International Journal of Government Auditing – January 2004
XIII OLACEFS General Assembly Held in Cuba
Delegates from SAIs throughout Latin America met in Havana, Cuba, to celebrate the XIII General Assembly of the Organization of Latin American and Caribbean Supreme Audit Institutions (OLACEFS). The Assembly was hosted by the Cuban SAI (the Ministry of Audit and Control) November 12-15, 2003. Participating OLACEFS member SAIs were Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, the Netherlands Antilles, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, and Venezuela. Delegates of those countries were joined by observers representing the INTOSAI General Secretariat, the INTOSAI Development Initiative, and the SAIs of Algeria, China, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom.
Inaugural Ceremony
The inaugural ceremony took place in the Hotel Melia Cohiba. In his opening speech, Dr. Clodosbaldo Russián Uzcategui, Comptroller General of Venezuela and President of OLACEFS, expressed his gratitude to the Cuban SAI for the excellent organization of the event and gave a heartfelt welcome to all participants. Dr. Enrique Lau Cortés, representing Dr. Alvin Weeden Gamboa, the Panamanian General Secretary of OLACEFS, stressed the importance and ongoing relevance of the ideas of Cuban hero José Marti regarding Latin American integration as a factor in strengthening the Latin American SAIs.
Ms. Lina Pedraza Rodriguez, head of the Cuban Ministry of Audit and Control, explained the importance for her SAI of celebrating the 2003 OLACEFS Assembly in Cuba, where INTOSAI had been founded exactly 50 years earlier. Dr. Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada, President of the National Assembly of Cuba, underscored the importance of the work done by SAIs as the principal public organ for auditing and detecting irregularities. The last guest speaker, Mr. Sergey Stepashin, President of the Russian SAI, pointed out the necessity of close cooperation among SAIs all over the world, especially taking into consideration the increasingly transcontinental character of financial offenses.
Technical Theme Presentations
The XIII OLACEFS General Assembly was organized around three technical themes. Plenary addresses introduced each theme followed by delegate debates on the professional and technical issues mentioned in the principal papers and other presentations. Conclusions and recommendations were developed and approved for each theme.
Theme 1: Methods to Plan and Carry Out Audits of Public Debts
Mexico was the coordinator for this theme and prepared the lead paper. Ecuador was the moderator, and El Salvador acted as rapporteur. A number of other SAIs prepared country papers on the theme. The representative of the INTOSAI Development Initiative (IDI) also took part in the debate, explaining the progress in the training courses and workshops on public debt audits being organized as a pilot project in the OLACEFS region by IDI and the INTOSAI Committee on Public Debt, chaired by the SAI of Mexico. The conclusions and recommendations on this theme included the following:
- SAIs should evaluate the quality of internal control, corroborate the importance of complete and reliable registers of debt transactions, and promote the elaboration of complete public reports.
- SAIs should assess the support for short- and long-term debts and express their opinion on the actions taken to refinance, convert, and write them off.
- SAIs should analyse the structure of public debt in order to define its effects on the cash flow of a country and evaluate the strategies applied to minimize risks and costs.
- SAIs should, within the framework of their national competencies, permanently control a country’s public debt to guarantee clear, transparent, and adequate contracting, utilization, administration, registering, pay control, and accountability.
- SAIs should inform their parliaments, the executive power, and taxpayers of the public debt situation and its effect on future generations to foster government responsibility on this important topic with high transgenerational impact.
Theme II: Information Technology
Mr. José Bidot Pelaez, Director of Information Security of the Cuban Ministry of Information and Communications, gave the plenary address on this theme, explaining the great potential, as well as the risks, of using information technology in public administration. The SAI of Chile as coordinator stressed the necessity for SAIs to increase the overall use of these techniques in their audits as part of their modernization process. The SAI of Honduras as moderator and the SAI of Paraguay as rapporteur and several participating SAIs provided further analysis and discussion. The most important conclusions and recommendations on this theme include the following:
- SAIs should adapt to the changing conditions of their auditees, taking into account the fact that nearly all their data and processes are electronically based.
- SAIs should elaborate within their technical frameworks special audit methods for the different fields of information technology.
- SAIs should actively accept the challenges of e-government and join this virtual world.
- SAIs should prepare their staffs to cope with and handle all kinds of new technologies.
- SAIs should implement a plan permitting the exchange of experiences and IT programs used in IT-related audits.
Theme III: Strengthening the SAI
The SAI of Bolivia was coordinator and had also prepared the lead paper. The SAI of Colombia was the moderator and the SAI of Guatemala the rapporteur. In the debate, several delegations outlined the importance of SAI independence and institutional capacities, of fostering the public’s confidence in the SAI, and of ethics.
The conclusions and recommendations include the following:
- SAIs should seek from their legislative bodies adequate legal frameworks to guarantee their independent work.
- SAIs should take preventive efforts to reinforce personal ethical and moral conduct, thus helping to establish an ethical culture.
- SAIs and OLACEFS should continue their efforts to strengthen and improve their situation by empowering their human resources and systems as well as by elaborating strategic plans for their institutions.
Signing of Agreements
Along with the celebration of the OLACEFS General Assembly, the SAI of Cuba signed cooperative agreements with the SAIs of the Russian Federation, the Dominican Republic, and Brazil.
Delegates to XIII OLACEFS Assembly in Cuba
OLACEFS Business
During the general business plenary on the last day of the General Assembly, the OLACEFS Regional Training Committee reported on its multiple training projects, especially the great success in implementing the IDI-OLACEFS Long Term Regional Training Plan and their efforts to strengthen the training infrastructure in the region.
The Chamber of Accounts of the Dominican Republic was accepted as a new member of OLACEFS. The following SAIs are members of the new OLACEFS Governing Board: Argentina, Cuba, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Venezuela. The SAI of Chile and Colombia were designated as auditors of OLACEFS.
Argentina was named as the site of the OLACEFS General Assembly in the year 2004.
The representative of the U.K. National Audit Office invited the participants to the third joint EUROSAI-OLACEFS Seminar to be held in London in May 2004.
Other Activities
Throughout the conference, the Ministry of Audit and Control treated participants with overwhelming hospitality and Caribbean warmth. Delegates and special invited guests attended a cultural gala offered by the National Cuban Symphony Orchestra as well as a ceremony in the old port fortress of Havana. On Thursday afternoon, the participants had the unique opportunity to visit the Latin American School of Medicine, which offers underprivileged students from developing countries in Latin America and Africa a complete course of medical studies in Cuba, focusing their preparation on social medicine to prepare future doctors for work in their home countries.
On the last day of the Assembly, delegates and guests were taken to Varadero, the most famous tourist seaside center in Cuba, where the regional minister for tourism explained the development of international tourism in Cuba in the past 10 years.
For more information, please contact the OLACEFS General Secretariat, Contraloría General, Av. Balboa y Av. Federico Boyt, Apartado 5213, Zona 5, Panama City, Panamá; telephone: ++507 264 00 59; fax: ++507 263 93 22; e-mail: centrodeinformacion@contraloria.gob.pa; and Web site: www.contraloria.gob.pa.