Commission on Audit

COA supports the 18-Day Campaign to end violence against women

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Published: 26 November 2020

The Commission on Audit (COA) joins in the government’s observance of the 18-Day Campaign to End Violence Against Women (VAW) from 25 November to 12 December. The start of the campaign coincides with the International Day to Eliminate VAW while 12 December coincides with the International Human Rights Day.

Led by the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW), the advocacy campaign aims to promote awareness on the forms of violence women and children experience; provide information on laws protecting women and children; feature VAW-related services; strengthen the prevention and response system on VAW; and gather public support for the campaign.

This year's advocacy campaign to End VAW comes with the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic that affected the marginalized and vulnerable sectors. According to the PCW, the pandemic highlighted the challenge of the functionality of Barangay VAW Desks as the first line of response for victims of VAW. Therefore, this year's advocacy campaign focuses on the role and essence of the Barangay, as part of a VAW-free community, in accordance with this year's theme, "VAW-free community starts with ME."

COA programs that support the campaign against VAW include the Women Help Desk (WHD) established in the Commission’s Central and Regional Offices and the creation of the Men Opposed to Violence Against Women Everywhere (MOVE) Chapter in the Commission.

The COA-WHD aims to provide more opportunities for women’s empowerment and contributes to the reduction and eradication of all forms of violence against women of COA. The COA-WHD also caters to male COA employees who are victims of gender-based violence. All regular employees of the Commission who are victims of gender-based violence occurring within the workplace or at home can utilize the COA-WHD services. COA-WHD also coordinates with the appropriate government agencies that can provide the proper legal or psychological assistance to victims of violence.

Meanwhile, COA’s MOVE Chapter was established in 2020 to organize MOVE Chapters in the Central and Regional Offices; represent COA in the activities of the MOVE National Organization; initiate and implement GAD-related activities that would eliminate violence against women; actively participate in the annual celebration of the 18-Day Campaign to End VAW; plan and coordinate COA MOVE training needs with other national MOVE member agencies and regional GAD focal persons; and facilitate capacity-building activities for male employees of COA. MOVE is an organization composed of men from various national line agencies, local government units, private sectors, academe and non-government organizations who commit themselves to be actively involved in the elimination of VAW. #

COA’s international partner in performance audit initiatives marks five-year anniversary

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Published: 02 October 2020

One of the Commission on Audit’s (COA) international partners in its performance audit initiatives, the United States Government Accountability Office (US GAO) Center for Audit Excellence (CAE), marked its five-year anniversary on 30 September 2020. Since its establishment, the CAE has made significant contributions in improving audit capacity and promoting good governance in the US and in the international audit community.

The US GAO-CAE and COA, with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is working together on the Philippine Performance Audit Partnership (PPAP) Project through a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the three parties. Under the agreement, the US GAO-CAE will provide technical assistance to COA to further institutionalize its performance audit capacity in evaluating high-value government programs to ensure that they are efficient, economical and achieve their objectives.

A Year 1 Work Plan for the PPAP project was already developed and the US GAO CAE team conducted a Basic Performance Audit Course attended by 27 participants from the different audit sectors and COA Offices in 2019.

“We congratulate the US GAO Center for Audit Excellence on its fifth anniversary, recognizing the Center’s valuable assistance in helping us create more positive audit impact through our performance audit initiatives. We hope that our partnership with CAE strengthens the momentum towards sustainability and institutionalization of performance auditing in the Commission,” said COA Chairperson Michael G. Aguinaldo.

Aside from Supreme Audit Institutions, the US GAO-CAE provides tailored training classes and technical assistance to accountability organizations such as federal Inspectors General and state and local auditors. The CAE is under the US GAO’s Strategic Planning and External Liaison Office. The Center is led by Janet St. Laurent (Director) and John Hutton (Deputy Director).

“The Center for Audit Excellence is a resource for the global audit community. It is achieving what I envisioned five years ago. I am pleased with its progress and ability to adapt to the needs of Supreme Audit Institutions and domestic audit organizations, as well as the COVID-19 Pandemic,” said Gene L. Dodaro, US Comptroller General and Head of the US GAO in an article on the CAE’s five year anniversary published in the INTOSAI Journal. (http://intosaijournal.org/gao-center-for-audit-excellence-marks-five-year-anniversary/)

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COA explores the use of AI to detect statistical anomalies

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Published: 30 September 2020

The Commission on Audit (COA) is kicking off its advance towards the Fifth Industrial Revolution through the recent launch of a project that aimed to leverage technology in the conduct of its audits. Project MIKA-EL or Machine Intelligence, Knowledge-based Audit, and Experience Learning is an envisioned artificial intelligence (AI) that will work as an audit assistant, going through volumes of government records and helping auditors sort and process available digital data for faster and more efficient examination and audit.

COA Chairperson Michael Aguinaldo said the project’s focus is on maximizing the use of technology for audits. “With MIKA-EL, we intend to leverage technology in government audits. Technology is now so advanced that we can do everything with the click of a mouse or the tap of a finger. We are exploring the use of electronic evidence, continuous auditing techniques, advanced data analytics, and even artificial intelligence in the early detection of anomalous transactions,” he said.

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