IPU-IDI webinar series 2024 “Enabling impact of public oversight through better understanding and use of audit results in Parliament”
IDI and IPU collaborate to hold a joint series of webinars in October and December 2024.
Collaboration between Supreme Audit Institutions and Parliaments is important to ensure proper oversight of public expenditures and performance. The joint webinar series "Enabling impact of public oversight through better understanding and use of audit results in Parliament" aims to demonstrate good practices for using audit reports in Parliament and discusses the potential extended use of reports in Parliamentary processes.
Join us for the three webinars:
Performance audit impact: Audits as input for sector policy development and dialogue
During the third webinar, we will ask how performance audits have helped inform specific policy areas and how relevant parliamentary committees have used topical sector audit reports to hold government accountable or inform debates on new sector policies. We will also examine how SAIs can liaise with relevant parliamentary committees to ensure the information is more broadly disseminated.
Date: Tuesday, 17 December 2024 (14:00 – 15:30 CET)
Registration link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUld-CqpjgrHN2qePYmQ38OcB77vqoHfIxh
Target audience: The events are targeted towards SAI leadership, senior SAI staff, and members of Parliament involved in oversight.
Duration: Each webinar will last 90 minutes
Format: The sessions will be in English with simultaneous interpretation into Arabic, French and Spanish.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Speaker Bios:
Ms Nancy Gathungu was appointed to the position of the Auditor-General of the Republic of Kenya on July 17, 2020. As well as being Vice Chairperson of AFROSAI-E and Chair of the AFROSAI Technical and Institutional Capacity Building Committee, Ms. Gathungu is a certified member and trainer with the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK), a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and a member of Association of Women Accountants in Kenya (AWAK) where she mentors young female accountants. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Commerce, an MBA, and is currently pursuing a Doctoral Degree (PhD) in Business Administration (Strategic Management). Prior to her appointment, Ms. Gathungu served as Director of Audit and provided leadership in various Directorates at the Office of the Auditor General, Kenya, namely Quality Assurance, Forensic Audit, IT Audit, and Learning and Development.
Ms Ana Kadovic: Shermadini, Senior Resident Director, NDI/Albania (working with the Subcommittee on the Public Sector Audit at the Parliament of Albania). She serves as the Senior Resident Director for the National Democratic Institute (NDI) Albania, bringing over 20 years of experience in advancing democratic governance programs across the Western Balkans. Ana has led transformative programs in Albania aimed at making the Parliament a more transparent, accountable, and inclusive institution. With Swiss funding, she oversaw the establishment of the Parliamentary Institute, an in-house think tank providing professional research, civic education, and information services to strengthen MPs’ legislative, oversight, and representation roles through evidence-informed decision-making. Under her leadership, NDI has worked to enhance Parliament's role in combating corruption, overseeing the national anti-corruption strategy, and ensuring the efficient use of public resources. As part of this endeavor, she has fostered collaboration between Parliament and State Audit Institution through establishment of the Subcommittee on Public Sector Audit. During her tenure, NDI facilitated the co-creation of parliamentary transparency standards, fostering collaboration between Parliament and civil society.
H.E. Mr. Redha Abdulla Faraj is Member of the Shura Council, Bahrain. He is the Deputy Head of the Economic and Financial Affairs Committee. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants (FCCA), UK and a Member of the British Institute of Management (MBIM). Redha has headed a team with IMF and carried out a detailed review of Islamic Banking Standards used in Iran and suggested changes to accommodate requirements of the International Accounting Standards. He acted as the partner responsible for Islamic Financial Institutions Audits and participated in presentations in seminars and conferences on Islamic Financial Institutions. Redha developed with Sheria Supervisory Boards of Islamic Financial Institutions the requirements for the allocation of Profits to shareholders and customers and established Islamic investment banks and other institutions. He has participated in public activities in their various forms to achieve the welfare of society, and improve the standard of living for citizens.
Compliance audit impact: Building arguments for improving systemic weaknesses in governance
In this session, we will discuss how SAIs convey to parliament government-wide weaknesses that have been uncovered through compliance audits. We will also look into what information parliament needs from the SAI to be able to provide useful input for government reforms.
Date: Thursday, 7 November 2024 (14:00 – 15:30 CET)
Financial audit impact: Using reports to inform budgetary processes
In this first webinar, we will explore how the information in financial audit reports can be used to feed into other parliamentary processes. We aim to highlight what the SAIs are already doing to ensure that financial audit results have a broader impact and consider how parliamentarians can use audit results in budgetary processes. Please meet the speakers below.
Date: Tuesday, 1 October 2024 (14:00 – 15:30 CEST)
1st Webinar: Financial audit impact: Using reports to inform budgetary processes:
Speaker Bios:
Dr Darren Carabott currently serves as the President of the Maltese Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and is the Shadow Minister for Internal Affairs, Security, and Reforms. He has been an active member of the PAC since his election to the Maltese Parliament in 2022. In August 2022, Carabott was elected to the Commonwealth Association for Public Accounts Committees (CAPAC).
Tornike Shermadini serves as the Head of the Economic Activities Audit Department at the State Audit Office of Georgia, a role he has held since 2010. Prior to this, he worked at Ernst and Young LLC, holding senior positions from 2006 to 2010. In 2012, Tornike gained valuable experience at the European Court of Auditors, where he contributed to audits of EU research projects. He holds an MBA in Finance and is currently pursuing a PhD in Financial Fraud Investigation Techniques. Since 2013, he have been an active INTOSAI Compliance Audit Subcommittee member, participating in developing audit standards. His expertise spans financial, compliance, and performance audits. Tornike has also served as an invited expert in several IDI initiatives, contributing to developing the Quality Assurance Checklist, the ISSAI Compliance Assessment Tool (iCAT), and related training materials. Additionally, he is the co-author of the Financial Audit Methodology at the State Audit Office of Georgia.
Sadie Smith is a Parliamentary Relations Manager at the National Audit Office, and for the past six years has been responsible for wider support to Parliament. This involves liaising with Committees, Members, and staff of both Houses of Parliament in order to promote the work of the NAO and assist MPs and peers in holding the government to account for the spending of public money. Until 2018, Sadie worked for 17 years in the House of Commons in a variety of roles, latterly as the external communications advisor to the then Speaker of the House, John Bercow.
Linda Mills is a Parliamentary Relations Manager at the National Audit Office (NAO) and for the past seven years has been responsible for the NAO’s relationship with the Committee of Public Accounts. She has worked at the NAO for over 20 years as an Audit Manager of NAO value-for-money reports and investigations. Her recent reports include the Iinvestigation into government’s response to the collapse of Thomas Cook and WannaCry cyber-attack and the NHS as well as several reports on children’s services. Prior to this her work has covered grant-making in government, estate management and government digital services. Linda worked in economic consultancy before joining the NAO in 2001.
Katarina Stenmark is the Committee Secretary in the Committee on Finance for about 15 years with a broad perspective on financial audit from working both in Parliament and the Swedish national audit office as well as in the Government Offices in Sweden.
Moderator:
Karma Tenzin is a Senior Manager in the Professional and Relevant SAIs department of the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI). In this role, he is dedicated to promoting and supporting Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) in implementing sustainable, high-quality, and high-impact financial audit practices and enhancing the system of audit quality management. He supports the IDI’s flagship certification initiative on Professional Education for SAI Auditors (PESA) qualification on Financial Audit Stream. He is also involved in IDI’s exploratory project on sustainability reporting and assurance in the public sector, which focuses on the role of SAIs. Additionally, Karma oversees IDI's collaboration with the Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI).
We look forward to welcoming you to the webinar!