International Journal of Auditing – July 2003
Brazil
New Initiatives and Compliance Guide for the Court of Audit
Mr. Valmir Campelo, the new President of the Tribunal de Contas da União (TCU), the Brazilian Court of Audit, has detailed his plans for the institution. He stated that “among the many initiatives that I intend to implement in order to ensure the proper management of federal public resources and the constant fight against corruption and waste of public resources, there are three measures that will be carried out immediately.”
The first measure will be to consolidate the TCU’s relationship with Brazilian society, the Congress, public agencies, and the media to increase the exchange of information supporting external control. The second measure is to improve social control by providing more information to citizens regarding public management and by encouraging citizens to report irregularities. The third measure is improving the use of information technology, which will enable the TCU to perform more timely and productive audits.
Mr. Campelo has also approved the Compliance Audit Guide, which is designed to improve the performance of technical staff by basing their work on international standards. The procedures and roles defined in the guide will help audit teams structure the planning, execution, and drafting of reports logically and efficiently in order to optimize results and reduce the time it takes to close cases. To this end, the TCU adopted the basic principles and general standards defined by INTOSAI, as well as standards adopted and disseminated by the Project of Professional Development in Audit.
Among other standards, the guide defines the roles of audit supervisor and coordinator, the steps to be taken in the planning stage, the structure of the audit findings, and essential requirements for the report. In addition, the guide calls for implementing a system to control audit quality that is based on evaluating compliance with official standards by different internal agents involved in the process.
To maintain the TCU’s strategy of employee appreciation and investment in the quality of services, Mr. Campelo has approved capacity building training for all auditors and external control technicians involved in compliance audits so that they can familiarize themselves with the new standards and procedures.
The Compliance Audit Guide and training are additional measures to further the development of audit professionals. Following the example of excellence that has been achieved and recognized in program evaluation, compliance audits will now aim for superior quality by applying a methodology that is compatible with those used by the best supreme audit institutions and private audit firms.
For more information, contact: Tribunal de Contas da União, CEP-70042-900 Brasília D.F.; tel: ++55 (61) 316 - 7443, - 7626; fax: ++55 (61) 316 – 7522; e-mail: arint@tcu.gov.br; or Web page: www.tcu.gov.br.