Training in performance auditing starts

LAHORE:A three-week international intensive training programme in Performance Auditing (107-ITP) was Sunday inaugurated by Auditor General of Pakistan Muhammad Ajmal Gondal.

Around 47 Auditors from 14 Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) of Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, China, Iran, Kyrgyz Republic, Liberia, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand and Turkey are participating in this training. Auditor General of Pakistan welcomed the participants and said that ITP in Performance Auditing was pioneered in 1981 and its continuation till date validates the ever increasing importance of performance audit and dedication and hard work of the management of PAW to materialise it.

I take pride in international recognition of the PAW for its commitment and professional approach in imparting training. However, the Performance Audit over the years has attained more importance and become a large scale and a distinct practice.

Performance Auditing gives the auditor an opportunity to go beyond traditional compliance issues and enable him to examine performance of the executive in a wider context. It is a modern, challenging and fascinating form of audit that requires specialised skills and standards, he said. Director General, Performance Audit Wing, Sami Ullah Teepu, while addressing the participants of 14 countries via zoom, reiterated the vision of Auditor General of Pakistan and said legislature and other stakeholders demand multidimensional view of things to ensure transparency and accountability in public sector.

Today audit managers have to look beyond compliance issues and learn new techniques and tools in order to fulfill the demand of changing times. The purpose of the programme is to enhance the analytical skills of audit managers of the SAIs to equip the participants with analytical tools and techniques and to enhance their professional knowledge and capabilities in the regime of performance auditing, he said.

He apprised the foreign participants that SAI Pakistan has been organising this intensive training programme since four decades for sister SAIs. He told the participants, “We are working in challenging environment and our job demands utmost proficiency and dedication. The commitment and appropriate knowledge and skill can lead auditor and auditee both in the right direction, to serve the common cause of acquiring and utilising the state resources efficiently and effectively. This will go a long way in improving the governance and better service delivery as expected by the stakeholders.”