Under the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) project
entitled Enhancing the Public Accountability Programme of the Philippine
Commission on Audit (COA): Government-wide and Sectoral/VFM Audit (GWSPA) and
Audit Team Approach, the Commission on Audit (COA) and Stanton Partners,
International Consultants have been working together for the last year to
strengthen the Commission’s understanding of Performance Auditing through a
policy review, program of training and a program of pilot audits of specific
government programs.
This project is funded by the Government of Australia through
the Australian Agency for International Development Agency (AusAID).
In the May-August 2002 COA News, the Commission and Stanton
Partners were pleased to provide a comprehensive report on the key objectives,
activities and progress of the project. The following report provides a brief
update on the progress of the project until January 2003 and the key activities
to be undertaken in the coming months.
Draft GWSPA Methodology Manual
The draft GWSPA Manual was prepared to address the key issues
for development of GWSPA of strategic planning, development of audit objective
and scope, sound criteria development and reporting for stakeholders.
The manual includes technical direction, suggested processes
for implementation and examples from both the Philippines and internationally.
The GWSPA Manual is the foundation stone for the ongoing development and
implementation of GWSPA and includes detailed process instructions for key
stages of the GWSPA.
In October and November 2002 Stanton Partners received
valuable feedback from the Steering Committee, Project Management Team, pilot
audit teams and other COA staff on improvements to the draft GWSPA Manual. The
major focus of discussion was on the reporting stage which was being undertaken
by the first four pilot audit groups at this time.
Stanton Partners had also worked through a number of the
areas in detail with key staff to ensure a focused methodology with practical
application in COA. The Manual also includes relevant examples arising from the
GWSPA workshops and ongoing discussions with COA officers, the review and
evaluation of lessons learned from the study tour groups and experiences of the
pilot audits.
The GWSPA Manual is the key document for COA in the conduct
of GWSPA and will provide the basis for the ongoing development and training of
COA officers. It is a living document that will require ongoing updating and
enhancement as the risks facing COA in the conduct of GWSPA change and their
experiences strengthen. There will also be a need to respond to the strategies
and priorities of the government and this may also affect the processes in the
GWSPA Manual. In particular the reporting and monitoring chapters may change
significantly in the coming two to three years. To maintain a professional and
value added audit service an ongoing continuous improvement process has been
built into the methodology.
GWSPA Training
In 2002 Stanton Partners and COA undertook four, 5-day GWSPA
workshops and trained approximately 100 staff from the Management Services
Branch and other audit areas.
The GWSPA Methodology Workshops addressed the conduct of
GWSPA in the following areas through presentations, activities and discussions:
Day One - Introduction to GWSPA, stages of a
performance audit, key areas of special interest to GWSPA, governance and
discussion of audit ownership.
Day Two - Strategic and Audit Planning including
development of criteria to rank planned audits and considerations in developing
an individual audit plan for GWSPA
Day Three - Development of an audit objective, scope and
audit criteria for GWSPA
Day Four - Better practice Model Audit Criteria and
analytical techniques, including risk management and performance indicators
Day Five - GWSPA reporting for impact and ongoing
evaluation and monitoring
To facilitate ongoing training in GWSPA the Performance Audit
Specialist developed and presented to COA a GWSPA Workshop Training Manual. The
Training Manual is based on the GWSPA Manual and experiences in presenting the
GWSPA Workshop and includes:
Presenters instructions and background information;
Overheads, activities and case studies; Participants handouts; Presenter
training notes; Presenter speaking notes.
