State audit office elaborates on key activities in next five years

Hanoi (VNA) - The State Audit Office of Vietnam (SAV) will strive to conduct annual audit of budget balances of 80 percent of ministries and centrally-run agencies and localities, and biennial audit for the remaining 20 percent, Auditor General Tran Sy Thanh has said.

Talking to Vietnam News Agency’s correspondent on the development orientations of the SAV in the following five years, Thanh said that the agency will diversify the types of audit.

The SAV is to develop into the main tool of the State which will prove effective in the inspection for the management and use of public funding and assets, as well as anti-corruption and anti-wastefulness.

The office is also expected to timely provide information serving activities of the National Assembly, the State, ministries, sectors and localities.

To realise the targets, the SAV has identified a number of key tasks to improve its role in corruption prevention and combat, and fostering thrift practice and anti-wastefulness, he added.

It will bolster audit activities in the fields of environment, climate change adaptation, complete the legal system in the relevant field and the auditing sector's organisational structure, and improve the quality of human resources.

In addition, the SAV will better the quality and efficiency of external affair activities and international integration in a bid to prove its capacity in the region and the world. 

Thanh said that the audit office has set itself a target that environmental audits will make up from 30 - 40 percent of the average number of audits conducted each year.

The COVID-19 pandemic has delivered a major blow to auditing activities. However, the SAV has devised a number of measures in an attempt to ensure its yearly plan and that its auditing activities are carried out in a safe manner. 

The SAV has taken the initiative in reducing or scrapping audits in the sectors of health, public security and Military High Commands of pandemic-hit localities, so that they can focus on the fight against COVID-19.

In regards to the management and use of public funding and assets for COVID-19 prevention and control, the auditing plan for 2021 has determined essential tasks of top priority.

The tasks include assessment of the implementation of policies addressing bottlenecks for business operations and stepping up investment capital disbursement amid COVID-19, along with regulations on tax and fee exemption and reduction for firms affected by the ongoing pandemic.

The SAV will continue to pay due attention to the evaluation of the implementation of policies aiming to support people and businesses facing difficulties triggered by COVID-19, Thanh concluded. 

So far this year, the SAV has completed 91 audits and proposed financial measures related to 50.87 trillion VND (2.23 billion USD), including collecting an additional 6.65 trillion VND to the State budget and reducing budget spending by 5.79 trillion VND.

The agency also proposed scrapping, amending, supplementing and issuing 67 legal documents, helping to deal with loopholes in mechanisms and policies to prevent losses and wastefulness, he said.

The SAV is serving as Chair of the ASEAN Supreme Audit Institutions (ASEANSAI) Strategic Planning Committee and Chair of the Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) in the 2018 - 2021 term.

The ASOSAI was founded in 1979 and pursues a mission common among working groups of the International Organisations of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI), that “Professional supreme audit institutions promote good State governance”, and with the core values of “Professionalism, Cooperation, Equality, Creativity”.

Its goal is to promote mutual understanding and cooperation among member SAIs through the exchange of ideas and experience in public auditing, creating the conditions necessary for the training of State auditors to improve working quality and efficiency.

The SAV became a member of ASOSAI in 1997. In its initial period of membership, it primarily sent auditors to attend training courses and workshops sponsored by the ASOSAI, to enhance professional capacity. Since 2010, the SAV has undertaken a more active role in the association’s professional activities.

The SAV, as Chair of ASOSAI in the 2018 - 2021 term, has carried out a lot of important and effective audit activities which have gained praise from regional and international audit agencies.

Besides, it has also actively and responsibly participated in activities of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) as a representative of its Regional Working Group./.