International Journal of Auditing – April 2009
Netherlands
Pilot Workshops to Assess Integrity Risks Held in South Africa and Yemen
In November 2008 and January 2009, the Auditor General of South Africa (AGSA) and the President of the Central Organization for Control and Auditing (COCA) of Yemen hosted pilot SAINT, or Self-Assessment INTegrity, workshops. SAINT is an instrument developed for use in the public sector by the Netherlands Court of Audit (NCA) in cooperation with the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and the Bureau of Integrity of the City of Amsterdam. (For additional information about SAINT, see the article in the April 2008 issue of this Journal.) The NCA adapted the SAINT instrument for INTOSAI members to help SAIs assess integrity risks and the resilience of integrity management systems. This version has been given the name IntoSAINT. Additional pilots will be held in 2009 and early in 2010.
 Participants in the IntoSAINT workshop in Yemen in January 2009 |
During the workshops, a group of carefully selected participants assessed the vulnerability profile of their SAIs with the assistance of two moderators from the NCA. Step by step, the moderators guided the participants through the methodology to identify inherent vulnerabilities and factors enhancing vulnerability resulting in an assessment of the vulnerability profile. Next, this profile was compared with the maturity level of the integrity control system. Based on this analysis, the participants formulated recommendations to either reduce vulnerabilities or strengthen integrity controls. Immediately after the workshops were completed, the results and the recommendations were presented to SAI management.
The first IntoSAINT pilot, which took place in South Africa in November 2008, was coordinated by Avryl Kemp from AGSA and moderated by Ina de Haan and Juul Vos-Schellekens from the NCA. Terence Nombembe, Auditor-General of South Africa, opened the workshop and expressed his hope that AGSA would learn from the SAINT methodology and benefit from its results.
COCA of Yemen hosted the second IntoSAINT workshop in January 2009. Ahmed Ashaybani, General Director of Technical Cooperation for COCA, coordinated the event, and Hans Benner and Frans Schouren from the NCA acted as moderators. Abdullah Abdullah Alsanafi, President of COCA, stressed the value of SAINT not only for COCA but potentially also for other organizations in the Yemeni public sector.
Organizing IntoSAINT workshops emphasizes the principle that SAIs have to lead by example, especially in matters concerning the integrity of the public sector. IntoSAINT also helps SAIs exchange ideas and experiences about enhancing integrity.
The initial pilot workshops were a success, and the experiences will be used to improve the instrument and develop ideas about training moderators, thus creating opportunities for further implementation.
For additional information, contact the NCA:
E-mail: internationalaffairs@rekenkamer.nl
Web site: www.rekenkamer.nl