International partners value auditor’s independent role

Hanoi (VNA) - Development partners of the State Audit of Vietnam (SAV) have affirmed the important role of independent verification played by the audit agency in implementing disbursements and providing financial resources for projects in Vietnam.

Audits help improve confidence in the proper use of capital for projects
The SAV has independently audited many projects funded by the WB, stated Serdar Yilmaz, lead public sector specialist at the Governance Global Practice at the World Bank (WB), at a conference of the SAV with its development partners in 2022.

In its audit performance, the SAV has focused not only on the financial aspect, but also compliance and project efficiency, he said. He added that the SAV contributes to improving the understanding of stakeholders as well as project management agencies.

Serdar Yilmaz emphasised the important role of independent verification played by the SAV in the disbursement programmes using WB capital. He said that the WB will make disbursements and provide financial resources for projects based on the audit performed by the SAV.

The SAV’s involvement in WB projects represents the bank’s efforts in making the most of national resources to manage ODA projects, he said.
Sharing Serdar Yilmaz’s viewpoint, Andrew Jeffries, Country Director for Vietnam at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) affirmed the audit agency has contributed to improving confidence in the proper use of capital in projects.

A high level of social trust is a crucial criterion which helps Vietnam develop its economy, he noted.

Auditing contributes to improving the efficiency of capital use in the public sector, he said. Vietnam’s public spending must meet financial requirements to help Vietnam achieve its goals of high economic growth and its ambition to become a country with high middle income by 2030, Jeffries said.

Prioritising human resources development

Addressing the event, State Auditor General of Vietnam Tran Sy Thanh briefed development partners on the SAV’s outstanding results in implementing its development strategy in the 2010-2020 period. He stressed that the conference aims to introduce development partners the SAV’s development strategy to 2030 and priority activities to be implemented in the coming time.

Thanh suggested the SAV’s development partners give priority to coordinating in implementing activities in developing human resources and improving the audit quality among seven development aspects of the strategy. He also suggested completing the legal basis for organisations and operations, developing the organisational system, and improving audit quality. He went further suggesting the development of international integration and cooperation, facilities, and promoting information and communications and scientific research.

He proposed cooperation with the parties in organising training courses, surveys, research and experience-learning activities from supreme audit institutions (SAIs). These have strengths in auditing news fields such as information technology, environment; climate change, management of mineral-resource exploitation; and the audits of emerging fields including pandemic response, implementing sustainable development goal, and assessing monetary policy to ensure a transparent and sustainable national finance.

The SAV wishes to cooperate and be supported in training and developing a team of experts in each field who will help better the quality of human resources for the audit sector, towards establishing an academy of auditing in the future, Thanh said.

According to Thanh, with the orientation to switch from traditional audit to remote audit on the basis of information technology application, the SAV is focusing on cooperating with stakeholders in hiring domestic and foreign experts in providing consultation on overall design of technological structure systems, and application of support software.

The SAV is committed to giving the highest priority in cooperating with development partners to realize the above-mentioned goals in its development strategy for the 2021-2030 period. This is in line with policies and operational priorities of organisations in Vietnam, said Thanh.

Representatives of the SAV’s development partners made proposals on technical support plans for the SAV in the coming time.

WB Country Director for Vietnam Carolyn Turk said development partners should work together to support the SAV to avoid overlap, and generate great impacts./.