Regional Round-up
ASOSAI WGEA
For the 9th Meeting of the INTOSAI WGEA
June 2004, Brasilia, Brazil
Since the 2nd meeting of the Steering Committee of INTOSAI WGEA in January 2003, ASOSAI WGEA has worked in the light of the Work Plan 2002-2004, and participated actively in INTOSAI WGEA and ASOSAI events.
- Environmental Auditing Workshop organized by IDI and INTOSAI WGEA
In November 2002, audit experts from the SAIs of China, India, Jordan and Pakistan attended the course design workshop in Oslo, Norway, and discussed and developed course material for environmental auditing training. As required by IDI environmental auditing training administrator, the National Audit Office of China (CNAO) prepared a summary report on the environmental protection and environmental auditing status in Asia. The CNAO also prepared comprehensive document exhibiting the environmental protection and environmental auditing in China, including an audit case of “returning the planting land to forest land project”.
In November 2003, the first environmental audit workshop organized by IDI and INTOSAI WGEA was successfully held in Turkey. 29 participants from 15 Asian SAIs took this workshop.
- Preparation for the 8th meeting of INTOSAI WGEA
After the CNAO had been chosen as the host of the 8th meeting of the INTOSAI WGEA, the office consulted with the Chair of INTOSAI WGEA and other related parties, and, thereon, actively carried out its preparation work.
However, due to some unexpected reasons, the meeting was rescheduled and held in Warsaw, Poland June 2003. ASOSAI WGEA members, including SAIs of Korea and India, presented the meeting.
- Active feed back to INTOSAI WGEA survey
In 2003, most of ASOSAI members have taken the 4th environmental auditing survey prepared by the INTOSAI WGEA. As a regional coordinator, the secretariat of ASOSAI WGEA have assisted the INTOSAI WGEA in sending out survey to targeted SAIs, and helped some SAIs to return their feedback to the secretariat of INTOSAI WGEA.
- International environmental auditing exchange
In November 2003, a CNAO delegation paid a study tour to the Audit Court of the Netherlands. The delegation has exchanged ideas and experiences with Netherlands colleagues in fulfilling environmental auditing guidelines, conducting water resources audits and the environmental auditing procedures.
In December 2003, invited by Poland SAI, Chair of EUROSAI WGEA, and the Netherlands SAI, two auditors from the ASOSAI WGEA secretariat participated in the EUROSAI WGEA Seminar on waste management, and gave a presentation on the audit of medical waste management in China during the seminar. They also exchanged views with other European colleagues.
- Report to the ASOSAI Governing Board
In October 2003, Mr. Li Jinhua, Auditor General of the CNAO, presented the 32nd Governing Board Meeting of ASOSAI in Manila, Philippines, and submitted the report of the ASOSAI WGEA, which was approved by the Board later.
- Organizing auditing research within ASOSAI members
For the purpose of promoting the research on environmental auditing and collecting information on environmental protection and audit in Asian countries, the secretariat has written to all ASOSAI members in May 2002, putting forward five research topics on environmental audit and inviting new ideas in this regard. 24 SAIs have replied and identified that the topics of “technical standards of environmental auditing” and “ways to minimize audit risk in environmental auditing” they concern most. The secretariat have collected and compiled the research results, and disseminated them via the Internet and other means among all ASOSAI members, as well as the Secretariat of INTOSAI WGEA.
- ASOSAI WGEA working plan
As suggested by the INTOSAI WGEA, the ASOSAI WGEA drafted a work plan for 2004, after making reference to the work plan of INTOSAI WGEA (2002-2004). The draft working plan consists of three parts: Objective, Priorities and Specific working plan, which including Information and Experience Sharing, Environmental audits and cooperation, Research and others.
- ASOSAI WGEA environmental auditing surveys
In April 2004, the secretariat has send out two short surveys on environmental auditing to all members of ASOSAI WGEA. The first survey was on the general status of SAIs carrying out environmental auditing, and the second survey was on the concurrent, joint or coordinated environmental audits. Up to now, some of the member SAIs have replied. The results of these surveys are to be posted on the website of ASOSAI WGEA.
- Updates of ASOSAI WGEA homepage
To better information sharing with other SAIs and show, the secretariat of ASOSAI WGEA have updated their website twice in the past year.
In the future, ASOSAI WGEA will continue to fulfill conscientiously on its responsibilities, to promote the understanding of environmental audit issues of common concern among all ASOSAI members. We will work hard to promote exchanges of information and experiences, and strengthen the relationship with INTOSAI WGEA. And we hope we will be able to receive more support from the INTOSAI WGEA and other regional WGEAs to further our development in the field of environmental auditing.