Commission on Audit (COA) Commissioner Jose A. Fabia led the Philippine delegation to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Supreme Audit Institutions (ASEANSAI) Assembly on February 8, 2015; followed by the 48th Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) Governing Board Meeting, the 13th ASOSAI Assembly and the 6th ASOSAI Symposium on February 9-13, 2015. These events were all held at the Hotel Royale Chulan, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Commissioner Fabia was accompanied by Assistant Commissioner Luz Loreto- Tolentino of the Professional and Institutional Development Sector, Director Melanie A. Anonuevo of the Professional Development Office, Auditor Mary Joyce G. Eruma of COA Region IV-B and Mr. Edgardo Lamberto L. Ramos of the Public Information Office.

The Philippine delegation attended an ASEANSAI donor coordination meeting on February 7, 2015 prior to the ASEANSAI Assembly. The coordination meeting focused on how the efforts of donors can be harmonized to move forward the ASEANSAI International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI) Implementation Project. The meeting used the Action Plan prepared by the COA which provided options for donors on which ISSAI implementation activities they would be willing to fund. The COA delegation also presided over the Focus Group Discussion during the ASEANSAI Technical Meeting on the afternoon of February 8, 2015.

The 48th ASOSAI Governing Board Meeting, which COA attended as a member, discussed the Strategic Plan for 2016-2021 and the three-year budget plan for FYs 2016-2018, among others. These were reported by the Board to the 13th ASOSAI Assembly.

Around 191 participants from 39 ASOSAI member SAIs were present in the 13th ASOSAI Assembly. Several observers from the INTOSAI, IDI, EUROSAI, and AFROSAI also joined the gathering.

The Assembly approved the newly drafted ASOSAI Strategic Plan 2016-2021 and agreed to strengthen capacity building activities by introducing a two-year pilot program with a blended approach combining e-learning and face-to-face workshop. Likewise, the Training Committee and Training Administrator were renamed Capacity Development Committee and Capacity Development Administrator, respectively, with expanded roles and responsibilities.

Meanwhile, the Assembly elected six members to its Governing Board and two to the Audit Committee for the period 2015-2018 using a new electronic voting system. The new members of the Board are SAIs Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Turkey while SAIs Jordan and Mongolia are now members of the Audit Committee.

SAI Vietnam, being the next Chair of ASOSAI, will host the 14th ASOSAI Assembly to be held in 2018while SAI Korea’s term as ASOSAI Secretariat was extended until 2018.

Around 800 participants from both the public and private sectors attended the 6th ASOSAI Symposium with the theme “Leveraging Technology to Enhance Audit Quality and Effectiveness.”