The State Audit Office plans to have more than two-thirds of all the documents it sends to agencies and businesses transmitted electronically by 2015.

The office's development plan to 2020 is intended to make it highly advanced and this included the application of modern information technology for all auditing, deputy auditor general Hoang Hong Lac told a workshop in Hanoi on July 21.

Total cost of the two-stage plan is estimated at 8.4 million USD, he said.

Phase 1, from 2011 to 2015, will cost 94.5 billion VND (5 million USD) and Phase 2, from 2016 to 2020, 65.3 billion VND (3.4 million USD).

The money would come from various sources including the State budget, cooperative sponsors and self-funding.

The plan also intends to have all State auditors and managers comfortable with the internet; 90 percent will have a desktop computer and 80 percent laptops, he said.

Emails would become the most frequent means of internal communication.

The plan, which also provides for upgraded and new internet infrastructure, was introduced at the workshop held to discuss strategic planning for the application of IT at the State Audit Office and to hear suggestions and comments about how this should be done.

The application of IT in the work of State offices is irresistible, said Nguyen Thanh Phuc from the Information and Communications Ministry.

"The State Audit Office's plan is fundamentally in line with Vietnam 's strategy for IT development and application," he said.

Quach Tuan Ngoc from the Education and Training Ministry noted the plan would probably undergo change with implementation to make it more responsive to rapid technological innovation.

The Information and Technology Ministry's IT department, the Finance Ministry's IT and statistics department and the Education and Training Ministry's IT department will help the State Audit Office implement the plan./.