The revised ISSAI 140, set to raise the bar in managing quality, will impact SAIs' existing systems. There is a need to support SAIs in transitioning from the old concepts of quality control/assurance into a systemic, dynamic, scalable and risk-based quality management. Through its commitment to helping SAIs to ensure audit quality, IDI offers blended support to SAIs in establishing SoAQM consistent with the organisational requirements of the revised ISSAI 140.

An SoAQM is a system which the SAI designs, implements and operates at the organisational level. It supports the achievement of objectives and enables the SAI and its personnel to conduct high quality audits, fulfil their responsibilities in accordance with professional standards and applicable legal and regulatory requirements, and contribute value. The components of the SoAQM include: (1) Quality risk management process; (2) Governance and leadership; (3) Relevant ethical requirements; (4) Acceptance, initiation and continuance; (5) Performing audits (6) SAI resources; (7) Information and communication; and (8) Monitoring and remediation process.

Prior to the introduction of SoAQM, SAI has been operating the quality control system which may have been established through different policies and procedures for each element of the system. These may have remained static after they been developed, and some of these may not totally fit with the needs and structure of the SAI. To address the peculiarities among SAIs, the SoAQM focuses on key processes in quality management, rather than on defining what should be on specific components of the system. These processes include quality risk management, monitoring and remediation, and evaluation which provide scalable solutions to SAIs. Setting up the SoAQM does not end after development of the initial policies and procedures identified during the SAI’s needs analysis - supplemental policies and procedures, or enhancement of the existing ones, may be determined throughout the operation of the system.

The very first step taken by IDI to support SAIs in the implementation of the revised ISSAI 140 is the development of the SoAQM Playbook. The Playbook focuses on capacitating SAIs to conduct key processes in quality management, rather than on defining what should be on specific components of the system for the SAI. This will help SAIs determine fit-for-purpose policies and procedures to address the organisational requirements in the standards and the quality objectives that they will establish. IDI also provides pilot support that covers integrated professional education and blended online and onsite support to participating SAIs.

The Playbook offers different options to SAIs in establishing fit-for-purpose System of Audit Quality Management depending on the specific SAI circumstances. Additional resources are provided within the respective sections that include technical implementation guidance (i.e., how to develop quality objectives, how to identify, assess and respond to quality risk, how to plan the monitoring, how to analyse monitoring findings, etc.) and the suggested tools/templates (i.e., quality risk management templates, monitoring tools, evaluation tools, etc.).To facilitate understanding of the concepts, SAI-specific examples are provided on each of the key quality management processes. The Playbook covers the SAI decisions involving: a) setting-up of the system; b) implementation of risk-based approach to quality management; c) establishment of monitoring and remediation process; d) evaluation of the system; e) managing quality at the audit practice level; and f) engagement quality review.

The objective of the pilot is to support participating SAIs in setting up SoAQM. It includes integrated professional education that will capacitate SAIs in different aspects of quality management. In the pilot initiative, IDI envisions that participating SAIs will have a fit-for-purpose SoAQM that promotes continuous improvement in the long run through its embedded self-correcting mechanism.

Participating SAIs will be developing policies on SoAQM after analysing their current status, which will build foundation for the initial setup of the system. IDI will be providing both online coaching and onsite visits throughout the process. All the pilot activities are managed within IDI’s Learning Management System (LMS).

Since the pilot requires time and resources from the SAIs, IDI assessed the readiness of those SAIs who expressed interest in participating in the global SoAQM pilot. 

Selected SAIs are requested to nominate team with multi-disciplinary team members with collective experiences and knowledge in auditing standards, different audit practices, audit methodology, quality assurance, strategic planning, and research and policy development. The pilot will address SAI needs at the systemic level, so the team needs to be headed by a team leader coming from senior management.

The first round of global pilot involved 12 SAIs from the English-speaking regions (i.e., EUROSAI, CAROSAI, ASOSAI and AFROSAI-E). In addition, the IDI-ADB project on Sustainable Audit Practices includes envelopes where interested SAIs have the opportunity to establish SoAQM.

The professional education combines different synchronous and asynchronous learning activities covering key audit quality management processes. The exercises and case studies are designed to provide opportunity to the SAI teams to establish quality objectives, identify and assess quality risks, respond to the risks, conduct monitoring and remediation, evaluate the system, and perform some aspects of engagement quality reviews. The contents reflect the conditions, key issues and challenges in the public sector setting to help in the simulation of actual implementation of quality management processes.

The six session-course can be delivered online or face to face, both with blended delivery approach. The synchronous activities range from more than 20 hours to more than 30 hours in education depending on the delivery mode. In addition, participants are expected to spend around 15 hours to complete the asynchronous activities. All the sessions including the 15 exercises and case studies were designed based on the IDI's learning methodologies.

Two of the participating SAI teams shared their reflections about global pilot and the completed SoAQM professional education, as well as their plans or strategies to set-up the SoAQM: