In our continuing cooperation with PASAI on IDI-PASAI Financial Statements of Governments (FSG) Audit Initiative, SAIs of Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, and Vanuatu signed an MoU with PASAI and IDI.

The support under this initiative covers ISSAI Implementation Needs Assessment for Financial Audit, and to audit of Financial Statements of Governments following ISSAIs. A week-long workshop which was the beginning of this support was delivered to a total of 43 participants. Owing to the current COVID-19 pandemic, the support for needs assessments and audits will be provided mostly online through a virtual workspace. IDI and PASAI jointly created this workspace, which is hosted on PASAI Learning Management System (LMS).

The support to SAIs of Tuvalu and Solomon Islands commenced in 2020 and is currently ongoing. The support to SAIs of Samoa and Tonga will commence from October 2021 making a total of eight SAIs participating in this initiative.

IDI has been supporting Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) primarily in the developing countries to implement International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAIs) since 2012 under its 3i Programme. This year the IDI has transitioned from programme-based delivery approach to continuous workstreams based support. There are four workstreams under its Strategic Plan 2019-23. The development and maintenance of global public goods for ISSAI implementation remains at the heart of Professional SAIs workstream.

Financial Audit ISSAI Implementation Handbook is one such another product. The Handbook is an audit methodology that contains explanations of the ISSAI financial audit process as well as audit working paper templates, that are designed to facilitate the application of ISSAIs in practice. The methodology suggested in this Handbook extensively covers the audit work to be performed and documented at an audit engagement level. Following the endorsement of INTOSAI Framework of Professional Pronouncement (IFPP) in 2019, IDI carried out the light touch review of Financial Audit ISSAI Implementation Handbook in 2020 to reflect the new numbering system of Financial Audit ISSAIs among other minor updates. The updated version of this handbook is available on https://idi.no/elibrary/professional-sais/issai-implementation-handbooks/handbooks-english/1118-financial-audit-issai-implementation-handbook-version-1-english-light-touch-review-2020/file  for use by our SAIs.

The translated version of this Handbook in Arabic, French and Spanish will be available soon.

IDI has been supporting Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) in the developing countries to implement International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAIs) since 2012 under its 3i Programme.

The IDI has transitioned from programme-based delivery approach to continuous workstreams based support. There are four workstreams under its Strategic Plan 2019-23. The development and maintenance of global public goods for ISSAI implementation remains at the heart of Professional SAIs workstream.

Financial Audit ISSAI Compliance Assessment Tool (iCAT) and Guidance is one such product, which can be used by the Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) to determine the applicable ISSAIs in their environment and assessing the ISSAI implementation needs. The IDI has developed Financial Audit iCAT and Guidance-Version 1, which was published in 2018. Following the endorsement of INTOSAI Framework of Professional Pronouncement (IFPP) in 2019, IDI carried out the light touch review of Financial Audit iCAT in 2020 to reflect the new numbering system of Financial Audit ISSAIs among other minor updates. The updated version of this tool is available on https://idi.no/elibrary/professional-sais/icats/icats-english/1117-200227-idi-fa-icat-v1-english-lt-revision for use by our SAIs.

The translated version of this updated tool and guidance in Arabic, French and Spanish will be available soon.

Deciding on SAI Financial Audits in COVID-19 times.

Like most organisations, SAIs have been severely affected by the spread of COVID-19. SAIs are trying to prioritise protecting the physical health and well-being of staff and to contribute to efforts to limit the spread of the virus whilst delivering value and benefits to citizens.? SAIs continue to do their utmost to work as effectively as possible under these difficult circumstances.

To respond to COVID-19 challenges and to help SAIs remain relevant under such situation, IDI will produce a series of practical guidance and technical resources under its 3i COVID-19 Response Actions. The first in the series is about ‘ Deciding SAI Financial Audits in COVID-19 times‘, which was published on IDI website on 21 April 2020.

COVID-19 presents?challenges?to?SAI?financial auditors who are obliged to work within an annual financial reporting cycle?determined by?statutory requirements. SAIs?must?ask to what extent can statutory requirements be compromised?or amended??Should they work towards?statutory requirements?or wait for?the situation to return to normal??In many cases, the strategic decision of the SAI will depend on reporting deadlines?and therefore the current stage of annual?audits. ‘Deciding SAI Financial Audits in COVID-19 times’ is a guide for SAIs in making these decisions based on their situation.

Over the coming weeks, we plan to publish more documents related to compliance and performance audits, build virtual workspace on our LMS, host webinars and other online interactions.

Prof Stay tuned, stay safe!

A Memorandum of Understanding between SAI Tuvalu, PASAI and IDI

A Memorandum of Understanding was initially agreed between SAI Tuvalu, PASAI and IDI which requires commitment from all parties to support one another in conducting high-quality financial audits according to International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAIs). The programme included two weeks of in-country support which the facilitators assessed existing audit practice and used the iCAT-FA^[1] tool to identify gaps and suggested improvements to the SAI Tuvalu Audit methodology.

Find out more in the official press release published by PASAI.

A team of resource persons from SAI EUA, SAI UK and the PAS Chair is working with IDI to update the IDI Performance Audit Handbook.

This team had a meeting in Oslo from 18 to 20 June 2019 to agree on the structure and contents of the handbook, update and detail the project plan and take stock of the work already completed.  After the meeting, the team will keep working online.

The IDI PA Handbook is a Global Public Good and is developed under IDI Professional SAIs. It is related to the ISSAI Implementation Initiative (3i) programme.

To learn more about the 3i Programme click here.

Bien Público Global IDI de Auditoria Financiera: Disponibilidad de herramienta iCAT y Guía.

Desde el año 2012, mediante el Programa 3i, la IDI ha apoyado a las Entidades Fiscalizadoras Superiores (EFS) en los países en desarrollo para la implementación de las Normas Internacionales de las Entidades Fiscalizadoras Superiores (ISSAI). La IDI ha pasado de un enfoque “de entrega” basada en programas a otro de “apoyo continuo”, basado en ejes de trabajo. Hay cuatro ejes de trabajo bajo el Plan Estratégico 2019-2023 de la IDI. El desarrollo y mantenimiento de bienes públicos globales para la implementación de las ISSAI sigue siendo el núcleo del eje de trabajo “EFS Profesionales”.

La Herramienta de Evaluación de Cumplimiento de ISSAI (iCAT) y la Guía de Auditoría Financiera, son productos que las EFS pueden utilizar para determinar las ISSAI aplicables en su entorno y para evaluar las necesidades de implementación de ISSAI. Para el uso de las EFS, la IDI ha desarrollado la auditoría financiera iCAT y la Guía-Versión 1, que ahora está disponible en http://www.idi.no/en/idi-library/global-public-goods/issai-implementation-initiative/issai-compliance-assessment-tools-icats . Antes de desarrollar esta Versión-1, el borrador de la Versión-0 se expuso durante un período de 90 días, período durante el cual se invitó a nuestras valiosas partes interesadas a proveer los comentarios del caso.