The Commission on Audit (COA) has formed a partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to improve financial audit by updating guidelines in accordance with the International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI).

To document this agreement, COA Commissioners Heidi L. Mendoza and Jose A. Fabia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the ADB, represented by Ms. Agustina Musa, Senior Financial Management Specialist of the ADB South East Asia Regional Department, on February 27, 2015. The MOU is for the management of the project “Enhancing Roles of Supreme Audit Institutions in Selected Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Countries,” financed by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction.

The COA is the Project Leader for ISSAI Implementation under the Knowledge Sharing Committee, and the Chairperson of the Training Committee, both of the ASEAN Supreme Audit Institutions (ASEANSAI). As ISSAI Implementation Project Leader, COA prepared an Action Plan for ASEANSAI in October 31, 2014 thru which development partners (DP) can determine which activity each DP can fund to avoid duplication of efforts and wastage of resources. The Action Plan was distributed to the DPs by the ASEANSAI Secretariat and was one of the materials presented by COA in the Donor Cooperation Meeting on February 7, 2015 held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

For its part, the ADB adopted a two-pronged strategy to support ISSAI Implementation. One is at the ASEANSAI level to benefit all member-SAIs and another, a bilateral approach that would involve four SAIs: the Commission on Audit of the Philippines, the Audit Board of Indonesia, the Office of the Auditor General of Myanmar, and the State Audit Organization of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.

At the ASEANSAI level, ADB chose to fund the knowledge sharing regional workshops, one tentatively scheduled in December 2015 to follow up the results of the Bandung, Indonesia workshop that was held in August 2014. At the bilateral level, it sought to further strengthen the capacities of four SAIs in ISSAI compliance for financial audit thru trainings and workshops, and revision of audit manuals and guidelines. These results will ultimately be disseminated to all ASEANSAI members and is the subject of the ASEANSAI-ADB MOU. Another regional workshop through ASEANSAI is scheduled in 2016. ###