Topic outline

  • ECA Audit Fair 2021

    Once a year, the European Court of Auditors organises a Training Day – a celebration of learning and knowledge sharing. Last year, due to the pandemic, the day was replaced by a Virtual Training Week, during which we had the pleasure of welcoming as presenters several auditors from other EU SAIs. This year we have gone a step further and invited five SAIs from five continents to give a presentation on a topic of high importance for them.

    It is with great pleasure that we invite you to watch the Audit Fair at the 2021 ECA Training Week, featuring the SAIs of Australia, South Africa, Brazil, Japan and Canada.

    • Webinar 1: The Annual Audit Work Programme process

      Speaker: Ms Carla Jago, Group Executive Director, Performance Audit Services Group, Australian National Audit Office

      Opening remarks: Helga Berger, ECA Member

      The Australian Auditor-General publishes an annual audit work programme in July each year. Its purpose is to inform the Parliament, government sector entities and the public of the proposed audits. The programme is developed through extensive analysis across all areas of government service delivery, policy development, and regulatory, compliance and corporate activity. This includes looking at the delivery of large-scale investments and procurements, major change programmes, areas of significant citizen reliance and large outflows of government funds. While large value programme delivery and project investments are a focus due to the associated risks, compliance audits are also an important component, as they are a useful indicator of an entity’s performance maturity, and therefore capability to manage more significant risks.


      • Webinar 2: The value of real-time audits to stakeholders

        Speaker: Ms Kgabo Komape, Business Executive at Auditor-General South Africa

        Opening remarks: Jan Gregor, ECA Member

        During the current global health emergency, the role of the SAI proved to be more relevant than ever before. In addition to continuing with its normal audit programme, the SAI of South Africa carried out three real-time audits of the government’s emergency spending and issued three special reports. The audits were carried out by combining methodologies for financial, performance and compliance audit. The auditors learned many lessons, including how best to deploy multi-disciplinary teams, use CAATS more extensively, and the value of intensified cooperation with external stakeholders. The three special reports, and the government’s positive response to them, proved that through real-time audit, the SAI is able to add value, demonstrate relevance, and boost public confidence.


        • Webinar 3: Coordinated OLACEFS audit on renewable energy

          Speakers: Ms Arlene Costa Nascimento, Head of the Department of External Control - Electric Power Infrastructure, and Mr Fernando Simões dos Reis, Specialist, Federal Court of Accounts – Brazil

          Opening remarks: Mihails Kozlovs, ECA Member

          The purpose of the audit was to evaluate the public policies for the inclusion of renewable sources in the electricity generation mix of the participating countries in order to identify good practices and opportunities for improvement and thus contribute to achieving the commitments assumed through the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement. The audit assesed the current situation of the electricity matrix in each participating country, identified existing public policies to achieve the commitments for the expansion of renewable energies in the electricity sector, analysed investments in infrastructure for the generation of sustainable electrical energy (water, wind, solar, biomass, tidal, etc.) and identified possible barriers to the expansion of this infrastructure. The report contains good practices.


          • Webinar 4: Long miles to go: an audit case of debt repayments of Japanese expressways

            Speaker: Mr Matsuda Yoshihito, Auditor, Expressway Audit Division, Board of Audit of Japan

            Opening remarks: Iliana Ivanova, ECA Member

            Infrastructure building has extremely high costs and it is usually an audit topic all over the world. The Japanese expressways (over 10 000 km) are not an exception: they cost a lot and the debt (about 40 trillion yen outstanding as of 2005) needs to be repaid over the long term (until 2065) according to a repayment plan. The Board of Audit of Japan (BOA) reported the audit results regarding the situation of tolls, debts, etc. related to the Japanese expressways, to the Diet (Japan’s legislative body) on 9 April 2021. The Board’s main conclusion was that the repayment plan has room for improvement. The presentation will provide an outline of the report. In addition, the presenter will explain the general status of BOA, including the relationship between BOA and the Diet, and the audit methods used during the pandemic.


            • Webinar 5: Implementing the SDGs in Canada: How Auditors Can Contribute to the World We Want

              Speaker: Ms Kimberly Leach, Principal, Office of the Auditor General of Canada

              Opening remarks: Eva Lindström, ECA Member

              This presentation will discuss how the Office of the Auditor General of Canada integrates the SDGs into its audit practices. It will also present the two government-wide audits that OAG Canada has reported to Parliament on implementing the SDGs (2018 and 2021) and reflect on the lessons learned from this work.