Support to National Audit Authority

Project description

Title: Support to National Audit Authority
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Cambodia
Lead executing agency: National Audit Authority
Overall term: 2005 to 2014

Context

Lack of transparency and reliability in the public finance system is a significant obstacle to Cambodia's further development.

In 2000, the National Audit Authority (NAA) was founded as the first supreme national audit institution external to and independent of the Government in the history of Cambodia. The NAA is authorised to audit the Government's budgeting and financial management to ensure that the Government collects all of the revenue due it and disburses public funds properly, effectively and economically. Despite having made every effort, the NAA has as yet been unable to fully achieve these objectives. The legal basis for financial auditing has been created, but more support and improvement is necessary for the implementation of individual regulations.

Objective

The NAA meets international standards in its work as a supreme audit institution.

Approach

As stipulated in the Strategic Development Plan (2007–2011), the project provided support to the NAA in drafting its strategic plans for the years 2012 to 2016, monitoring the implementation of the plans and coordinating donors. Using international expertise exchange, the project advises the leadership of the audit authority on assessing the current situation in order to fulfil the independence criteria set forth by INTOSAI (International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions) for supreme audit institutions. The project also promotes dialogue with national actors in the public finance sector, especially with parliament and the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

With the project's support, the NAA conducts training sessions and courses for the auditors. Special emphasis is placed on continued development and application of the Public Auditing Standards and Guidelines. Auditors and those being audited are familiarised with the new content.

The project is also supporting the NAA in introducing a quality assurance system, which will also apply to audit reports and reporting to parliament and the public.

Results achieved so far

The Cambodian National Audit Authority (NAA) is now better able to put into practice, update and further develop its current Strategic Development Plan.

With the knowledge gained from international expertise exchange, the leadership of the NAA can now more effectively address its formal/legal auditing mandate in dialogue with the national actors in the public finance sector. The NAA's work is also becoming more effective overall as the auditors are increasingly using in their audits the knowledge they have gained. In-depth dialogue with the key actors in the public finance system (parliament and the ministries) is helping to improve the quality of reporting to the public.