Planning the INCOSAI 2010:

The purpose of this document is to initiate a debate in the PSC Steering Committee on how to present the vast number of ISSAIs to the INCOSAI in 2010 for endorsement.In presenting the documents to the Congress there are a lot of different concerns and requirements that the PSC has to take into consideration:

  1. In order to maintain a broad based legitimacy for the ISSAIs and meet the requirements of INTOSAI, the ISSAIs must be endorsed by the Congress.
  2. The delegates at the Congress should all be acquainted with the ISSAIs in order to endorse them.
  3. The printing, mailing and distribution of paper-versions of the ISSAIs for all delegates will be an impossible task.
  4. The endorsement of each individual ISSAI during the Congress meetings will be a very lengthy and quite heavy task – the opportunities of going into detail with the individual ISSAI will be very limited.
  5. The PSC Main Committee (all members of PSC – currently 68 SAIs) will meet in connection with the Congress and too much overlap of topics between the Main Committee meeting and the Congress should be avoided.

In light of these considerations, the PSC Secretariat suggests that the PSC discusses the following issues:

  1. That the ISSAIs are made available electronically on and that maximum 1 paper copy should be available for each delegation.
  2. That the endorsement versions are displayed on the well in advance of the meeting in order for the INTOSAI family and other interested parties to access them.
  3. That a special site is set up at and linked to from the Congress site, in order to give the INTOSAI family and other interested parties direct access to the documents that should be endorsed by the INCOSAI.
  4. That forums in direct connection to the Congress venue are established where Subcommittees and Projects will be able to further explain and answer questions on the content of the individual ISSAIs
  5. That the presentations on the Main Committee meeting will focus on a description of the due processes and the draft mandate - in particular awareness raising issues and maintenance, including the proposal on a permanent, externally funded Secretariat.

The Financial Audit Guidelines Subcommittee will have a number of ISSAIs ready for endorsement in 2010. They have therefore considered how to present the ISSAIs to the INCOSAI. The reflections of FAS on the matter are attached, in order to further qualify the discussions of the Steering Committee.

Following the discussions of the Steering Committee, the PSC Secretariat further suggests that the outcome of the Steering Committee meeting on this topic is discussed with the host of the INCOSAI 2010 and the INTOSAI General Secretariat in order to agree on a procedure for the endorsement of ISSAIs and INTOSAI GOVs at INCOSAI 2010.

Date:
Refno: / 2009-05-19
14-2008-0111

Communication of the ISSAIs – from FAS’ perspective

The FAS Secretariat has for the past couple of months started the work regarding the communication of the ISSAIs to the INTOSAI community. The aim is to identify how to best present the ISSAIs at INCOSAI in South Africa in October 2010, but also how to best make use of the time available in terms of introducing the INTOSAI Financial Audit Guidelines internationally.

To accomplish the above, FAS has focused on;

-Communicationgoals

-Channels and means of communication, and

-The mainmessage.

Goals

It wascrucial to formulate a goal for the communication of the ISSAIs building on the goal formulated for the whole project.

Main goal of the project:

All Supreme Audit Institutions of the world shall use the new guidelines.

Main goal of the communication of the ISSAIs:

All Supreme Audit Institutions shall want to implement the new guidelines.

Channels and means

To reach the above goals main channels to be regularly used for the communication of the ISSAIs have been identified as

  • bilateral and multilateral meetings and visits to or by key persons at different SAIs. To spread the main messages of FAS at informal and formal occasions where the target group seems relevant, the SNAO management and the FAS members have been appointed FAS Ambassadors and will be given communication materials to ensure a consistent and high quality message.
  • articles in the INTOSAI Journal and other papers/magazines, including regionally within INTOSAI
  • FAS’ Quarterly Performance Report
  • FAS’ website and issai.org etc.

Main message

Three main key words to continuously use in the communication and introduction phase of the ISSAIs have been chosen; Quality, Credibility and Professionalism. FAS’ mainmessagereads:

•Globally accepted standards give confidence and credibility in our work as auditors.

•Globally accepted standards provide the basis for high quality audits.

•Globally accepted standards are the basis for our professionalism as auditors.

To achieve the communication goals FAS emphasizes the importance of

•Being present at and being on the agenda of international meetings

•Taking the opportunity to communicate in written form or verbally whenever possible

•Supplying information in several of the official INTOSAI languages if possible

FAS appreciates the support of the PSC Steering Committee when it comes to

•Spreading the word, make your home organizations aware

•Providing the relevant people in your home organization with sufficient information to be able to make a decision regarding the implementation of the ISSAIs

•For environmental, financial and practical reasons; work towards a “green INCOSAI” in 2010 – no unnecessary paper copies

•Significant amount of time and space for presenting the ISSAIs at the congress, both in the plenary sessions and through creating meeting points in the congress area – the presentation of the ISSAIs is a historic moment for the INTOSAI community and needs to be treated as such

•Help making the INTOSAI Financial Audit Guidelines an already familiar product by the time of the congress

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