the training, stating, “SAI PMF provides SAIs with an objective basis for demonstrating their ongoing relevance to citizens and other stakeholders and serves as an invaluable tool for obtaining and maintaining support for capacity development efforts”.

Course participants have been able to access and complete pre-training activities on PASAI’s Learning Platform since last Monday 20 September 2021 to prepare them for the live webinars.

PASAI will facilitate another set of tailored online workshops for 10 Pacific SAIs under the Parliamentary system (the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu) from 27 to 29 October 2021.

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:

Sinaroseta Palamo-Iosefo, Director Practice Development PASAI, Auckland, New Zealand

E: sina.iosefo@pasai.org P: +64 9 304 1275

PDF version of this media release

Annual Report now available

PASAI’s Annual Report 2020–21 is now available to view online.

It was approved by members at PASAI’s recent Annual General Meeting pending the inclusion of some minor changes requested by the Governing Board.

The report is structured to align with PASAI’s new Performance Reporting Framework which was developed to meet external reporting requirements and comply with the new accounting standards (PBE FRS 48).

PASAI’s five Strategic Priorities continue to guide our programmes and activities and this occupies much of the report. PASAI’s financial statements for the year ending 30 June 2021 are also appended to the report.

Copies of past reports remain available on the Annual Reports page.

PASAI adds two new directors to its team

22 September 2021

Auckland, New Zealand: The Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) is welcoming two more directors to its Secretariat team, one focussing on SAIs in the North Pacific and the other on SAIs in the South Pacific.

Doris Flores Brooks will be based in Guam as PASAI’s new Director (North) from next Monday 27 September 2021. Meresimani Vosawale-Katuba will be based in Fiji as PASAI’s new Director (South) from the following Monday 4 October 2021.

Doris Flores Brooks

Meresimani Vosawale-Katuba

Ms Flores Brooks is a Certified Public Accountant, former Guam Senator, university lecturer and as the former Public Auditor of Guam, is certainly no stranger to PASAI. She has even been the Chairperson of PASAI’s Governing Board.

Most recently Ms Flores Brooks was on Guam’s rate-setting Public Utilities Commission and the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Ms Vosawale-Katuba joined SAI Fiji as an assistant auditor, working her way up over 13 years to, most recently, act in the role of Manager Performance Audit Services. She also established and led the Quality Assurance Unit.

Ms Vosawale-Katuba brings experience in developing manuals, policies and guidelines; conducting training presentations; and carrying out quality assurance reviews of financial audits and performance audits. She was on a global panel of QA reviewers for the INTOSAI Development Initiative / ASEAN Supreme Audit Institutions Financial Co‐operative Audit.

PASAI Chief Executive, Esther Lameko-Poutoa, is confident PASAI’s members will soon benefit from these appointments.

“These women will bring a depth of auditing best-practice knowledge and regional insights to the Secretariat,” she said.

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:

Esther Lameko-Poutoa, Chief Executive PASAI, Auckland, New Zealand

E: secretariat@pasai.org P: +64 9 304 1275

PDF version of this media release

PASAI 27th Governing Board meeting

13 September 2021

Auckland, New Zealand: The Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) held its 27th Governing Board meeting online on 10 September 2021.

Ajay Nand, Auditor-General of Fiji and Chair of the PASAI Governing Board, chaired the meeting. Esther Lameko-Poutoa, Chief Executive PASAI, accompanied other Auckland-based Secretariat staff who all attended virtually from their homes during another mandatory government lockdown. John Ryan, Secretary-General PASAI and Auditor-General of New Zealand, and other Wellington-based staff were able to join from their office.

Ms Lameko-Poutoa provided an overview of the Secretariat’s work during July and August 2021 aligned to its five Strategic Priorities.

Her report included:

• recent SAI independence workshops for SAIs Cook Islands and Kiribati,

• continued work to improve the quality and timeliness of Financial Statements of Government audits,

• progress on SAI Performance Measurement Framework assessments, and

• recent training on environmental auditing and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals organised in collaboration with the Working Group on Environmental Auditing.

Members of the Governing Board raised and discussed the issue of SAI independence. PASAI resolved to work with development partners and regional leaders to advocate for strengthened SAI independence to complement the efforts of its members.

The Governing Board endorsed the Annual Report and Financial Statements for presentation at the Annual General Meeting of PASAI Incorporated, held later that day.

Agenda items also included the findings and recommendations from the assessment of the technological setup of 20 PASAI members and an update on the implementation of the Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Framework to meet external and internal reporting requirements.

The Secretariat expresses its gratitude to the Governing Board members for their ongoing assistance and acknowledges our development partners for their continued support of PASAI and its work in the region.

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Contact information:

Esther Lameko-Poutoa, Chief Executive PASAI, Auckland, New Zealand

E: secretariat@pasai.org P: +64 9 304 1275

PDF version of this media release

Pacific SAIs ready to conduct pandemic-related audits

7 September 2021

Auckland, New Zealand: Eight auditors (6 female, 2 male) from supreme audit institutions (SAIs) in the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu are participating in the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) global cooperative compliance audit on the ‘Transparency, Accountability and Inclusiveness of the use of emergency funding for COVID-19’ (TAI audits).

IDI is delivering the initiative using an integrated education and audit support framework consisting of four main components: education, social learning, other resources and audit support.

PASAI’s Director Practice Development and two auditors—one each from the SAIs in Samoa and Tonga—are also playing important roles in the initiative. They are facilitating some of the online education and will mentor the SAIs throughout the audit process.

The global cooperative audit includes more than 20 SAIs from the African, Asian, Caribbean and European regions. It commenced in June 2021 and is expected to be completed by the end of this year. SAIs are currently in the planning phase and will commence the audit fieldwork in September.

The participating SAIs had the option to select either emergency public procurement, socio-economic packages or the vaccine rollout as the focus of the audit based on their country context and priorities.

TAI audits aim to contribute to:

• enhancing transparency, accountability, and inclusiveness in the use of emergency funding for COVID-19

• setting up of more transparent, accountable, and inclusive frameworks for public spending during emergencies in the future

• strengthening the allocation and utilisation of emergency funding to reach those who are furthest behind and

• prioritising vulnerable sections of society who are disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

To date, nine (of 11) workshops have been delivered covering the key concepts and considerations for a TAI audit and how these concepts are integrated in the normal audit process, from planning through to reporting. SAIs are taking an agile approach and determining a manageable audit scope to ensure impactful, realistic and timely recommendations are provided to audited entities.

PASAI acknowledges the support of the IDI, 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:

Sinaroseta Palamo-Iosefo, Director Practice Development PASAI, Auckland, New Zealand

E: sina.iosefo@pasai.org P: +64 9 304 1275

PDF version of this media release

Impact through independence - supreme audit institutions

2 September 2021

From the Transparency Times, the newsletter of Transparency International New Zealand:

“Having an independent government auditor is an important pillar of a well-functioning National Integrity System.

Independence is vital to this function. If an SAI is not properly recognised and resourced within their country’s legislative framework, it is difficult for them to drive impact in the financial management system. To be effective they have to be independent of those they audit, and protected against outside influence.

This will increase credibility and confidence in their work. A strong, independent SAI is essential for a country’s good governance and public financial management.”

The full article

Revised Quality Assurance Manual now available

We have completed a review of our Quality Assurance Manual first published in 2015. It is now in line with the INTOSAI Quality Assurance and Control standards, the International Standard on Quality Control and best practice.

It contains additional information on peer reviews and how to conduct quality control over the work of sub-contractors. It distinguishes between quality assurance and quality control and also shows the steps that are required for quality assurance functions to be established.

We used a very similar version of the manual for the Quality Control and Assurance workshop in March this year. Participants can use workshop training material (accessible on our learning platform) with the new manual to help set up their own quality assurance and control arrangements within their SAIs.

We encourage our members to adopt the manual or use it as a reference point for your work.

Revised Independence Resource Kit now available

We developed our Independence Resource Kit (IRK) in 2016 for SAIs to self-assess their independence and develop and implement an independence strategy aligned with their overall independence goals and strategic plans.

We have now revised the IRK’s content and made a printable PDF version available.

Additions to the ‘Planning for independence’ section of the IRK include an editable SAI Independence Strategy template for SAIs to download and use. It contains a SWOT analysis table, a letter seeking legislative support and makes a compelling case for pursuing greater SAI independence.

There is also a Legislative reform policy paper template and Drafting instructions that a consultant used in the Solomon Islands.

The IRK’s SAI independence checklist is more comprehensive and its many links to useful legislative examples and INTOSAI pronouncements, standards and guidance are up to date now as well.

Attendees of the 23rd PASAI Congress in June will recall the Right Honourable Trevor Mallard, in the opening address, offered his support to pursue independence. You can now watch a video of this speech.

Trevor Mallard on the importance of independence of Speakers and SAIs for democracies

Strengthening SAI independence is the first of our Strategic Priorities. We look forward to working with our members to achieve this goal with the new resources available.

Executive leadership training customised to the needs of Pacific SAI Heads

4 August 2021

Auckland, New Zealand: An 18-month long leadership programme arranged by the Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) for SAI Heads in the Pacific starts today.

Thirty-two SAI Heads and established second-tier leaders identified as likely future SAI Heads (nine female, 23 male) from all 20 SAIs in PASAI’s Polynesian, Melanesian and Micronesian subregional member groups will participate in the online programme.

The goal of the programme is to empower SAI Heads to perform internal leadership responsibilities more effectively and to be more successful as leaders and influencers in their public financial management and public sector governance systems.

PASAI Chief Executive, Esther Lameko-Poutoa, acknowledged the training gap being filled by the programme, “While PASAI has facilitated comprehensive audit training to SAI staff which sometimes included SAI Heads, there has been limited activity focused on the unique leadership challenges for those in that role”.

The training provider, Beasley Intercultural, has delivered customised executive coaching programmes to clients including the United Nations, the Australian National Audit Office and the University of Sydney.

Beasley Intercultural will work with SAI Heads throughout the delivery of the programme to adapt the content to address issues arising from the series of workshops and smaller group discussions.

Ms Lameko-Poutoa expanded, “Due to the need to operate independently, the role of the SAI Head is an inherently lonely one.

“We see great value in this cohort-based programme so SAI Heads can benefit from the mutual support and experience sharing that they cannot easily seek within their own jurisdictions”.

The programme will focus on:

• leading and establishing organisational culture

• people management

• organisational leadership

• managing and developing stakeholder relationships

• tackling challenges and maintaining a long-term view.

Founder, CEO and project overseer, Tamerlaine Beasley, summarised the coaching team’s credentials when the programme was revealed at PASAI’s recent Congress, “Our team are going to be coming to you with deep experience and understanding of working in the Pacific and with leaders like yourselves … and they’re going to be drawing on that experience and expertise to make sure that what we’re talking about is nuanced and relevant to your world and context”.

The programme will cover topics including organisation dynamics, building trust and influencing, strategic goals, performance monitoring, succession planning, managing conflict and negative publicity, responding to political change, gender equality, managing diversity and creating an inclusive culture.

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:

Esther Lameko-Poutoa, Chief Executive PASAI, Auckland, New Zealand

E: secretariat@pasai.org P: +64 9 304 1275

PDF version of this media release

Workshops to enhance environmental audit capabilities

29 July 2021

Auckland, New Zealand: The Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) and the Regional Working Group on Environmental Auditing (RWGEA) are giving Pacific auditors an introduction to environmental auditing and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from an environmental perspective.

Fifty-six participants (38 female, 18 male) from supreme audit institutions (SAIs) in American Samoa, Australia (national office), Chuuk, Fiji, French Polynesia, FSM National, Guam, Kiribati, Kosrae, New South Wales, New Zealand, the Northern Mariana Islands, Pohnpei and Tonga will participate in two part-day online workshops from 29 to 30 July 2021. A representative from one of PASAI’s development partners will also observe.

The sessions on both days include pre-recorded videos by Dr Vivi Niemenmaa (Secretary General, INTOSAI Working Group on Environmental Auditing) and live ‘Q and A’ sessions with Sinaroseta Palamo-Iosefo (Director Practice Development – PASAI) and Jonathan Keate (Senior Solicitor Sector Manager – Office of the Auditor-General of New Zealand).

SAIs play an important role in providing Parliament and members of the public with credible information on the effectiveness of government programmes that aim to improve environmental outcomes and make a difference in the lives of citizens.

In the past, PASAI members have participated in RWGEA meetings to share knowledge and experiences in environmental auditing. PASAI members have also conducted environmental audits as part of PASAI’s cooperative audit programme and more recently, an audit on SDG preparedness.

Mr Keate, who is the RWGEA Coordinator, encouraged participants to discuss current or planned environmental auditing activities saying, “The PASAI Secretariat and I are here to provide support”.

The training is targeted at performance auditors and those in management positions who manage environmental and/or performance audits in the SAI.

Ms Palamo-Iosefo said, “Although environmental auditing is much like other performance auditing, the workshops will cover specific elements relevant to environmental auditing and provide an overview of the concept of sustainable development, the global sustainability processes from 1992 onwards and the United Nation’s Agenda 2030”.

Workshop participants will discover how SAIs around the world have approached the SDGs, find out how SAIs can contribute to the follow-up and review process of the SDGs and learn about the relationship between environmental issues and SDGs through relevant audit cases and international examples of cooperative audits.

Following the workshops, auditors should be able to integrate the SDGs into their organisational planning and auditing.

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:

1. Sinaroseta Palamo-Iosefo, Director Practice Development PASAI, Auckland, New Zealand

   E: sina.iosefo@pasai.org P: +64 9 304 1275

2. Jonathan Keate, Senior Solicitor Sector Manager Office of the Auditor-General, Wellington, New Zealand

   E: jonathan.keate@oag.parliament.nz P: +64 4 917 1544

PDF version of this media release

Programme pushes Pacific Island supreme audit institutions closer to independence

27 July 2021

Auckland, New Zealand: The Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) is delivering a series of coaching sessions to SAIs to developing processes and procedures to achieve independence.

SAI Heads and senior staff in charge of policy formulation and strategy from 20 SAIs in PASAI’s Polynesian, Melanesian and Micronesian subregional member groups will actively participate in this programme, which starts tomorrow and extends well into 2022.

PASAI directors will facilitate customised workshops for each SAI and start by explaining the SAI’s external assessment on independence under the SAI Performance Measurement Framework (PMF) which includes scores on different aspects of independence.

Cumulative SAI PMF results for SAIs in the Pacific indicate some score poorly on the legal framework underpinning their independence and in practical, organisational matters of independence. The scores are worse still for the independence of SAI Heads and staff (transparency of appointment and susceptibility of removal) and financial independence (having a sufficient budget and the ability to allocate it appropriately).

The participants will discuss their options to progress an independence strategy that addresses the issues identified in the SAI PMF assessment.

PASAI will also collect information from the SAIs to confirm progress of their independence initiatives and may arrange for a short-term consultant to assist the SAI in the implementation of an independence strategy or review of their legal framework.

PASAI Chief Executive, Esther Lameko-Poutoa, explained, “The greater the independence of a SAI, the more likely it will be able to strengthen parliamentary scrutiny and effectiveness of the public sector, improve public service delivery and deter fraud in public administration”.

Former Secretary General of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions declared the Lima Declaration of Guidelines on Auditing Precepts “is held to be the Magna Carta of government auditing”. It covers SAI independence in detail and states:

“Supreme Audit Institutions can accomplish their tasks objectively and effectively only if they are independent of the audited entity and are protected against outside influence.

“In their professional careers, audit staff of Supreme Audit Institutions must not be influenced by the audited organisations and must not be dependent on such organisations.”

It further emphasises that SAIs shall be:

• provided with the financial means to enable them to accomplish their tasks;

• entitled to apply directly for the necessary financial means to the public body deciding on the national budget; and

• entitled to use the funds allotted to them under a separate budget heading as they see fit.

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:

1. Tiofilusi Tiueti, Director Technical Support PASAI, Auckland, New Zealand

   E: tiofilusi.tiueti@pasai.org P: +64 9 304 1275

2. Esther Lameko-Poutoa, Chief Executive PASAI, Auckland, New Zealand

   E: secretariat@pasai.org P: +64 9 304 1275

PDF version of this media release

SAI FSM National releases second performance audit report on the Pacific Island Regional Oceanscape Program

20 July 2021

Palikir, Pohnpei FM: We have completed our second performance audit on the Pacific Island Regional Oceanscape Program (PROP) funded by International Development Association – World Bank (WB). The PROP project is a five-year project which the FSM National Oceanic Resources Management Authority (NORMA) has been implementing since May 2015 when the Financing Agreement between the WB and FSM was initially formalized. The objective of the PROP Project is to strengthen the shared management of selected Pacific Island oceanic and coastal fisheries, and the critical habitats upon which they depend.

This performance audit was requested by the Executive Director of National Oceanic Resource Management Authority (NORMA) as required by the Financial Agreement and covers the period FY2018 – FY2020 up to January 2020; however, relevant information up to FY2021 was also used to come up with the findings, recommendations and conclusions that reflect recent implementation updates. The focus of our audit was on Components 1 & 4 only of the PROP project, as Component 2 had been completely implemented by the Department of Resources & Development while Component 3 is not applicable to FSM. Our office had carried the 1st performance audit on the PROP project for the period March 2015 to September 2017 (issued on Audit Report No. 2018-01), and an audit follow-up report was issued on Audit Report No. 2020-03.

We conducted this audit performance in accordance with the generally accepted government audit standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.

We noted that the PROP project was set to end in September 30th 2020 and later extended for another year to September 30th 2021 following a restructure proposal by FSM. Based on our audit, we concluded the following:

a) Project development objectives are anticipated to be achieved by the new closing term of the project (September 2021) despite the delays in implementation of activities as:

i. NORMA continues to implement project activities relating to institutional strengthening and capacity building; activities that relate to meeting Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLI) for strengthened management tuna fisheries; and activities that are based on the annual work plan and budget; and

ii. NORMA has not fully met the required DLI targets even though it is up to date with its disbursement.

b) Lack of required support from Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) and other challenges delayed full implementation of project activities under Component four (4) as:

i. FFA did not provide initial required support needed for procurement activities, documentation for national level project procurement processing and daily implementation of the PROP project;

ii. There was no Procurement Specialist until late September 2017 and no recruitment for both Finance Officer and Safeguard Specialist to assist FSM PROP project; and

iii. NORMA encountered difficulty in obtaining timely approvals for procurement.

c) NORMA is in process of implementing strategic steps to sustaining the activities currently funded by World Bank including formalization of an approved 5-years Strategic Plan 2018-2023 and finalizing the FSM National Oceanic Fisheries Investment Policy 2018-2023.

We thank the Executive Director for NORMA for requesting our audit services.

Objectives of the World Bank funded PROP project implemented by NORMA is anticipated to be achieved by the extended timeline despite the delays – Audit report no. 2021-04

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