The Chairman of Vietnam's Auditor Association, Tran Van Ta, has said that the State Audit office of Vietnam (SAV) should operate as a large-scale independent organisation without any external interference.
Ta was speaking at a workshop on improving the strategic role of the audit office in public finance management with Vietnamese and international auditors on September 25.
The main topic was Values and Benefits of the State Audit Office in Public Finance Management.
The workshop was organised by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the State Audit of Vietnam (SAV).
It was part of USAID's Country Development Cooperation Strategy for Vietnam 20014-2018 which relates to Vietnam's Strategic Plan on the Development of State Audit 2013-2017.
Addressing the gathering, Ta said the audit office should transform its method from compliance audit to performance audit and perform business-based audit to improve work efficiency.
He added that it should develop audit standards to ensure the proper use of State funds by agency leaders, adding that it should operate as a large-scale independent organisation without any external interference.
Director of Regional State Audit Office 12 in Dak Lak, Nguyen Anh Tuan, said that State audit offices had to prove their roles to ensure accountability in using State funds.
A representative from KPMG Vietnam said that the audit office needed assistance from those audited to improve working results.
The Deputy Director of Specialised Audit Department 4 in charge of capital infrastructure investment and projects, Vu Nhat Anh, said State enterprises that had been equitised should be included in the audit subjects to avoid losses in the State budget.
He said it would be better if SAV improved the quality of audit training programmes and the exchange of information among auditors to improve specialist competency.
The Director of Regional State Audit Office 4 in Ho Chi Minh City, Truong Viet Huong, said that the Law of State Audit should be more widely publicised to improve the knowledge of government agencies and businesses.
A representative from the Institute of Economics and Finance under the Ministry of Finance, Vu Dinh Anh said that the actual State fund had always exceeded its estimate by 35 percent.
He said the most important matter was to tighten fiscal and financial expenses in the use of State funds.
He added that society would require information about State funds to be monitored to ensure their integrity and transparency.
The Ministry of Finance representative said that the quality of audit figures must be guaranteed through internal and external monitoring and evaluation.-VNA
