Tag: OLACEFS

Undoubtedly, evidence is the cornerstone that auditors rely on to substantiate their findings during financial audits. A critical question for auditors is whether the quantity and quality of the evidence gathered during testing unequivocally support their conclusions. 

The Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) play an essential role in assessing the effectiveness of government policies. In an era marked by rapid technological shifts, policies governing cybersecurity and data protection are under immense pressure to meet high standards of resilience and compliance. This article aims to broaden our understanding by examining new insights that can complement the existing guidelines provided by the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI), mainly described in the:

According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Global Centre for Public Service Excellence, foresight explores possible and probable futures, generating insights that enable transformative actions in the present, which are compatible with the unfolding future. 

Some Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) have been implementing the Concurrent Control, a process created by the SAI of Peru, as it is a valuable tool for control of large projects. However, it is appropriate to raise innovative proposals aimed at improving the process of concurrent control in order to improve adverse situations identified by government auditors. Based on the lessons learned to date, it is important to improve the levels of effectiveness and efficiency in their interventions, with the goal of replicating their effect on the control by other SAIs that have decided to implement similar controls.

Blockchain technology originated in 2008 when an author codenamed Satoshi Nakamoto published the paper titled “Bitcoin: A Peer-To-Peer Electronic Cash System.” The publication presented an innovative combination of computing-related concepts – peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, cryptography, digital signature, hash functions, and a new consensus algorithm for distributed networks.

Authors: Paula Hebling Dutra, Hugo Chudyson Araújo Freire, Carlos Eduardo Lustosa da Costa, Dashiell Velasque…

Institutions that begin to develop efforts on issues such as gender equality, diversity and inclusion, and prevention of harassment know that it is natural for resistance, discomfort, and questions to arise within the workforce. This is normal and legitimate, as in any organizational process involving innovation or change. 

In 2023, the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU), the SAI of Brazil, issued 137 decisions containing deliberations for its jurisdictional units. These decisions generated 1,110 items subject to monitoring, including determinations and recommendations. Monitoring the implementation and impact of these deliberations is a process as important as the audits themselves, demanding a considerable effort from the SAI’s resources.

The Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) of Brazil, known as the Tribunal de Contas da União (TCU), is tasked with overseeing the federal entity’s accounting, financial, budgetary, operational, and asset management to ensure legality, legitimacy, and economy. The Federal Constitution of 1988 empowers the TCU to enforce compliance with the law by setting deadlines for necessary corrective measures upon detecting illegality.

In Peru, there are three main types of control services in the governmental sphere: ex-ante, simultaneous and ex-post.

Ex-ante control is implemented before any financial disbursement is made. A clear example is the ex-ante authorization requested from the Office of the Comptroller for the payment of additional services in investment or construction projects.

Through their work, Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) are compelled to promote positive changes in people’s lives. To achieve this purpose, auditing stands out as one of the most important tools at SAIs’ disposal to increase the public value generation. By carrying out audits, a SAI can evaluate whether processes are executed in compliance with established norms, identify performance improvements (under the usual principles of effectiveness, efficiency, and economy), or conclude on the financial information of an entity.