International Journal of Government Auditing–October 2007
Ninth ARABOSAI Assembly
The Arab Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ARABOSAI) held its Ninth Assembly in Sana’a, Yemen, May 28 to June 1, 2007. Hosted by the Central Organization for Control and Audit (COCA) for the Republic of Yemen, the assembly drew delegates from Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Yemen. Guests and observers included the INTOSAI Secretary General; ambassadors from participating countries; and representatives from the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI), this Journal, the League of Arab States, and the World Bank.
Heads of delegations to the Ninth ARABOSAI Assembly with the Prime Minister of Yemen.
Opening Ceremony
Abdullah Abdullah Al-Sanafi, President of COCA for the Republic of Yemen, and Ali Muhammed Mujawar, the Prime Minister of Yemen, led the opening ceremony and warmly welcomed the delegates. Ahmed El Midaoui, President of the Supreme Board of Accounting for the Kingdom of Morocco, relayed the remarks and good wishes of Mustafa Al-Barari, President of the Jordanian Audit Bureau and then President of the ARABOSAI Governing Board, who was unable to attend due to illness. Josef Moser, Auditor General of Austria and INTOSAI Secretary General, also addressed the assembly, thanking ARABOSAI for inviting him as an observer and welcoming the delegates. Faiza Kefi, first President for the Court of Accounts for the Republic of Tunisia and ARABOSAI Secretary General, noted ARABOSAI’s achievements and mentioned its pioneering role among regional organizations in innovative programs of audits and evaluations and control over public monies. Later in the proceedings, Dr. Al-Sanafi formally assumed the presidency of the ARABOSAI Governing Board.
ARABOSAI Business
Dr. Al-Sanafi, President of COCA and incoming President of the Governing Board, presented board’s reports to the Ninth Assembly on ARABOSAI’s activities and financial condition during the 3 years since the Eighth Assembly:
- Training and Scientific Research. The Governing Board reviewed the results of training meetings held and the implementation of the Training and Scientific Research Committee’s action plan for 2007. Training meetings on contracting were held in Kuwait at the end of 2006. In cooperation with INTOSAI, training meetings were also held in Algeria on Auditing Financial Electronic Data and Systems. The board also reviewed the proposed plan prepared by the Training and Scientific Research Committee for 2008 to 2010 and approved the plan with some amendments. The General Assembly subsequently approved the plan.
The Governing Board approved the technical recommendations of the training meetings held in Egypt on health sector auditing. These recommendations included (1) providing member SAIs with the knowledge and skills necessary to conduct performance audits in general and in the health sector in particular and (2) identifying problems and difficulties in performance auditing in some Arab countries and ways to overcome them. The experience of Egypt and participating countries in the field of health sector auditing could be beneficial to other SAIs.
Accomplishing this would require the establishment of health sector evaluation standards and performance measures that are appropriate for each Arab country’s specific conditions. Such standards would promote greater integration among member countries and should consider the international standards established by the World Health Organization. Other recommendations included being attentive to internal control systems, including the need for a cost system that allows service performance effectiveness to be measured; considering environmental factors and their effect on human health when conducting health sector evaluations; and being attentive to the establishment of information systems to ensure that the information necessary for conducting performance audits will be available.
- ARABOSAI Strategic Plan. The Governing Board heard the proposal for the first ARABOSAI strategic plan made by the strategic planning team, which was headed by Morocco and consisted of staff from the SAIs of Kuwait, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, UAE, and Yemen. After extensive discussion and some amendments, the board submitted the proposals to the General Assembly, which discussed and approved the plan unanimously. The Governing Board recommended that the strategic planning team, during its meeting at the end of 2007, reconvene ARABOSAI’s working groups and teams and have them adopt the content of the ARABOSAI strategic plan as their goals. The board also recommended that the strategic planning team prepare a proposal to implement the annual plan based on the ARABOSAI strategic plan and the training and information technology plans. In addition, the board recommended that the strategic planning team prepare a proposal for the implementation of the annual plan based on the ARABOSAI strategic plan and the training and information technology plans.
- ARABOSAI Research and Journal Awards The Governing Board approved the Training and Scientific Research Committee’s award recommendations for the Eighth Scientific Research Competition organized by ARABOSAI. Muhammad Brauu from Morocco received the first prize award for his paper, “The Role of the Supreme Audit Institution in Public Funds Accountability.” Other first prize winners included Mohamed Deer, also of Morocco, and Hesham Zaghlul Ibrahim Ali of the Egyptian SAI, for their papers on “Supreme Audit Institutions’ Financial Auditing and Application of Governmental Information Technology Systems” and “Environmental Auditing,” respectively. The board also approved an award to Habib Abdul-Salam from the Court of Accounts of Tunisia for an article published in the Journal on Financial Auditing, “Performance Auditing in the Public Health Sector.”
Technical Theme Presentations
The Ninth ARABOSAI General Assembly was organized around three themes:
- Theme I: the supreme audit institution’s role in government administration development
- Theme II: the impact of audit standards and procedures guidelines in enhancing audit quality and
- Theme III: developing standards in light of electronic information systems.
Plenary addresses introduced each theme and were followed by delegate debates on the professional and technical issues discussed in the principal papers and other presentations. Conclusions and recommendations were developed and approved for each theme.
Yemen moderated theme I, with Saudi Arabia serving as the rapporteur. The theme’s main recommendations emphasized, among other things, the importance of ensuring the independence of SAIs; enhancing and developing audit methodologies; developing SAIs’ human capital; promoting mutual cooperation in training and knowledge sharing between ARABOSAI’s members and INTOSAI; and encouraging research, studies and translations of topics related to administrative development. Implementation of these recommendations would enhance the capacity of SAIs to strengthen the state’s administrative development.
Egypt moderated theme II, with Tunisia serving as rapporteur. One of the main recommendations suggested that ARABOSAI’s Audit Standards Committee develop (1) audit standards based on international standards to ensure audit quality and (2) an ARABOSAI audit standards manual to help guide member SAIs in developing their own manuals within the context of their respective environments. Another recommendation was exploring the development of a strategic planning team mechanism to promote bilateral cooperation between SAIs by exchanging audit teams and experts and enabling SAIs to conduct audit quality self-assessments.
Jordan moderated theme III, with Qatar serving as rapporteur. Some of the main recommendations were to develop a legal framework, including legislation, relating to information technology (IT) systems; develop SAIs’ IT human capacity; improve coordination between the SAI and the relevant state agency responsible for IT development; establish specialized units to support the SAI in conducting IT system audits; and periodically review all relevant policies and procedures related to IT system audits.
Election of New Members and Other Business
During the general business session, the General Assembly elected a new Governing Board. The assembly unanimously approved the transfer of the General Assembly presidency to COCA of Yemen. Jordan, which hosted the previous ARABOSAI assembly, is first Vice Chairman and Saudi Arabia, which will host the next ARABOSAI Assembly, is the second Vice Chairman. The delegates elected four SAIs—Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, and Morocco—to the Governing Board. They join the current members—the Secretary General of ARABOSAI (Tunisia) and the SAIs of Algeria, UAE, Egypt, and Kuwait. The SAIs of Syria and Mauritania were elected as main members to the Financial Audit Committee, and the SAIs of Sudan and Palestine were elected as reserve members.
The Governing Board reviewed the ARABOSAI financial plan for 2008–2010 that had been prepared by the General Secretariat. After extensive discussion, the Governing Board approved the plan and presented it to the General Assembly, where it was ratified.
The board also reviewed the report of the Financial Audit Committee regarding the results of financial audits of ARABOSAI for 2006 and approved the final accounts for 2006. The Governing Board requested that member SAIs pay their dues for ARABOSAI’s budget by the first 3 months of each fiscal year. It also asked the General Secretariat to expend its best effort to implement the recommendations of the Financial Audit Committee.
The Governing Board approved the topics for the 10th ARABOSAI Assembly and established specific deadlines for rapporteurs, the General Assembly, and individual country SAIs to complete and transmit research studies and country papers. The board thanked the SAIs of Kuwait and Oman for their reports on member SAIs’ participation in INTOSAI working groups and teams. The board also thanked Osama bin Jafaar Faquih, the President of the General Auditing Bureau of Saudi Arabia, for his report on activities relating to the INTOSAI Finance and Administration Committee and Ahmed El Midaoui, the President of the Supreme Board of Accounting of Morocco, for his report on the activities of the INTOSAI Capacity Building Committee (CBC). Finally, the board thanked Abdullah Al-Sanafi, the president of COCA for the Republic of Yemen, for his reports on participation in the steering committee meeting of the CBC as a representative of ARABOSAI and other committees.
Abdulrahmana Al-Ajlan, representing the General Auditing Bureau of Saudi Arabia, invited participants to the 10th ARABOSAI Assembly, which will be held in Riyadh in 2010.
Other Activities
Throughout the conference, the President of COCA treated participants with generous hospitality and warmth. Delegation heads met with the President of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh. Dr. Al-Sanafi hosted a lunch for delegates and invited guests at the Al-Diwan Restaurant in Sana’a. Delegates and invited guests were treated to a tour of Rhlat Kokban, a mountain town outside of Sana’a, and a tour of old Sana’a city, including its Grand Mosque, the handicraft markets, and the ancient Ghamdan Palace. This tour was followed by an evening of outdoor entertainment that included Yemeni folklore, dance, and songs. On the last day of the assembly, Dr. Al-Sanafi presented delegates representing their SAIs with awards commemorating their participation. He also gave awards for the best research papers and published Journal article presented at
the assembly.
For additional information, contact the ARABOSAI General Secretariat, care of Faiza Kefi, First President of the Court of Accounts of Tunisia:
Fax: ++71 76 78 68
E-mail: arabosai@gnet.tn