CCAGG Chairperson Miss Sumangil for her part thanked Chairman
Carague, Commissioners Dalman and Raul C. Flores, the UNDP and the NEDA for the
opportunity given to CSOs to take part in the audit of government activities.
She said the biggest gain derived from participatory audit
"is the realization that civil society organizations are just as sincere,
competent and effective as government auditors in safeguarding the scarce
government resources and that CSOs complement the work of government auditors in
spite of the misgivings of some politicians."
COA Director Ben Cabatuan, speaking in behalf of the members
of the various audit teams that conducted participatory audits during the last
two years, talked about the lessons learned and valuable experience gained from
the audit experiment.
The manual launching was capped by the formal opening of the
photo exhibit by Commissioner Dalman, and distribution of copies of the manual
among the guests.
The 105-page Guide to the Conduct of Participatory Audit,
with messages of Chairman Carague and UNDP Resident Representative Terence
Jones, and foreword by the COA-UNDP Participatory Audit Project Staff, is one of
the outputs of the COA-UNDP Project Staff headed by AsCom Emma Espina, Project
Director, who took over from retired Assistant Commissioner Aristides Achacoso.
AsCom Espina is ably assisted by Deputy Project Director,
Lawyer-Engineer Elizabeth Zosa who succeeded Dir. Marieta SF Acorda, now head of
the group of COA UN auditors based in New York; Dr. Emmanuel Buendia and Mary
Guzman, UNDP Programme Oficers; Project Coordinator Juanita Villarosa who took
over from Atty. Ma. Isabel Agito, now head of a major COA auditing unit; Dir.
Mileguas Leyno, Project Finance Officer; Project Staff Wilhelmina Maghari and
Elizabeth Mory; Project Cashier Francia Sanchez; Rosemary Tiay, Administrative
Staff.
The Manual’s draft has been subjected to two critiquing
workshops participated in by COAns and representatives of accredited civil
society organizations. It cites the valuable suggestions of CCAGG’s Ms. Pura
Sumangil, COA Directors Linda Solite, Sabiniano Cabatuan and Cresencio Sunico
for the improvement of the manual.
Dir. Zosa and Ms. Villarosa did the final editing and
layouting of the manual which comes out complete with six annexes embodying
various COA issuances and Substance of Intosai Audit namely: COA Memo on the
Segregation of Value-for-Money Audit Report from the AARs and providing
guidelines for its preparation, submission and transmittal; Memorandum on Audit
Highlights; Memorandum on Exit Conference; Memorandum on the Report
Format/Content; Memo on Preparation, Submission, Review and Transmittal of
Report; and the Substance of Intosai Auditing Re: General Principles on which
the form and contents of audit reports are based.
The cover photo, "which depicts how the government, the
private sector and the UNDP can work together to ensure the conduct of more
responsive and meaningful audits," was taken by Ms. Winnie Maghari during
the impact analysis of a government project in Abra province by the audit team
composed of auditors from COA-CAR and representatives of the CCAGG.
The manual contains the project’s background information
and begins with the chapter on "Introduction to Participatory Audit"
(PA), which defines the audit activity, the general principles underlying the
PA, management and implementation arrangements; role of the CSO participants,
scope of audit, responsibilities of the parties to the PA, what the VFM audit is
and its scope, rationale for the PA, and identification and selection of CSO/NGO
partners.
It also contains the guidelines for the PA planning, notably
the identification of projects to be audited; the step-by-step guide in the
preparation of the audit design; and preparation of the PA team members for the
task.
Chapter 3 of the Manual contains a recap on the VFM Audit
Approach while Chapter 4 provides the guidelines on the writing of the draft
audit report. Its fifth chapter focuses on the PA audit requirements, while the
6th deals on the details of the audit of efficiency, economy and effectiveness.
