INTOSAI WGEA 21 March 2016, Bogis-Bossey, Switzerland AGENDA - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

INTOSAI WGEA

21 March 2016, Bogis-Bossey, Switzerland

AGENDA

INTOSAI WGEA

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INTOSAI WGEA AND The IMPLEMENTATION OF CBD AND OTHER MEAs

THE ROLE OF AUDIT AND SAI

INTOSAI WGEA



Members of INTOSAI WGEA : 77 SAIs



The INTOSAI regions ACAG/PASAI, AFROSAI, ARABOSAI, ASOSAI, EUROSAI and OLACEFS have each established a Regional Working Group

• n Environmental Auditing (RWGEA).
• WGEA Steering Committee :
• New Zealand, Cameroon, Egypt, China, Norway,

Argentina, Philippines, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, European Court of Auditors, Estonia, India, Indonesia, Lesotho, Morocco, and United States.

• Coordinators of regional WGEAs:



ACAG/PASAI : New Zealand



AFROSAI : Cameroon



ARABOSAI : Kuwait



ASOSAI : China



EUROSAI : Estonia



OLACEFS : Paraguay

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INTOSAI WGEA

 The Working Group on Environmental

Auditing (WGEA), under the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI).

 The INTOSAI WGEA is a large,

volunteer organization with a number

• f distinct bodies and players, each

with associated responsibilities:



The Chair and Secretariat,



The full WGEA (the Assembly),



The Steering Committee, Project Leaders and project subcommittees, and,



The Regional Working Groups

• n

environmental auditing.

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 Mission



Aims to improve the use of audit and audit instruments in the field of environmental protection policies, by both members of the Working Group and non- member Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs).

 Mandate/Objectives

In order to carry out our mission, the WGEA:



Assists supreme audit institutions (SAIs) in acquiring a better understanding of the specific issues involved in environmental auditing;



Facilitates exchange of information and experience among SAIs; and



Publishes guidelines and other informative material for their use.

INTOSAI WGEA

Main Activities : (1)

 Up-date existing and develop new guidance materials available to SAIs, conduct

research studies on emerging topics in environmental auditing such as:



Facilitate concurent, joint and coordinated audits

• INTOSAI WGEA : 1) Coordinated International Audit on Climate Change – Key Impplication s for

Government and their Auditors 2) IDI-WGEA Transregional Capacity Building Programme on Cooperative Performance Audit of Environmental Issues in Forestry

• RWGEA such as : 1) PASAI : Cooperative Performance Audit (CPA) on Climate Change Adaption

and Disaster Risk Reduction Strategies and management 2) COMTEMA : Coordinated Audit on Water Resources, 3) AFROSAI: Cooperative Audit on Lake Chad, Congo Basin forest and River Nile, 4)ASOSAI: Cooperative Environmental Audit on Mekong River Basin and 5) EUROSAI: Cooperative activities on The Artic Council, Black Sea, River management, CO2 emissions trading, National Parks, and Climate Change

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• Environmental risks and state liabilities /

environmental liabilities

• Renewable Energy
• Energy Saving
• Biodiversity
• Multilateral Environmental Agreements
• Environmental Assessment
• Market Base Instruments for environmental

protection and management

• Updating the INTOSAI WGEA 2014 guidance

materials

INTOSAI WGEA

Main Activities : (2)

 Enhance information dissemination, exchange and training

 organizing annual international training on Forestry Audit, organizing annual international training on

environmental auditing, publishing Greenlines, audit collection and environmental survey

 Increase cooperation between the WGEA, International Organizations, and other

INTOSAI bodies



Cooperation with UNEP: MoU on the implementation of MEAs, developed Audit Manual : Auditing the Implementation of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs): A Primer for Auditors



Cooperation with IDI : organizing transregional program on forestry

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THE ROLE OF AUDIT AND SAI

 Types of Audit with environmental perspectives :

• Financial Statement Audit

To provide opinion on the fairness of financial statements : the accuracy, completeness and existancy including the validity of the evidance of the Financial Statements (and/or other Reports)

• Compliance Audit



To provide assurance that governmental activities are conducted in accordance with relevant environmental laws, standards and policies, both at national and (where relevant) international levels.

• Performance Audit



Ensuring that indicators of environment-related performance (where contained in public accountability reports) fairly reflect the performance of the audited entity.



Ensuring that environmental programmes are conducted in an economical, efficient and effective manner.

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 Scope of environmental auditing

• Regularity (financial and compliance)

and performance  Potential objectives of environmental audit

• Compliance with :

1) Domestic environmental legislation/policies, 2) International environmental agreement and treaties, 3) Performance

• f

government environmental policies/programme, etc.

The characteristics of SAI

THE ROLE OF AUDIT AND SAI

 #1 :

The SAIs can audit the implementation of certain and spesific international environmental agreements or treaties in their specific countries.

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Source : INTOSAI WGEA - The 7th Survey on Environmental Auditing – Environmental Audit.

THE ROLE OF AUDIT AND SAI

 # 2

SAI has access to the data and information not only related to financial aspect but also environmental aspect.

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Source : INTOSAI WGEA - The 7th Survey on Environmental Auditing – Environmental Audit.

THE ROLE OF AUDIT AND SAI

 # 3

The environmental audit conducted by SAI helps the government to formulate legislation/policies/programs, evaluate capacity, improve the function of policies and programs, generate indicators, system and reporting.

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Source : INTOSAI WGEA - The 7th Survey on Environmental Auditing – Environmental Audit.

INTOSAI WGEA and CBD/MEAs

Audit on CBD/Convention/Agreement conducted by SAIs

Scope :

 Perspective : Audit conducted by SAIs are not specifically focus on the

implementation of CBD, but instead related to CBD target

 Realization of forest rehabilitation target achievement, including

mangrove forest

 Illegal logging and fishing

 Implementation : Audit on the implementation of CBD commitments, the

harmonization between national regulations and CBD commitments, and the implementation of CBD-related regulations

 Monitoring and Reporting : the fairness of the reporting, effectiveness of

monitoring process and validity of reporting evidence.

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INTOSAI WGEA and CBD/MEAs

# 1. Criteria



Convention

• n

Biodiversity and

• ther related conventions



National Law and regulation related to the agreement and or convention (CBD)



National level Strategic Plan incuding its action plans



CBD target

# 2. Methodology



Data analysis, survey and interview



Expert opinion



Field visit



Technology such as Geographical Information System (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS)

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Audit on CBD/Convention/Agreement conducted by SAIs (Auditing Biodiversity: Guidance for Supreme Audit Institutions, 2007) # 3. Main findings

• Lack of environmental policy and resources
• Lack of mechanism, control, procedure and

regulation

• Compliance to the regulations
• Quality of management reports related to

CBD and/or other conventions : timing, acuracy, sufficient, reliable and relevant, consistancy and updating.

#4. Main Recommendation

• Improve Internal Control related to reporting

process, activities, and management.

• Formulate policy and regulation
• Ensure consistent, accurate and complete

database/data

• Improve the number of resources (human

resources and instruments)

INTOSAI WGEA and CBD/MEAs

INTOSAI WGEA, RWGEA and SAIs activities

 Global/Regional WGEA

 Develop Audit Guidance/Manual/Research Projects on Auditing the

implementation of the CBD or Update current INTOSAI WGEA.

 INTOSAI WGEA developed guidance related to Biodiversity :

Auditing Biodiversity: Guidance for Supreme Audit Institutions, 2007

 Cooperative Audit on the implementation of the CBD (Regional WGEA and/or

Global WGEA)

 Training and Workshop related to Auditing the Implementation of the CBD.

 National Level

 SAIs based on their mandate may conduct audit related to the CBD in their respective

countries: Planning, Implementing, Reporting, Monitoring, and Following up.

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References

 INTOSAI WGEA Web Site :

http://www.environmental-auditing.org/

 The 7th survey on Environmental Auditing – INTOSAI WGEA

(2012)

 ISSAI 5110 : Guidance on Conducting Audit Activities with an

Environmental Perspective

 Auditing Biodiversity: Guidance for Supreme Audit Institutions,

2007

Thank You